The Hours of Isabella Stuart

Hours of the Holy Spirit and scenes from the Pilgrimage of the Human Life

Texts and Images

This text, celebrating the role of the Holy Spirit in human salvation, is included here in its short version of seven rather than eight canonical hours. It opens with a large miniature of Pentecost, the standard image for this text in Books of Hours. Every page has a marginal miniature from the cycle illustrating the French poem Pilgrimage of the Human Life.

 

 

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1
Detail of the Virgin’s face under magnification (32x). The paint layers have lost adhesion and flaked extensively, with a pattern also seen in the images painted by the Rohan Master in this manuscript.
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2
Detail of an apostle’s face under magnification (32x).
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3
Detail of an apostle’s face under magnification (32x).
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4
Detail of the purple robe under magnification (7.5x). Thin parallel strokes of dark purple and long highlights in shell gold result in a convincing three-dimensional appearance of the drapery folds.
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Detail of the orange robe under magnification (7.5x). The three-dimensionality of the drapery folds is conveyed by outlines and shadows painted with a darker red pigment, with the final addition of shell gold highlights.

Pentecost (Hours of the Holy Spirit, Matins)

This miniature was painted by an artist who was responsible for most of the marginal images in the Pilgrimage of the Human Life cycle. His favourite lead-tin yellow pigment, which has a slightly green tinge, can be seen both in the Pentecost miniature and in the marginal image. This artist was a close associate of the Giac Master and had ready access to his designs. He replicated the Giac Master’s typical architectural setting and tiled floor, but introduced a more convincing sense of perspective in both. The arms of Isabella Stuart have been added to the border.

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