Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts
Hours of Duke Adolph of Cleves, Initial "D" with St. Nicholas; jewels displayed in margin, Walters Manuscript W.439, fol. 64r
This Book of Hours was completed in the 1480s for Adolph, duke of Cleves, count of La Mack, lord of Ravenstein and Wijnendale (1425-92), and member of the entourage of the dukes of Burgundy until 1477 and thereafter in a position of personal trust under Archduke Maximilian, husband of Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482). The manuscript is highly illuminated and includes two portraits of Adolph of Ghent: a full-page miniature portraying the duke kneeling before a portrait of the Virgin and Child (fol. 13v), and a smaller portrait of Adolph revering the Virgin in an initial at the opening of a prayer to Mary (fol. 80v, "O beatissima virgo Maria"). The manuscript was likely made after the year 1470, when Adolph of Cleves married his second wife Anne of Burgundy (1441-1508). The presence of an inscription by Anne of Burgundy (fol. 71r: "A / B votre mieulx aimee / Anne") suggests that she may have commissioned the volume. A full-page illumination of Adolph of Cleves' heraldry includes the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, duke of Burgundy.
To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.
Hours of Duke Adolph of Cleves, Initial "D" with St. Nicholas; jewels displayed in margin, Walters Manuscript W.439, fol. 64r
This Book of Hours was completed in the 1480s for Adolph, duke of Cleves, count of La Mack, lord of Ravenstein and Wijnendale (1425-92), and member of the entourage of the dukes of Burgundy until 1477 and thereafter in a position of personal trust under Archduke Maximilian, husband of Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482). The manuscript is highly illuminated and includes two portraits of Adolph of Ghent: a full-page miniature portraying the duke kneeling before a portrait of the Virgin and Child (fol. 13v), and a smaller portrait of Adolph revering the Virgin in an initial at the opening of a prayer to Mary (fol. 80v, "O beatissima virgo Maria"). The manuscript was likely made after the year 1470, when Adolph of Cleves married his second wife Anne of Burgundy (1441-1508). The presence of an inscription by Anne of Burgundy (fol. 71r: "A / B votre mieulx aimee / Anne") suggests that she may have commissioned the volume. A full-page illumination of Adolph of Cleves' heraldry includes the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, duke of Burgundy.
To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.