Black books of hours

Folios from the "Black Hours of Charles the Bold". Celebration of the Mass

The term Black books of hours refers to a type of Flemish illuminated manuscript lettered on vellum soaked on black dye or ink before they were lettered or illustrated, usually with gold or silver leaf, to an unusual and dramatic effect. There are seven surviving examples, mostly dating from 1460–70.

The parchment was soaked in an iron-copper solution and as a result could only be inscribed with gold or silver lettering. The process was both expensive and corrosive to parchment, so surviving examples are few and generally in poor condition. These manuscripts were produced in the mid to late 15th century for high-ranking members of the court of Philip the Bold and, given their novel visual appeal, were probably prized more highly than more conventional books of hours.^[1]

The Burgundian court had a preference for dark, somber colourisation, and the extant works in this style were mostly commissioned for them. Only the most wealthy nobility could have afforded such books, and a contemporary taste for mournful colours - often reflected in the styles of the day - was reflected in the black, gold and silver of the manuscripts.^[2] Some of the miniatures in the books, notably in the Morgan library Black Hours, are linked to a follower of Willem Vrelant due to stylistic resemblance to faces from some of his known works.^[2]

Examples

The surviving manuscript of this type include;

• Horae Beatae Marie Secundum usum curie romane, c 1458, unfinished, now in the collection of the Hispanic Society of America in New York^[3]
• Black Hours, Morgan Library, New York^[4]
• Black Hours of Charles the Bold,^[5] Austrian National Library, Vienna
• MS 836, Bibliothèque de Valenciennes
• Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Hours of Mary of Burgundy,^[6] Austrian National Library

Gallery

• 

  Horae Beatae Marie Secundum usum curie romane, c 1458

• 

  Pentecost (18v/19r); "Black Hours", c 1475, Morgan Library

• 

  Folios from the "Hours of Mary of Burgundy", c 1477

See also

• Purple parchment

References

Notes

1. Ingo, 372
2. Ingo, 373
3. "Horae beatae marie secundum usum curie romane ". columbia.edu. Retrieved 10 October, 2015
4. "The Black Hours". Morgan Library. Retrieved 5 October 2015
5. De Schryver, 251
6. Harthan, 108

Sources

• Facsimile Ausgabe von Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, M. 493. Luzern: Faksimile Verlag Luzern, 2001
• Bousmanne, Bernard (ed). Black Book of Hours; Scientific commentary. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 2001
• De Schryver, Antoine. The Prayer Book of Charles the Bold. CF: Getty Publications, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8923-6943-0
• Harthan, John. Book Of Hours, Random House, 2008. ISBN 978-0-5173-6944-9
• Ulrike Jenni und Dagmar Thoss, Das Schwartze Gebetbuch. Codex 1856 der Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Faksimile), Frankfurt am Main, Insel-Verlag, 1982
• Walther, Ingo. Codices Illustres. Berlin: Taschen Verlag, 2001. ISBN 978-3-8228-6023-6