Resplendissantes enluminures

5 Sep 2018 — 6 Jan 2019 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada

25 September 2018

Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.

This is the very first exhibition at the MMFA dedicated to the books of hours in medieval and Renaissance art offering a chance to discover an overlooked heritage through a remarkable selection of illuminations and bound manuscripts preserved in Quebec, dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

Books of hours were created for lay people and were popularized by the Christian faithful. These manuscripts were, for the most part, personalized and illuminated with miniature paintings―or illuminations―illustrating the life of Christ, the saints or the Virgin Mary.

They incorporated a calendar of holy and religious feasts, passages from the gospels and prayers. The result of significant academic research, this exhibition comprises more than 50 artifacts (leaves, complete manuscripts, prints), which offer a closer look of these treasures gathered from seven collections.

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) was one of the first museums in North America to build up an encyclopedic collection worthy of the name. It now numbers over 41,000 works from Antiquity to today, making it unique in Canada.

Museum profile

Location

Montreal, Canada

Founded in

1860

Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.
Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.
Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.

Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.
Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.
Seven miniatures from a breviary. Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. About 1470, Rouen. Sept miniatures taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University librarian, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. MS 102/1 to 102/7. Catalogue raisonné: notice no. 25.