Virgin of Litanies - c 1505 Book of Hours Leaf

$0.00

Original leaf from a printed Renaissance Book of Hours. Latin text in red and black on hand-made paper. Closed tear upper left corner.

Printed by Thielman Kerver.  Reference: Bohatta 810/813. (180 x 115mm - 7.2 x 4.6"). 

Paris, (Use of Rome), c. 1505.  

Noted for its DECORATIVE BORDERS - the paneled surrounds are historiated or inhabited. The panel, recto, relates the medieval concept of the Dance of Death and contains the printer's device for Thielman Kerver in the form of a coat-of-arms.

The full-page panel depicts The Virgin of the Litanies: The Virgin is centered, frontal, hovering barefoot with hands folded. She is blessed by the half-figure of God-Father (centered against starry sky at top) in papal tiara with cross-topped orb in left hand. Cloud banks are in each corner with the top two linked by a scroll inscribed ‘tota pulcra es amica mea et macula non est in te’ (Thou art all fair, O my love, & there is not a spot in thee – Song of Solomon, 4:7). 15 labeled symbols of the Virgin surround the central figure (clockwise): Star; Lily; Towers connected by walls; Olive tree; Mirror; Fountain; Walled city; Fenced garden divided into 4 flower beds by cross-shaped path; Well; Foliate stalk with 2 blossoms; Young cedar; Foliate stalk with four roses; Moon with face; Sun; Gateway to heaven between two towers (Similar depiction: Walters Cat. 203).

Text opens Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which had its origin in the rite of the Eastern Church, brought to Western Europe from the Greek communities in Sicily (9th century). The feast was formally accepted & prescribed by the Franciscans in 1263. Pope Sixtus IV (himself a Franciscan) approved the inclusion of the feast in the curial Roman missal in 1476, which led to an almost immediate acceptance all over the church from 1477. 

Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat.

  • Inventory# IM-7300
Sold Out