Heures Juvisy Montferrand (Use of Rome)

Hours for the use of Rome, by the Master of Jean d'Albret the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle.

Paris, ca. 1500. 2 ff. paper, 124 parchment leaves (numbered 123; error at 104), 2 ff. paper. Calendar written in blue, red, gold ink, on two columns, justification 68 x 74 mm, text on 29 lines, justification 114x 74 mm, textura writing, ff. 14r and 14v, 70v, 84v, 90v, 124v blank. Dimensions : 205 x 140 mm. 

Full red morocco, 17th century pastiche, boards surrounded by a double frame of gilt fillets with central motif in small gilt irons, smooth spine surrounded by three gilt fillets, gilt edges, back covers and endpapers of embossed paper decorated with flowers in green tones. Copy preserved in a soft case in full eggplant morocco, lining in calfskin of the same shade, round spine decorated with the title and the date stamped in gold (Loutrel, 2018).

HOURS FOR THE USE OF ROME.

TEXT :
ff. 1-6v         Calendar with a saint for each day of the year.
ff. 7-13v       Passion.
ff. 15-19v     Pericopes of the 4 Gospels.
ff. 20-25       O bsecro te.
ff. 26-70v     The Hours of the Virgin Mary for the use of Rome
ff. 71-84       Penitential psalms followed by the litanies with s. Gervais, s. Protais and s. Giusti. Gervais, s. Protais, s. Denis, and s. Geneviève.
ff. 85-90       Hours of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit.
ff. 91-117     Office of the Dead according to the usage of Rome.
ff. 117v-123  Suffrages of the Trinity in the middle of the page, the other miniatures are painted in the text of saints Michael, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Peter and Paul, Sebastian, Nicholas, saints Anne, Mary Magdalene, Catherine, Barbara and Margaret.

MINIATURES:
13 large miniatures, 6 mid-page miniatures and 33 small miniatures. 24 small miniatures in the calendar placed above the columns by the Master of Jean d'Albret :

f.1       January: man at table with his servant and Aquarius. 
f. 1v    February : man warming himself by a fire and fish. 
f. 2      March: pruning of vines and ram. 
f. 2v    April : woman holding a golden flower and bull. 
f. 3      May : man on horseback holding a bird on his arm and Gemini.
f. 3v    June : reaper and cancer. 
f. 4      July: harvest and lion. 
f. 4v    August: sifting of wheat and virgin. 
f. 5      September: crushing of grapes and scales. 
f. 5v    October: sowing and scorpio 
f. 6      November: tassel and sagittarius. 
f. 6v    December: baker and capricorn. 
f. 7      Betrayal of Judas, master of Jean d'Albret. 
f. 15    St. John on the island of Patmos, with eagle at his side, landscape by the Master of John of Albret. Note the frame with twisted columns  and acanthus leaves. The figure of St. John returns to the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. 
f. 16v  Halfway down the page, s. Luc and the bull, Master of Jean d'Albret. 
f. 17v  Mid-page, s. Matthew and the angel, Master of John of Albret. 
f. 19    Mid-page, s. Marc and the lion, beautiful coloring of purple, orange, blue and green, Master of Jean d'Albret. 
f. 20    Mid-page, Virgin at prayer, Master of Jean d'Albret.  
f. 22v  Half page, Virgin and Child surrounded by two angels, Master of Jean d'Albret.  
f. 25v  Tree of Jesse, Master of John of Albret. The power of the tree of Jesse is remarkable.
The Virgin and Child are by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle.   
f. 26    Annunciation, Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. 
f. 32    Visitation, the Virgin by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle.                
           Elizabeth is wearing a large hat. Joseph is standing behind the Virgin. We notice the characteristic landscape of the Master of Jean d'Albret with trees composed of touches of dark green enhanced by two lighter greens.  
f. 40    Nativity, Master of Jean d'Albret. The shepherds stand behind the stable.                
           The power of Joseph and the precision of the modeling of his face are admirable.                
           The Virgin by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. 
f. 43    The Announcement to the Shepherds, Master of Jean d'Albret. 
f. 46    The Adoration of the Magi, Master of Jean d'Albret.                
           The Virgin and Child by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle and the canopy with its round motifs.   
f. 49    The Presentation in the Temple, Master of Jean d'Albret.                
           The Virgin and Child by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle.                
           The maid holds a candle, an allusion to the feast of Candlemas. 
f. 52    Flight to Egypt, Master of Jean d'Albret.                
           The Virgin and Child by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. Characteristic landscape by the Master of Jean d'Albret, with trees and blue hills. 
f. 59    Coronation of the Virgin, Master of Jean d'Albret.                
           The Virgin by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle.                
           Clouds of red, gold and blue seraphim.                
           Note again the twisted column frames.  
f. 71    David and Bathsheba at the Bath, Master of Jean d'Albret. Bathsheba by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle; she is dressed and    wears a golden headdress.
f. 86    Crucifixion, the centurion is on horseback, Master of Jean d'Albret.                
           Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. 
f.88     Pentecost, Master of Jean d'Albret.                
           The Virgin reading her hours by the Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. Here again, one can admire the power of Saint Peter at prayer, in the right foreground, and the precision of the modeling of his face. 
f. 91    Job on the dunghill visited by his wife and friends, Master of John of Albret. 
f. 117v Mid-page, Trinity, Master of Jean d'Albret. 

