The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Visitation

Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Visitation

c. 1415

workshop of Boucicaut Master

(French, Paris, active about 1410–25)
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Sheet: 17 x 12.7 cm (6 11/16 x 5 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1953.366.1
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Highly customizable, the order of a book of hours shifts, and individual prayers vary, sometimes significantly, from region to region.

Description

The heart of every book of hours is the Hours of the Virgin. With this set of prayers, the reader asked the Virgin Mary to intercede on their behalf. The prayers come mostly from the Bible and include psalms, hymns, and readings. The Hours of the Virgin emerged from the eight “hours” of the day in the monastic world’s routine of daily prayers from daybreak to late at night. Originally used solely by the ordained, by the 1000s, these prayers had spread to the general population through their inclusion in books of hours. This section is traditionally illustrated by images from the life of the Virgin Mary, with each hour featuring a different event. The scene of the Visitation opens lauds, the prayers said at night or upon rising.
  • -1953
    Dr. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1953-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum. An Exhibition of Netherlandish Book Illumination, April 22 Thorugh May 12. 1960. Cat. no. 10 a-d
    Gothic Art 1360-1440. (1963). The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 50(7).
    Meiss, Millard, Kathleen Morand, and Edith W. Kirsch. French Painting in the Time of Jean De Berry: The Boucicaut Master. 1968. p. 139
  • The Medieval Top Seller: The Book of Hours (Gallery 115 rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-July 30, 2023).
    Developments in the Early Renaissance. Binghamton University Art Museum, Binghamton, NY (organizer) (May 4-14, 1968).
    Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).
    Netherlandish Book Illustrations. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (organizer) (April 22-May 15, 1960).
    Netherlandish Illumination, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 22-May 12, 1960).
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Visitation|url=false|author=Boucicaut Master|year=c. 1415|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.366.1