BOOK OF HOURS (USE OF ROME); Illuminated Manuscript On Parchment In Latin With Some French -

CHARMING BOOK OF HOURS WITH CLEAN MARGINS, A SOFT PALETTE, AND A LOVELY ARMORIAL BINDING. Illuminated manuscript on parchment, in Latin, calendar and some rubrics in French, France, Loire Valley or Central France (?), c. 1490-1510. Dimensions 143 x 84 mm., ii (modern paper) + 214 + ii (modern paper) folios, lacking 2 leaves, written in brown ink in a cursive bookhand, on 18 lines, ruled in red ink, thirteen 3-6-line blue initials with white highlights, FIVE SMALL MINIATURES, FIVE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES in architectural frames. BINDING: bound in eighteenth-century red morocco, spine with five raised bands gold-tooled with filets, fleurons and crowns; gold-tooled covers with double-fillets and corner fleurons stamped with the arms of Charles de Baschi, binding restored in the nineteenth or early twentieth century, with a box covered with marbled paper. ILLUMINATION: an interesting and hitherto unknown French artist who deserves attention painted this Book of Hours. His miniatures exhibit a certain freedom with traditional iconography and formal arrangements similar to that of artists in Central France and the Loire Valley. Notable are his softly painted landscape vistas, varied architectural frames, and an especially engaging use of detail in the Annunciation. PROVENANCE: It is challenging to localize the production of this French Book of Hours. Certain material aspects suggest Loire Valley or Central France (Tours, Bourges or Angers). However, since motifs and artists frequently moved between these cities, it is difficult to pinpoint where the book was made, although Bourges or Tours seems most likely. The mention of Metrannus and Amadour, however, suggest that the book was made for someone in Southern France. The manuscript was later owned by the great French bibliophile, Charles de Baschi, Marquis d'Aubaïs (Languedoc)(1686-1777), under whose care the manuscript was placed in its present 18th-century armorial binding. CONDITION: small smudges in a few margins, otherwise in excellent condition. Full description and images available. (BOH 156)