Sales catalogue: Quaritch

Date:
1st January 1885
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/17/37
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue: Quaritch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BIBLIOTHECA HISPANA. [Spanish and Portuguese works relating to America or to India well be found in special catalogues of Geography. | I. MANUSCRIPTS. 26825 HORS. Prayer- Book of Ysabelof Portugal, daughter of Ysabel la Catolica, Queen of Castile, 12mo. magnificent illuminated MS. on Vellum, enriched with exquisite miniatures and borders on every page by the hand of a Flemish artist, probably GrraERT Davip oF Bruges, or his wife Catherine (minia- turists of the famous Grimani Breviary), embodté in a sixteenth-century mosaic binding, bearing the name of “Tho. Maioli et amicorum,’ £750. = a.p. 1497-8 The loveliest example of Miniature-Art which has appeared for sale in the open market during the last fifty years. Even the splendid Giulio Clovio of the Townley sale must yield the palm to this little MS., when we consider that, beyond the exquisite and delicately painted miniatures, it contains nearly 500 charming borders with an infinite variety of flowers, fruits, birds, and butterflies, for surpassing the famous volumes decorated by French artists in the fifteenth century. In this work we can trace the hand of Gerard of Bruges, a miniaturist of the very highest rank, born about 1450-60, many of whose works were formerly attributed to Hans Memlinc, and who is now generally recognized as the principal illuminator of the Grimani Breviary. It was probably destined as a present from Philip of Austria, or from his wife Juana (la Loca) to her sister Tsabel of Portugal ; and may therefore be assigned to the period between the years 1497, when King Emanuel wedded the younger Isabel, and 1498, when she died. The letters y y frequently repeated in the borders, stand probably both for Ysabel and for Yuana, but there is no doubt that they designate a Spanish princess ; and even much of the decorative painting betrays genuine Spanish work, perhaps by the assistant hand of Juan de Borgofia or Pedro de Berruguete. The calligraphy throughout is Spanish, and although the body of the book is in Latin, and according to the Roman use, the last prayer in the volume (occupying five pages) is in Spanish. It is a translation of “la Oracion de Sant Gregorio Papa,” but with a curious and significant modification: the sex of the worshipper is made feminine. This might seem to indicate the devout Catholic 181