MS. Douce 29
Summary Catalogue no.: 21603
Book of Hours, Use of Rome ('The Hours of Eleanora Gonzaga'); Italy, Rome, 1509 × 1538 (before 1527 (?) or c. 1535-7 (?))
Contents
Office of the Virgin (fol. I) and Mass of the Virgin (fol. LVI)
Penitential Psalms (fol. LXV) with litany (fol. LXIX) and prayers (fol. LXXIIII)
Office of the dead (fol. LXXVI v)
Office of the passion (fol. CX: Regem Christum crucifixum)
Office of the Holy Spirit (fol. CXXXII).
Physical Description
Layout
20 long lines
Hand(s)
Humanistic cursive, attributed by Alfred Fairbank (1974) to Lodovico Arrighi (d. 1527?), papal scriptor.
Decoration
Attributed by Otto Pächt (1948) to Vincenzo Raimondi (Raymond of Lodève, documented working in Rome for the papacy from c. 1513 to 1549). (cf. Pächt and Alexander ii. 1006, pl. LXXXII)
Twenty-six full-page miniatures arranged in typological pairs
- Fols. iii v - iv r: arms and illuminated ex libris of Eleonora Gonzaga (see Provenance)
- Matins (fol. iv verso - fol. I r): Moses and the Tablets; Annunciation
- Lauds (fol. XIIII v - XV r): Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate; Visitation
- Prime (fol. XXIII v - XXIIII r): Birth of St John the Baptist; Nativity of Christ
- Terce (fol. XXVII v - XXVIII r): Jacob's Dream; Annunciation to the Shepherds
- Sext (fol. XXXI v - XXXII r): Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; Adoration of the Magi
- None (fols. XXXV v - XXXVI r): Presentation of Samuel in the Temple; Presentation of Christ in the Temple
- Vespers (fols. XXXIX v - XL r): Crossing of the Red Sea; Flight into Egypt
- Compline (fols. XLV v - XLVI r): Solomon's Dream; Christ Teaching in the Temple
- Mass of the Virgin (fols. LV v - LVI r): Israelites Gathering Manna; Last Supper
- Penitential Psalms (fols. LX v - LXI r): Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; David Praying
- Office of the Dead (fol. LXXVI v - LXXVII r): Expulsion from Paradise; Entombment
- Office of the Passion, Matins (fol. CX v - CXI r): Christ Bearing the Cross; Sacrifice of Isaac
- Office of the Holy Spirit (fol. CXXXI v - CXXXII r): Sacrifice of Elijah; Pentecost
All miniatures with borders, many with still-life motifs (fish, birds, etc.), many also with four historiated roundels on each page of an opening.
Initials.
Binding
Red velvet with enamelled clasps, one lost (18th cent.?).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
On fol.iiiv are the arms of the Della Rovere, dukes of Urbino, impaling those of the Gonzaga; fol.iv, illuminated ex libris of Eleonora Gonzaga: ‘LEONORE GONZAGE URBINI DUCI’. Francceso Maria I, duke of Urbino (d. 1538) married Eleanora Gonzaga in 1509. The proposed date 'before 1527' relies on the presumed death of the scribe Lodovico Arrighi in that year; Maria Saffiotti Dale, in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani, edited Milvia Bollati (Milan, 2004), 900-1, suggests c. 1535-7 as more plausible stylistically.
'Purchas'd in Italy by Henrietta Louisa countess of Pomfret' (d. 1761) (note by Douce, fol. ii r)
Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834
Record Sources
Availability
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Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (28 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2024-12: Description revised for publication on Digital Bodleian.