Suffrages illuminated with small miniatures in the text by the Master of Jean d'Albret: 
f. 118 s. Michel 
f. 118v s. Jean-Baptiste 
f. 119 s. John the Evangelist 
f. 119v ff. Peter and Paul 
f. 120 s. Sebastian
f. 120v s. Nicolas
f. 121 St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read 
f. 121v St. Mary Magdalene 
f. 122 St. Catherine
f. 122v ste Barbe
f. 123 ste Marguerite escaping from the dragon 

Borders on parchment background, with hybrids. Initials, letters in the shape of white or blue scrolls on gold background with sometimes in the field birds, flowers or flies. Small initials on blue and red background, with gold body.  Line ends with scaled trunks.

ATTRIBUTION :
The Master of Jean d'Albret. I named this illuminator whose hand is recognized in two incunabula intended for Jean III of Navarre, count of Périgord and viscount of Limoges, lord of Albret (1469-1516). Namely, Raoul le Fèvre, Le Recueil des histoires troiennes, ca 1494 (M.-B. Winn, Anthoine Vérard Parisian Publisher 1485-1512. Prologues, poems and presentations, Travaux d'humanisme et Renaissance, n° CCCXIII, Geneva, 1997, p. 198-199, 349, fig. 5. 10c) and Sébastien Brant, La Nef des fous (Winn, 1997, p. 198, fig. 4. 26). This miniaturist is well known in Parisian illumination of the years 1490-1510, for example in Jehan Massue, Les Marguerites hystoriales, ca. 1495 (Paris, BnF. fr. 955), or in La Vie de très Glorieuse royne madame saincte Radegonde (Paris, BnF. Ms. fr. 1784). His style is easily recognizable in the Hours of Maître Jean de Launay, procureur au Parlement (of Paris?) (Baltimore W. 448) . He is distinguished by the representation of faces of triangular shape in their lower part. The contours of the eyes are very marked. The paintings are often framed by a black or burgundy net, the hair painted brown or black, enhanced with gold waves seem to undulate. He illustrated an Office of Saint Hubert, offered in 1493 by the bookseller Geoffroy de Marnef to the brotherhood of this name (Paris, Arsenal, ms. 168). He collaborated on numerous editions of the bookseller Antoine Vérard: the Grandes Heures Royales of Anne de Beaujeu, 20 VIII 1490 (Winn, 1997, p. 195, fig. 4. 25), those of Charles d'Angoulême, ca 1492 (Winn, 1997, p. 159, fig. 4. 12), the Kalendrier des Bergers, 18 April 1493, presented to the king by A. Vérard. He also worked for other booksellers such as Thielmann Kerver and in 1510 for Gillet Hardouyn. We notice here the original iconography of the baker in December in the calendar. The beautiful Virgin with the Blue Veil derives from a model by Jean Bourdichon recently acquired by the Musée de Cluny (Cl. 23798, see Thermes et hôtel de Cluny musée national du Moyen Âge. Œuvres nouvelles, 1995-2005, edited by E. Tabouret-Delaye, 10 May-25 Sept. 2006, cat. 35). The model was popular in Paris. Eight miniatures corresponding to this prototype are known (see I. Delaunay, Échanges artistiques entre livres d'heures manuscrits et imprimés produits à Paris (vers 1480-1500), doctoral thesis under the direction of F. Joubert, vol. 2, notice de Carpentras ms. 54, pp. 28-31).  

The Master of the Scandalous Chronicle. He owes his name to the manuscript of Jean de Roye, Chronique parisienne du temps de Louis XI, the copy of which was completed in 1502 for a member of the Dammartin family (Paris, BnF. ms. Clair. 481). He worked for a princely clientele and his career took place between 1491 and 1510. He illuminated numerous incunabula by Antoine Vérard for King Charles VIII, for whom he also made wonderful Très Petites Heures (Drouot, 4 XII 2000, lot 25). He illustrated two magnificent manuscripts for Anne of Brittany, that of her Coronation, preserved at Waddesdon Manor (22) and Ovid's Epistles, by Octavien de Saint-Gelais (Christie's, London, 7 July 2010, lot n° 42). He also served Marguerite of Austria and Philippe de Gueldres, duchess of Lorraine (N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, Paris, BnF. 1993, n° 150-151; France 1500, entre Moyen Âge et Renaissance, Paris, Grand Palais, 2010-2011, n° 105, 107). 

PROVENANCE:
- the Parisian bookseller C. Privat who acquired it in 1975, with a note in his hand: "manuscript bought 66 000 [francs] on April 15, 1975 from Philippe Lehideux in Neuilly, 16 avenue du Parc St James, husband of Mme née Giselle d'Hespel, daughter of Countess Hubert d'Hespel née Henriette de Sonis." - Giselle d'Hespel (1905 - 2000) - Countess Hubert d'Hespel née Henriette de Sonis (1882 - 1973) - M Fernande Caroline PAJOT DE JUVISY MONFERRAND (1862-1913), married to Albert de Sonis Indeed, the manuscript was in a 19th century binding by R. Raparlier: red morocco, vellum lining and endpapers, figure [MJ] crowned in gold in the center of the upper counter cover. This figure is certainly that of Mary de Juvisy-Montferrand, mother of Henriette de Sonis. Charles Pajot de Juvisy (born around 1765), captain of cavalry, married to mademoiselle de Montferrand, daughter of the marquis de Montferrand, sixteenth and last of the name. Their son, Charles-Louis-Armand Pajot de Juvisy obtained to join the two names by an order of Louis-Philippe dated February 17, 1843. It is certainly him who had the book bound by Raparlier shortly afterwards and it is natural that his number is "MJ", i.e. that the M is placed before the J considering the title of Marquis.