The Emerson-White Hours (MS Typ 443–443.1, Houghton Library, Harvard University) is a book of hours-missal that includes a wide range of liturgical texts and an extensive program of illumination executed in Bruges, Ghent, and Valenciennes ca. 1480. The manuscript’s miniatures, historiated initials, and borders have been listed [1], the manuscript has been described and discussed [2,3,4], and color images of the entire work can be found online [5]. The term “Hours” refers to the series of prayers that are said throughout the day, which are referred to by their time of day in Latin: matins or lauds (upon rising), prime (first hour, or 6:00 a.m.), terce (third hour, 9:00 a.m.), sext, (sixth hour, noon), nones (ninth hour, 3:00 p.m.), vespers (early evening), and compline (before sleep). In addition to standard texts found in books of hours—calendar, Hours of the Virgin, Hours of the Cross, Hours of the Holy Spirit, Suffrages to the saints, Penitential psalms and litany, Office of the Dead—the manuscript contains a considerable number of additional devotional texts, including the Psalter of St. Jerome, the Psalter of the Passion, votive masses, and various prayers. Both the content and the decoration indicate that it was a bespoke work, and the richness and complexity of its decorative scheme, as well as the quality of its execution, make it one of the finest books of hours produced in Flanders at that time.
At present the manuscript consists of 248 vellum leaves, or folios (f.), measuring ca. 143 × 104 mm. Since 1892, the manuscript has been bound in two volumes foliated, or numbered, consecutively: folios (ff.) 1–118, 119–248. Because both volumes are very tightly bound and because of the fineness with which the parchment was prepared, the collation, that is, the present structure of the gatherings or quires (two or more bifolia nested together), had not been worked out until the current project. The text, written in a single gothic rotunda hand in one column, appears to be complete.
The lavishness of the decorative program is indicated by the fact that every original written page has some illumination and by the circumstance that several major artists of the period contributed miniatures and historiated borders. Every significant division of the text, including the subdivisions of the hours, has a full border on the opening page, and each subsequent text page has a panel border in the outer margin. Most of the borders are in the trompe-l’oeil style introduced into Flemish illumination in the 1470s, in which naturalistic flowers, insects, and foliage appear to hover above and cast shadows on colored grounds, most frequently of shell gold, but also including shades of blue, lavender, or gray, and, unusually, several shades of greenish brown. Other border motifs include architectural settings and garden scenes, simulated brocade and embroidered fabrics, representations of jewels and rosaries, cameos of devotional and Biblical subjects, and lattice patterns in which the compartments are filled with letters of the alphabet, flowers, and other objects. Particularly noteworthy are numerous depictions of the instruments of the passion, which, taken together with the choice of texts, document the devotion of the original owners to the passion of Christ.
Only seven full-page miniatures remain in the manuscript, with a conjectured 20–40 or more now missing. All the full-page miniatures are found on the versos (v), or back sides of the leaves, facing the beginning of the text to which each relates. The rectos (r), or front sides, of these leaves are blank, even where this creates a blank two-page spread between the end of the preceding text and the full-page miniature. Almost all the texts in the manuscript, including very short texts such as the suffrages to the saints, begin at the top of recto pages, suggesting that they were intended to face full-page miniatures. For the Hours of the Virgin, one would expect a complete set of eight miniatures, and this is confirmed by the presence of historiated borders at terce (f. 157r), vespers (f. 166r), and compline (f. 171r). The miniature of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, now at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 60 (95.ML.53), is thought to have faced f. 157r. The Hours of the Passion presumably also had a complete set of miniatures, judged from the presence of historiated borders for matins (f. 181r), and nones (f. 194r).
Of the 20–40 separated leaves, three have been identified as likely from this manuscript: Annunciation to the Shepherds (J. Paul Getty Museum); Mass of Saint Gregory (Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Ms. II 3634–6); and Ascension (in a private collection in Belgium) [3]. Close observation of technique with scientific analyses of materials may strengthen or weaken existing attributions based on visual analysis of style [6], and could help locate additional missing miniatures from this manuscript [3].
Based on stylistic analysis, art historians have attributed the full-page miniatures and some of the historiated borders, listed below [4]. *Raman and XRF spectroscopic analyses were performed on select colors on the folios marked with an asterisk (f. 110v was analyzed with Raman only).
