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Maker(s):Unknown
Culture:Flemish
Title:Book of Hours
Date Made:15th century
Type:Book/Manuscript/Document
Materials:Opaque watercolor on vellum, brown leather binding, gold-stamped title on red leather back label, and silver clasp
Place Made:Europe; Flanders; Bruges
Measurements:Overall: 3 3/8 in x 2 3/4 in x 1 1/8 in; 8.6 cm x 7 cm x 2.9 cm
Accession Number:  MH 1964.7.L.PI
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Norah McCarter Warbeke
Museum Collection:  Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
mh_1964_7_l_pi_v1_01.jpg

Description:
Book of hours with 100 illuminated pages and 8 full-page miniature paintings

Label Text:
The Book of Hours was an essential accoutrement for private devotion in the late Middle Ages. This miniature of King David precedes the Seven Penitential Psalms, recited for the atonement of one’s sins and the sins of the deceased, in order to save the soul from damnation and to reduce time spent in purgatory. The representation of King David serves as both author portrait and as a model for the book owner’s devotional practice.

David, guilty of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, looks to the heavens for God’s forgiveness. Instead, he is confronted by a golden archangel brandishing a sword, evoking the words of the facing Psalm:

Oh Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy
wrath. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak…Turn to me,
O Lord, and deliver my soul.
(Psalm 6)

Although penance is the subject of the illumination, its appearance revels in worldly power and beauty, evident in David’s rich garments, his grand castle set within a bucolic and finely detailed landscape, and lush, colorful borders of berries, flowers, and leaves. As in contemporary scenes of David spying on the nude Bathsheba, atonement and pleasure coexist.

-Christine Geisler Andrews

-Christine Geisler Andrews, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History, Mount Holyoke College
Global Perspectives: Exploring the Art of Devotion (February 9 - May 30, 2010)

Tags:
biblical; Christianity; text

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+1964.7.L.PI

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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