Book of Hours
illuminator
Jean Bourdichon
(about 1457 - 1521, Tours)
Dateabout 1515-1520
Place MadeFrance, Europe
MediumInk, colors, and gold on parchment
Dimensions16.5 x 10.5 cm (6 1/2 x 4 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession number6.T.1
eMuseum ID721391
EmbARK ObjectID17646
TMS Source ID5902
Last Updated8/9/24
Description1 Vol. ( 131 + 4 leaves, 25 lines) ; parchment ; ill. : 16.5 cm (folio)Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryCourt painter to four kings of France, Jean Bourdichon was best known for manuscript illumination of exquisite refinement and cosmopolitan sophistication. His books of hours mark the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Such richly decorated prayer books were favored by royalty, nobility, and the rich merchant classes who continued to prefer manuscripts to printed books as aids to their daily devotions.
The Book of Hours in the Gardner Museum has remained virtually unstudied. A late work by Bourdichon, it is characterized by ambitious Italianate frames which enclose the main illuminations. The book nonetheless remains intimate and private, the delicately colored scenes compelling close inspection.
Source: Myra Orth, "Book of Hours," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 135.
The Book of Hours in the Gardner Museum has remained virtually unstudied. A late work by Bourdichon, it is characterized by ambitious Italianate frames which enclose the main illuminations. The book nonetheless remains intimate and private, the delicately colored scenes compelling close inspection.
Source: Myra Orth, "Book of Hours," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 135.
BibliographyNotesLeigh & S. Sotheby. A catalogue of the small & elegant library of a late, well-known literary amateur... (London, 20 June 1808), lot 842.
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston: 1922), pp. 18-22. (as French, 16th-17th century)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston: 1935), p. 241. (as French, late 15th century)
Seymour De Ricci and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, Vol. 1 (New York, 1935), p. 931, no. 8. (as probably illuminated by Jean Bourdichon)
John Plummer. The Last Flowering: French Painting in Manuscripts, 1420-1530. Exh. cat. (New York: J. Pierpoint Morgan Library, 1982), p. 83, no. 107. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon)
Ann Farr Snowden. Illuminating the Gardner Hours: A Question of Attribution and Devotion. Master's thesis (Wellesley: Wellesley College, 1985), pp. 1-85, ill. (as illuminated by the workshop of Jean Bourdichon (?), about 1500)
Myra Oaths in Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston: 2003), pp. 134-35. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon, about 1515)
Nicholas Herman. Jean Bourdichon (1457-1521): Tradition, Transition, Renewal. PhD diss. (New York: New York University, 2014), pp. 7-14.
University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, no. 198050, accessed 1 December 2016. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon (?), about 1510)
Nicholas Herman in Jeffrey F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp. 104,133, 144-46, no. 112, ill. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon, about 1515-1520)
Anne-Marie Eze, "Une Femme Bibliophile: Isabella's Book of Hours by Bourdichon," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 21 June 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/une-femme-bibliophile-isabellas-book-hours-bourdichon
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston: 1922), pp. 18-22. (as French, 16th-17th century)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston: 1935), p. 241. (as French, late 15th century)
Seymour De Ricci and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, Vol. 1 (New York, 1935), p. 931, no. 8. (as probably illuminated by Jean Bourdichon)
John Plummer. The Last Flowering: French Painting in Manuscripts, 1420-1530. Exh. cat. (New York: J. Pierpoint Morgan Library, 1982), p. 83, no. 107. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon)
Ann Farr Snowden. Illuminating the Gardner Hours: A Question of Attribution and Devotion. Master's thesis (Wellesley: Wellesley College, 1985), pp. 1-85, ill. (as illuminated by the workshop of Jean Bourdichon (?), about 1500)
Myra Oaths in Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston: 2003), pp. 134-35. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon, about 1515)
Nicholas Herman. Jean Bourdichon (1457-1521): Tradition, Transition, Renewal. PhD diss. (New York: New York University, 2014), pp. 7-14.
University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, no. 198050, accessed 1 December 2016. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon (?), about 1510)
Nicholas Herman in Jeffrey F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp. 104,133, 144-46, no. 112, ill. (as illuminated by Jean Bourdichon, about 1515-1520)
Anne-Marie Eze, "Une Femme Bibliophile: Isabella's Book of Hours by Bourdichon," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 21 June 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/une-femme-bibliophile-isabellas-book-hours-bourdichon
MarksNotesInscribed (third flyleaf): "Catherine Englefield from her beloved husband Henry Englefield"
Affixed (f. 1): Excerpt from Pitt sale [lot 842]
Affixed (f. 1): Excerpt from Pitt sale [lot 842]
ProvenanceNotesGift of Sir Henry Englefield (1715–1780), sixth Baronet, to his second wife, Catharine Buck (1725–1805), after 1751.
Collection of William Pitt of Queen Street, Westminster, London. (possibly the British prime minister William Pitt (1759–1806))
Purchased by the antiquarian and writer on science Sir Henry Charles Englefield (1752(?)-1822), seventh Baronet, from the Pitt sale on 20 January 1808, lot 842.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the antique dealer Consiglio Ricchetti, Venice on 12 August 1890 for 5000 lire.
Collection of William Pitt of Queen Street, Westminster, London. (possibly the British prime minister William Pitt (1759–1806))
Purchased by the antiquarian and writer on science Sir Henry Charles Englefield (1752(?)-1822), seventh Baronet, from the Pitt sale on 20 January 1808, lot 842.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the antique dealer Consiglio Ricchetti, Venice on 12 August 1890 for 5000 lire.
Scuola del Santissimo Sacramento di San Geminiano
1504-1799
Object/Provenance
