Evidence for the patron’s northern connections
Owners
The manuscript contains textual and visual features not found in contemporary French manuscripts. These features include the addition of readings for feasts of the Virgin with elaborate historiated initials; the insertion of the suffrages and images of saints at Lauds, the second office in the Hours of the Virgin; and the illustration of the Hours of the Virgin with scenes from Christ’s Passion instead of the Nativity cycle common in France. These features, typical of Books of Hours made in Brabant, Hainaut and the diocese of Liège, suggest that the patron had connections with regions north of Paris.
Death and Assumption of the Virgin (collects, sermons and lessons for the Assumption)
This image, painted by Hand D, shows the Virgin on her death bed, surrounded by the apostles. The white robe and feet disappearing above allude to her Assumption. The image suffered water damage, causing superficial abrasion of the paint layer, especially noticeable in the draperies. Technical analyses did not give conclusive evidence for restoration, although two of the apostles wear robes of a much deeper pink colour than is found on other pages. While their composition is not in any way ‘suspicious’, as they contain no modern pigments, their different colour may suggest that they were not part of the original campaign of decoration.