Simon Marmion
Simon Marmion (ca. 1420/1425–1489) was a panel painter and illuminator who worked in Amiens and Valenciennes and collaborated with illuminators in Ghent and Bruges [3, 4, 13].
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St. Jerome in penitence, miniature, f. 14v* (Fig. 1a)
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St. Apollonia, miniature, f. 108v* (Fig. 1b)
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St. Christopher, miniature, f. 115v
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Five small, nearly square miniatures serving as backgrounds to initial letters executed in shell gold, ff. 92r, 100r*, 119r*, 166r*, 171r* [possible attribution]
Master of the Houghton Miniatures (named for this manuscript)
The Master of the Houghton Miniatures was an anonymous illuminator who probably worked in Bruges. His work, which has only recently been identified on the basis of his distinctive style, is associated with that of Hugo van der Goes (ca. 1440–1482), one of the most influential Flemish painters of his time [3, 4].
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St. Anthony, miniature, f. 99v* (Fig. 2a, c)
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St. Anthony, border, f. 100r* (Fig. 2b, d)
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Pilgrims at a church door, border, f. 166r*
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Funeral of the Virgin, border, f. 171r* (Fig. 3a, c)
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Cemetery, with a funeral in the background, border, f. 216r*
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Two borders depicting jewels and cameos, ff. 92r, 119r* [possible attribution]
Ghent Associates
The Ghent Associates were a group of anonymous illuminators who worked in Ghent and Bruges in the second half of the fifteenth century [3].
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St. George, miniature, f. 102v
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St. Catherine, miniature, f. 110v*
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St. Barbara, miniature, f. 112v*
Master of the Dresden Prayerbook
The Master of the Dresden Prayerbook was an anonymous illuminator who worked principally in Bruges in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries [2].
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Twenty-four calendar roundels, ff. 1v–13r (13r*; Fig. 3b, d)
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Twenty historiated initials, ff. 51r, 55r, 60r, 62r, 65v*, 88r, 90r, 91r, 93r, 94r, 95r, 96r, 97r, 98r, 101r, 104r, 105r, 105v, 109r, and 114r
*Raman and XRF spectroscopic analyses were performed on select colors on the folios marked with an asterisk (f. 110v was analyzed with Raman only).
The technical examination described in this article was undertaken jointly by the Weissman Preservation Center of the Harvard Library and the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies of the Harvard Art Museums, for the purpose of determining whether the artist attributions based on stylistic assessment would correlate with differences in choice of pigments or manner of application, as determined from technical analysis and microscopic observation. Focusing on the illuminations attributed to Simon Marmion and the Houghton Master, we demonstrate that technical analysis can support attribution by identifying differences in artists’ pigment preferences, pigment blending, and technique of paint application, particularly how the artists render shadows. While Simon Marmion and the Houghton Master were the focus of our analyses, the results and discussion below suggest that such technical study and analysis could be useful for resolving disputes about attribution and potentially for distinguishing artists within a larger group such as the Ghent Associates.
Project description
Technical analysis of the book of hours was undertaken in conjunction with a conservation project to examine and consolidate flaking and powdery media in preparation for digitization of the entire manuscript prior to its exhibition. A team of six conservators at the Weissman Preservation Center, Harvard Library, performed the conservation work over 18 months. All 248 leaves of the manuscript were closely examined under various lighting conditions (transmitted, raking) and using a stereomicroscope. Both volumes were treated following the Weissman Consolidation Protocol [7]. Because of the high artistic and research value of this book of hours, detailed notes on each leaf were recorded in a spreadsheet. The goal was to tabulate visual observations that could potentially identify the original sequence of the manuscript, such as earlier binding and collation evidence, possible locations of missing leaves, and artist attributions. In addition, compiling notes as part of the treatment procedure improved the visual acuity of the conservators and provided a platform to share information among the team. The spreadsheet recorded areas of pigment transfer related or unrelated to the pigments on the facing leaf; evidence of page trimming that removed or bisected graphite foliation numbers; unused sewing holes; pink and green stains and associated fibers in the gutter margins, indicating removal of “silk curtains”, small squares of fine fabric sewn or adhered to manuscript leaves (a medieval practice to protect miniatures from rubbing).
