Fitzwilliam Book of Hours

Fitzwilliam Book of Hours

One of the most outstanding treasures in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge: the so-called Fitzwilliam Book of Hours. This masterpiece is a manuscript that arose in Bruges as the beginning of the 16th century, which features 63 full-page miniatures. These amaze with their high-quality execution and varied design. Four important painters partook in its engrossment. It is immediately clear to every beholder that this must have come from the commission of a high-ranking patron, who is still unknown. An impressive work from the flowering of Flemish illumination!

Four Masters of their Craft

63 full-page miniatures altogether are spread across the 370+ pages of the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours. These are surrounded by gorgeous bordures and indicate that the manuscript is something special. Every page of text is also adorned with marginal bordures filled with floral ornamentation and the like. Various colored initials wonderfully round out this homogenous visual impression. Several significant miniaturists were involved with this gorgeous manuscript: alongside the Master of the Dresden Hours (active in Bruges ca. 1480–1515), the Master of James IV of Scotland (ca. 1488–1525), and the Master of St. Michael, the so-called Master of the Add. MS. 15677 is worthy of note, whose names comes from a manuscript in the British Library that is attributed to him.

Perfect Compositions

These masters of illumination created an outstanding masterpiece of the great Flemish tradition of illumination with the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours. The calendar, Psalms, and prayers for various events and saints are wonderfully illustrated with thematically-appropriate miniatures. The themes of the miniatures include the lives of saints, e.g. Saint George or St. Barbara, but also biblical tales such as the encounter between the Three Living and the Three Dead. The large miniatures are each imbedded in a broad, magnificent frame, which visually supplements or simply adorns each depiction. These decorative frames are filled with the typical natural depictions of flowers and fruits, small animals and insects. There are also other pages that emphasize the exceptional mastery of their painter: e.g. the depiction of the architecture of a wonderful shrine, in which the primary miniature is embedded in a thematically-appropriate manner.

The Mysterious Patron

The patron of this outstanding books of hours is still unknown today – an indication of his person** is perhaps the coat-of-arms that was painted over with a cardinal’s hat on one of the pages toward the front. Having said this, the splendor and outstanding quality of the paintings points to a prominent personality, who could afford such a gold-adorned devotional book. The *Fitzwilliam Book of Hours arose in Bruges ca. 1510 and is a marvel of early–16th century Flemish illumination. Its further history and provenance remain mysterious. It came into the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 1975, where it represents one of the treasures of this significant manuscript collection.