Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal - Morgan Library & Museum (MS M

The Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal is an early 16th-century Flemish

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

Breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...

, providing the

divine office Divine Office may refer to: * Liturgy of the Hours, the recitation of certain Christian prayers at fixed hours according to the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church * Canonical hours In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark t ...

according to the Roman ordinal and calendar. It contains the work of several leading miniaturists of the Ghent- Bruges school of Flemish illumination. The "Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximilian" seems to have led the team of artists that produced the codex, which included the Master of James IV of Scotland (who some scholars identify with

Gerard Horenbout Gerard Horenbout (c. 1465–c. 1541) was a Flemish miniaturist, a late example of the miniature tradition in Early Netherlandish painting. He is "likely and widely accepted" to be the Master of James IV of Scotland. Biography Horenbout lived a ...

, court artist to Margaret of Austria), who painted many of the historiated borders, the calendar, as well as the small miniatures in the Ferial Psalter, and the Master of the Prayerbooks of c. 1500 or an artist in his circle. Lesser hands, probably assistants to the Maximilian Master, can also be identified. The breviary belonged originally to Eleanor, Queen of Portugal, who is depicted in prayer before the Virgin and Child in the opening miniature; it is not known, however, whether it was commissioned by the Queen herself, or whether it was a gift to her, (perhaps through the Netherlandish Hapsburg court, by Emperor Maximilian I or Margaret of Austria). It was purchased by J. P. Morgan from the Parisian art dealer Hamburger Frères in 1905: it is now in the collection of the

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th S ...

, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

{{manuscript-stub 16th-century illuminated manuscripts Illuminated breviaries Collection of the Morgan Library & Museum