Hours of Catherine of Cleves

Hours of Catherine of Cleves

This especially gorgeous and lovingly made book of hours, whose origins with regard to the patron are still unknown, was probably made for Catherine of Cleves (1417–1479) since she is depicted at the beginning of the book in a miniature painting (fol. 1 verso). Her name is connected to the powerful family of the dukes of Burgundy (on the mother's side by their grandfather John the Fearless), as well as the Lower Rhine-Westphalian Duchy of Cleves, (through her father Duke Adolf II). Due to her marriage with Arnold von Egmond, the Duke of Guelders and the Baron of Zutphen, she was displaced from her sphere of action in the Netherlands, which was the center of art in the early 15th century.

An Unknown Master in Top Form

Through the commission of this manuscript, she as patron laid the cornerstone for an authoritative work of late medieval illumination in the Netherlands. The anonymous "Master of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves" has not only created the forerunner for such important works as the famous Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy, but also skillfuly influenced the most important art movements and artists of his time and anticipated coming visual subjects like genre painting.

The Splendid Adornment

The miniatures of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves are characterized by their surprising pictorial inventions, which present the popular depictions of well-known scenes in a richly detailed and exciting manner, often in a sophisticated new way. Thus, one finds full-page scenes among the 157 miniatures of the book with a strong richness and an artistic composition that is no way inferior to 15th century panel painting. Additionally, there are a multitude of half-page miniatures as well as small, lovingly painted marginal scenes depicting the real lifeworld of the Late Middle Ages that are skillfuly interwoven with depictions of saints, which are typical of devotional and prayer books of this time. All of this is naturally framed with ornamental frames, which appear to be the signature of the unknown artist who crafted the book. The beholder will be amazed by the gorgeous, nearly 600-year-old pictures depicted, which will surely cast a spell on any manuscript enthusiast.

Reunited Only by a Stroke of Luck

Like so many precious illuminated medieval book treasures, this Late Gothic manuscript also fell victim to the ruthlessly profit-driven art trade of the 19th century. It was dismantled into its individual parts and bound, in a completely arbitrary order, into two “new” codices that appeared more or less complete, each of which was subsequently traded as “the” Hours of Catherine of Cleves. In 1963, the Pierpont Morgan Library was able to purchase the part that had been in the Rothschild Collection. In 1970, the library succeeded in acquiring the other part from the collection of Alastair Bradley Martin (1917–2010). Now both parts could be thoroughly examined and compared from a scholarly perspective. In the process, the then-curator of medieval manuscripts, John Plummer (1919–2019), recognized that both books had once formed a single, coherent book of hours: the original Hours of Catherine of Cleves. In 2011, the Morgan Library decided to rebind the two codices and restore the shuffled pages to their original order.