Les Enluminures not only presents Books of Hours for sale. They also exhibit them in the Gallery in New York as well as on the internet
Les Enluminures was founded in Paris in 1991 by Dr. Sandra Hindman in association with a Chicago-based business. In 2012 it opened a new gallery in New York. Specializing in manuscripts and miniatures from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the gallery also handles rings and jewelry from the same periods. It organizes four or five exhibitions a year, some in collaboration with other dealers and some traveling to other locations, and these are often accompanied by catalogues. This year a major highlight is the sale of newly acquired Book of Hours.
Books of Hours
The heyday of the Book of Hours lasted from c1240, when the first book of Hours began to appear and until the counter-reformation, when Pope Pius V prohibited the use of all existing Books of Hours. Nearly every European family of certain means owned one while royals, nobles and wealthy merchants might own libraries full of them. Some of them were modest, made by near-factories, while others were simply unique masterpieces produced by accomplished artists. Book of Hours were private prayer books, which filled the need for the medieval lay public in search of a devotional life akin to what clerics experienced but without taking actual vows. The contents grew out of the psalter but included a mixed variety of other types of material like, hymns, lessons, biblical readings, calendars etc. As a minimum though, they contained the “little Hours” of the Virgin, the gradual Psalms, the Penitential psalms, Litany of the saints and the Office of the Dead. Most Books of Hours, however, were also used for personal notations and scribbles marking births, marriages, deaths etc. Many were passed down through generations.
Autumn Sale
Examples among the newest acquisitions of Les Enluminures come from France (the very heartland of the Book of Hours), the Netherlands (the only country where the Book of Hours was translated into the Dutch, the language of the people, for all to read), and Belgium (second only to France in the production of Books of Hours). Highlights include a refined “pre-Eyckian” manuscript painted by a group of artists probably in Antwerp and bearing all the hallmarks of the “International Style” as refined in the Netherlands and in Belgium. There is also a tiny manuscript in pristine condition by a Ghent-Bruges artist known as the Master of the David Scenes of the Grimani Breviary; an innovation of this artist is his creation of elaborate trompe l’oeil frames to house his realistic figures that take part in lively scenes. The Masters of the Zwolle Bible who painted the miniatures in the last example, written entirely in Dutch probably by copyists of the Devotio Moderna, are known for their restrained colors and the uncluttered settings of their miniatures that focus attention on the figures and their interactions. Of special interest is a very early prayerbook from Troyes which used to belong to a catalan merchant. The exhibition coincides with the publication of a new book reconsidering the Book of Hours from many angles – Book of Hours Reconsidered.
Les Enluminures is very generous in providing presentations, descriptions and photos on a dedicated site. However, interested may also visit the gallery in the next month in order to peruse the treasures currently up for sale. Examples represent a wide range of Books of Hours available on the market, manuscripts made in France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Italy and dating from c. 1400 to c. 1540. Some printed Books of Hours are included. Tutorials offer tools for learning more about Books of Hours. Visitors can search by artist, country, date, price range, and reference number.
Sandra Hindman
Sandra Hindman is a leading expert on Medieval and Renaissance manuscript illumination. Professor Emerita of Art History at Northwestern University and owner of Les Enluminures, Paris, Chicago and NewYork. Professor Hindman is author, coauthor, or editor of more than ten books, as well as numerous articles on the history and reception of illuminated manuscripts and on medieval rings. Sandra Hindman is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, the National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America, the Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne, and the Syndicat National des Antiquaires. She is also the editor of the new book – Book of Hours Reconsidered – which will be launched at her gallery in new York on the 7th of November.
LES ENLUMINURES
23 East 73rd Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10021
tel +1 212 717 7273
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM
READ MORE:
A short introduction to the History of Books of Hours with some advice on buying Books of Hours
Book of Hours – a dedicated website