Munich-Montserrat Hours
Measuring only 10 x 14 cm, the Munich-Montserrat Hours initially appears completely unremarkable. It presumably originated at the behest of Alonso de Idiaquez (1497–1547), who was the royal secretary for Carlos I of Spain. The Flemish miniature painter and illustrator Simon Bening was responsible for the artistic décor. He adorned the 468 pages of the small book with 19 full-page miniatures as well as numerous historiated initials and ostentatious bordures with floral patterns. His primary focus rested on the natural depiction of landscapes. Dramatic waves or summery woods make up the backdrops for farmers working in the field, chopping wood, or shearing sheep.
Munich-Montserrat Hours
The small Munich-Montserrat Hours comes from the Belgian town of Bruges. There it originated ca. 1540, presumably at the behest of Alonso Idiaquez (1497–1547), who was the royal secretary for Carlos I of Spain. The book contains 19 full-page miniatures, 20 small initials, five large historiated initials, and 20 bordures with floral patterns on 468 pages. The extremely detailed paintings originate from Simon Bening (ca. 1483–1561), who was born in either Bruges or Antwerp. The Flemish miniature painter and illustrator was already praised during his own lifetime as the best master of illuminator in all of Europe – and certainly not without good reason. An equally richly illustrated calendar opens the book with the liturgy of the hours for literate laymen.
Breathtaking Landscapes
The theme of the full-page miniatures is concentrated on the landscapes. The reader is shown stormy days with dramatic waves, the farmers’ summer harvest, chopping wood in winter, or the sheering of sheep consistent with the calendar year. Small subplots continuously guide the gaze of the beholder, urging them to constantly discover something new. It is impressive with what attention to detail Bening examines the seasons with their varying weather and which he attempted to portray as accurately as possible.
A Small Book in Many Places
Today, the small book is divided between Europe and the USA. The largest section of the manuscript is found in the Bibliotheca de la Abadía Montserrat in Barcelona. The remaining parts as well as the calendar and a few miniatures are stored in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in München. The two miniatures of the Mass of Saint Gregory and the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian are found today in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Pequeñas Horas de Montserrat
Horas de Múnich - Montserrat
Müchner-Montserrat Stundenbuch - Size / Format
- 468 pages / 14.0 × 10.0 cm
- Origin
- Belgium
- Date
- 1535
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Script
- Gothic Textura
- Illustrations
- 19 full-page and 20 small initials, 5 large historiated initials and many smaller initials, and 20 bordures decorated in floral motifs
- Content
- Book of hours with spectecular calendar pages
- Patron
- Alonso de Idiaquez (possibly)
- Artist / School
- Simon Bening
- Previous Owners
- Alonso de Idiaquez
Munich-Montserrat Hours
January: Chopping Wood
January was a time of great boredom for medieval peasants as there was not much to do aside from tend the animals and keep warm. As such, we see a man chopping wood while a woman and boy gather up the pieces. Piglets can be seen running around in the yard, indicating that this family of farmers is well-off because pigs fetched a high price at market, but were also expensive to feed through the winter. This dynamic scene is a fine example of Simon Bening’s famous labors of the month.
Munich-Montserrat Hours
Creation of Eve
While Adam is sleeping underneath a tree heavy with fruit, Eve emerges from his side and is blessed by God the Father, who is dressed in luxurious robes and a papal tiara highlighted with precious gold. Adam and Eve are depicted twice more in the distance: eating from the Tree of Knowledge on the left and being subsequently chased from Paradise by an angel on the right.
The Garden of Eden is depicted as being incredibly lush with Adam lying on a soft bed of green leaves and various animals either drinking from the stream or wandering about the trees. In this stream we see the Fountain of Life, carved with figures in the Gothic style. Tree-covered hills and mountains appear blurred in the distance as though the Garden were enshrouded in a protective haze.