Observations were also recorded on the materiality of the painterly technique, such as color palette, brush strokes, fineness or coarseness of pigment preparation, and presence of underdrawing. Examining each folio with transmitted light was extremely helpful for comparing illuminations attributed to different artists. A fiber optic light sheet was placed beneath each illuminated parchment leaf. The light transmitted by the leaf revealed and emphasized aspects of the artist’s technique, providing insight into the artist’s painting style by revealing the manner of paint application, layering of paint, degree of paint transparency, and brush strokes. Capturing overall and detail images in transmitted light proved to be indispensable for evaluating and discerning the styles of the different artists.
Collation diagrams were also prepared for each volume. Where the tight bindings prevented access, the collation was determined by inserting a small slip of paper through the gutter behind the sewing and through the nesting bifolia (singular, bifolium: a sheet of parchment folded in the middle to make two folios). Where the slip of paper exited was presumed to be a conjugate leaf unless repairs or guards suggested that single leaves had been joined. Other features noted on the collation diagrams included quire marks (a letter or number normally placed on the back page of the quire, or gathering, to facilitate arrangement during binding), sewing thread, and the presence of guards or repairs.
The identification of hair and flesh sides of the vellum leaves was recorded on both the spreadsheet and the collation diagram, to identify possible interruptions in “Gregory’s Rule”. This medieval practice of collating parchment leaves of manuscripts so that the hair sides faced each other and the flesh sides faced each other was named for the first person credited with noting the practice, Caspar Rene Gregory (1846–1917) [8]. In this manuscript, it was not always possible to ascertain the hair and flesh sides because the parchment was so finely prepared, very thin (approximately 3–3.5 mils, 75–90 microns), generally quite white, and often without much evidence of hair follicles. Despite this drawback, the collation diagrams have provided insights and are useful in reconstructing possible locations of missing leaves.
Codicology
In their present state, after one or more rebindings, the volumes are generally composed of four bifolia per quire, but with a fair amount of variation. Quires vary from two to 13 leaves (ff. 106r–118v) and in one instance, a single leaf is hinged to an adjacent two-leaf quire (f. 187). There are 16 quires in volume 1 and 17 in volume 2. Of these 33 quires, six contain only one or two bifolia (two or four leaves). These inconsistencies suggest the removal of a significant number of leaves during the disbinding and rebinding of the manuscript into two volumes, or during earlier interventions.
As the collation diagram revealed, almost every quire has been guarded around the outside of its outermost bifolium. This regular reinforcement of the fold is a common bookbinding practice prior to resewing a book. Whether or not the outer folios were completely broken and repaired, or were pieced together from singletons (single leaves consisting of a half sheet of parchment instead of a sheet folded in the middle) cannot be determined. Some guards that connect the parchment leaves could have been part of the original manuscript production, but the outer guards can be assumed to be a later addition.
There are 48 singletons in the manuscript: 28 in volume 1 and 20 in volume 2. This is an unusually large proportion of the leaves (about 20%) and is probably due to both the removal of leaves, as mentioned above, and the assembly of the work of so many different artists. When combined with codicological collation, textual content, and image sequence, the presence of the single leaves may help identify the locations and likely content (including illuminations) of the removed folios.
For the primary artists represented in the manuscript, most illuminations are painted on singletons. Of the five illuminations attributed to the Houghton Master, three, ff. 99v, 100r, and 171r, are singletons. It is unclear whether the illuminated ff. 166r and 216r are singletons or not, as they form the last and first leaves of their quires, respectively, and both are guarded. Of the two illuminations possibly attributed to the Houghton Master, f. 92r is a singleton, but f. 119r is again unclear as it is the first folio of the quire and guarded.
All three illuminations attributed to Simon Marmion, ff. 14v, 108v and 115v, are singletons. The three illuminations attributed the Ghent Associates, ff. 102v, 110v, and 112v, are also singletons. The illuminations attributed to the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook follow a different pattern. Each labor of the month has two illuminated calendar roundels and these folios form the first two quires of Volume 1, ff. 1v–13r. All are conjugate except the final leaf, f. 13r, which is a singleton.