Tempera and gold leaf on vellum Workshop of the Boucicaut Master French, early 15th century Books of Hours, especially popular in the late Middle Ages, were private prayer books for lay people. They included texts meant to be read at certain hours of the day, illustrated by exquisitely painted miniatures with elaborate borders, as in this example. The Boucicaut Master, the leading French practitioner of manuscript illumination in the early 1400s, supervised a workshop of illuminators who produced manuscripts for the king of France, the aristocracy and a wealthy merchant class. This book originally comprised up to eleven miniatures, all but four of which were removed, probably in the 19th century.
Early 16th Century Silver and parcel gilt Spanish (Andalucian) This spectacular processional cross was commissioned by Sebastian de Vaquera (now spelled Vaqueira) and his wife, Ana Hernandez, for the church of Santa Maria de Consolacion in the provincial town of Azuaga, in the modern-day province of Extremadura. They made a gift of such magnificence in exchagne for the regular recitation of prayers on behalf of their souls (the Pater Noster and Ave Maria are specifically mentioned). Such a cross was mounted atop a pole and carried in stately processions at the beginning and conclusion of the Mass. The wooded carcass, sheathed with silver, displays numerous figures and much ornamentation fashioned in repousee: the techique of "pushing out" forms, nearly in three dimensions, from behind. The obverse, which you are now facing, features the crucified Christ and mourners at the Crucifixion - the Virgin Mary, Saint John, Mary Magdalene - along with subsidiary roundels framing half-length representations of Old Testaments prophets who foretold the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Directly above Christ's head, emblematic of his own sacrifice, a pelican feeds its young with its own blood. On the reverse, a majestic God the Father is surrounded, in the quatrefoils, by the four Evangelists of the Gospels while the roundels, once again, are reserved for those who prophesied the coming of Christ. The image in the lowest roundel, not identified as a prophet, may be a "portrait" of the donor. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 41-6