#1 Horas de Munich - Montserrat (Pequeñas Horas de Montserrat)
Language: Spanish
(3,000€ - 7,000€)
#2 Triptico de Montserrat (Library Edition)
Language: Spanish
(over 10,000€)
#3 Triptico de Montserrat (Deluxe Edition)
Language: Spanish
(over 10,000€)
- Treatises / Secular Books
- Apocalypses / Beatus
- Astronomy / Astrology
- Bestiaries
- Bibles / Gospels
- Chronicles / History / Law
- Geography / Maps
- Saints' Lives
- Islam / Oriental
- Judaism / Hebrew
- Single Leaf Collections
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Literature / Poetry
- Liturgical Manuscripts
- Medicine / Botany / Alchemy
- Music
- Mythology / Prophecies
- Psalters
- Other Religious Books
- Games / Hunting
- Private Devotion Books
- Other Genres
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Lebanon
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Palestine
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Serbia
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Aboca Museum
- Ajuntament de Valencia
- Akademie Verlag
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)
- Aldo Ausilio Editore - Bottega d’Erasmo
- Alecto Historical Editions
- Alkuin Verlag
- Almqvist & Wiksell
- Amilcare Pizzi
- Andreas & Andreas Verlagsbuchhandlung
- Archa 90
- Archiv Verlag
- Archivi Edizioni
- Arnold Verlag
- ARS
- Ars Magna
- ArtCodex
- AyN Ediciones
- Azimuth Editions
- Badenia Verlag
- Bärenreiter-Verlag
- Belser Verlag
- Belser Verlag / WK Wertkontor
- Benziger Verlag
- Bernardinum Wydawnictwo
- BiblioGemma
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vaticanstadt, Vaticanstadt)
- Bibliotheca Palatina Faksimile Verlag
- Bibliotheca Rara
- Boydell & Brewer
- Bramante Edizioni
- Bredius Genootschap
- Brepols Publishers
- British Library
- C. Weckesser
- Caixa Catalunya
- Canesi
- CAPSA, Ars Scriptoria
- Caratzas Brothers, Publishers
- Carus Verlag
- Casamassima Libri
- Chavane Verlag
- Christian Brandstätter Verlag
- Circulo Cientifico
- Club Bibliófilo Versol
- Club du Livre
- CM Editores
- Collegium Graphicum
- Collezione Apocrifa Da Vinci
- Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses
- Coron Verlag
- Corvina
- CTHS
- D. S. Brewer
- Damon
- De Agostini/UTET
- De Nederlandsche Boekhandel
- De Schutter
- Deuschle & Stemmle
- Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft
- DIAMM
- Droz
- E. Schreiber Graphische Kunstanstalten
- Ediciones Boreal
- Ediciones Grial
- Ediclube
- Edições Inapa
- Edilan
- Editalia
- Edition Deuschle
- Edition Georg Popp
- Edition Leipzig
- Edition Libri Illustri
- Editiones Reales Sitios S. L.
- Éditions de l'Oiseau Lyre
- Editions Medicina Rara
- Editorial Casariego
- Editorial Mintzoa
- Editrice Antenore
- Editrice Velar
- Edizioni Edison
- Egeria, S.L.
- Eikon Editores
- Electa
- Emery Walker Limited
- Enciclopèdia Catalana
- Eos-Verlag
- Ephesus Publishing
- Ernst Battenberg
- Eugrammia Press
- Extraordinary Editions
- Fackelverlag
- Facsimila Art & Edition
- Facsimile Editions Ltd.
- Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG
- Faksimile Verlag
- Feuermann Verlag
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
- Friedrich Wittig Verlag
- Fundación Hullera Vasco-Leonesa
- G. Braziller
- Gabriele Mazzotta Editore
- Gebr. Mann Verlag
- Gesellschaft für graphische Industrie
- Getty Research Institute
- Giovanni Domenico de Rossi
- Giunti Editore
- Graffiti
- Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
- Guido Pressler
- Guillermo Blazquez
- Gustav Kiepenheuer
- H. N. Abrams
- Harrassowitz
- Helikon
- Hendrickson Publishers
- Henning Oppermann
- Herder Verlag
- Hes & De Graaf Publishers
- Hoepli
- Holbein-Verlag
- Hortus Deliciarum
- Houghton Library
- Hugo Schmidt Verlag
- Idion Verlag
- Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte
- ILte
- Imago
- Insel Verlag
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
- Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani
- Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini
- Istituto Geografico De Agostini
- Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
- Italarte Art Establishments
- J. Thorbecke
- Jan Thorbecke Verlag
- Johnson Reprint Corporation
- Josef Stocker
- Josef Stocker-Schmid
- Jugoslavija
- Karl W. Hiersemann
- Kasper Straube
- Kaydeda Ediciones
- Kindler Verlag / Coron Verlag
- Kodansha International Ltd.
- Konrad Kölbl Verlag
- Kurt Wolff Verlag
- La Liberia dello Stato
- La Linea Editrice
- La Meta Editore
- Lambert Schneider
- Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg
- Leo S. Olschki
- Les Incunables
- Library of Congress
- Libreria Musicale Italiana
- Lichtdruck
- Lito Immagine Editore
- Lumen Artis
- Lund Humphries
- M. Moleiro Editor
- Maison des Sciences de l'homme et de la société de Poitiers
- Manuscriptum
- Martinus Nijhoff
- Maruzen-Yushodo Co. Ltd.
- MASA
- McGraw-Hill
- Militos
- Millennium Liber
- Müller & Schindler
- Nahar and Steimatzky
- National Library of Wales
- Neri Pozza
- Nova Charta
- Oceanum Verlag
- Odeon
- Orbis Mediaevalis
- Orbis Pictus
- Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
- Oxford University Press
- Pageant Books
- Parzellers Buchverlag
- Patrimonio Ediciones
- Pattloch Verlag
- PIAF
- Pieper Verlag
- Plon-Nourrit et cie
- Prestel Verlag
- Princeton University Press
- Prisma Verlag
- Priuli & Verlucca, editori
- Pro Sport Verlag
- Propyläen Verlag
- Pytheas Books
- Quaternio Verlag Luzern
- Reales Sitios
- Recht-Verlag
- Reichert Verlag
- Reichsdruckerei
- Riehn & Reusch
- Roberto Vattori Editore
- Rosenkilde and Bagger
- Roxburghe Club
- Salerno Editrice
- Sarajevo Svjetlost
- Schöck ArtPrint Kft.
- Scolar Press
- Scrinium
- Scripta Maneant
- Scriptorium
- Siloé, arte y bibliofilia
- SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo
- Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología
- Société des Bibliophiles & Iconophiles de Belgique
- Soncin Publishing
- Sorli Ediciones
- Stainer and Bell
- Studer
- Styria Verlag
- Sumptibus Pragopress
- Szegedi Tudomànyegyetem
- Taberna Libraria
- Tarshish Books
- Taschen
- Tempus Libri
- Testimonio Compañía Editorial
- Thames and Hudson
- The Clear Vue Publishing Partnership Limited
- The Facsimile Codex
- The Folio Society
- The Marquess of Normanby
- The Richard III and Yorkist History Trust
- Tip.Le.Co
- TouchArt
- TREC Publishing House
- TRI Publishing Co.
- Trident Editore
- Typis Regiae Officinae Polygraphicae
- Union Verlag Berlin
- Universidad de Granada
- University of California Press
- University of Chicago Press
- Urs Graf
- Vallecchi
- Van Wijnen
- VCH, Acta Humaniora
- VDI Verlag
- VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik
- Verlag Anton Pustet / Andreas Verlag
- Verlag der Münchner Drucke
- Verlag für Regionalgeschichte
- Verlag Styria
- Vicent Garcia Editores
- W. Turnowsky
- Waanders Printers
- Wiener Mechitharisten-Congregation (Wien, Österreich)
- Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft
- Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie
- Xuntanza Editorial
- Zakład Narodowy
- Zollikofer AG