The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

The Gotha Missal

c. 1375

and Workshop

France, Paris

ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; blind-tooled leather binding

Codex: 28.3 x 20.6 x 4.8 cm (11 1/8 x 8 1/8 x 1 7/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1962.287

Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The artist received his name because of his tendency to draw trees that resembled little mushrooms.

Description

The style and quality of this manuscript's decoration is typical of deluxe Parisian books made for aristocratic or royal patrons. Most of the book's decoration appears to be the work of the Master of the Boqueteaux, an artist active at the court of King Charles V (died 1380). His style was apparently shared by a number of book illuminators working in and around Paris. It is very possible that the Gotha Missal belonged to Charles V, but is not provable because the manuscript has no royal portraits and lacks a colophon. Given the book's magnificent decoration, however, it would seem that it was produced for a Valois prince, if not for the king himself. The manuscript receives its name from the German dukes of Gotha, its later owners.

1720
J. B. Huhn
1745
Dukes of Gotha
1950
Earl of Denbigh, Sale: Southey's, 4/3/1950, Lot 1
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
1961
Mrs. Gordon Mathias, Sale: Southey's 6/5/1961, lot 177)
?-1962
H. P. Kraus, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1962-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
H.P. Kraus (Firm). Thirty-Five Manuscripts: Including the St. Blasien Psalter, the Llangattock Hours, the Gotha Missal, the Roger Bacon (Voynich) Cipher Ms. New York, N.Y.: H.P. Kraus, 1962. pp. 32-39
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The Art Quarterly, (Summer 1963) p. 250, 256
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{{cite web|title=The Gotha Missal|url=false|author=Master of the Boqueteaux, Workshop|year=c. 1375|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.287