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Bifolio from a Book of Hours: Initial V with Floral Border

c. 1460-1500

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Every medieval book of hours contained a section known as the Office of the Dead. This section was usually inserted toward the back of the book following the penitential Psalms and litanies, which set a tone of contrition, penitence, and forgiveness of sin. The Office of the Dead was intended to be recited principally in the context of a funeral. Its texts, comprising psalms and other readings, consisted of the hour of vespers (for recitation over the coffin the evening preceding a funeral mass), followed by matins and lauds (prayed the actual morning of a funeral mass). However, the office was undoubtedly also prayed by many medieval men and women in the privacy of a chapel or bedroom, as a reminder of mortality and as protection against sudden death. The very beginning of this page's text is the abbreviated Latin antiphon for matins: <em>Dirige,</em> <em>D[omi]ne</em> <em>Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam </em>(Direct, O Lord my God, my steps in your sight). This is followed by the enlarged letter <em>V</em> for <em>Verba mea auribus</em> (Hear my words).

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Details

  • Title: Bifolio from a Book of Hours: Initial V with Floral Border
  • Date Created: c. 1460-1500
  • Physical Dimensions: Each leaf: 13.9 x 10.6 cm (5 1/2 x 4 3/16 in.)
  • Provenance: [Librairie van Loock, Brussels, Belgium], Ms. Jeanne Miles Blackburn, Maitland, Fl, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Manuscript
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2006.12
  • Medium: ink, tempera and gold on vellum
  • Inscriptions: Dirige, D[omi]ne [Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam]…Psalm 5: Verba mea auribus percipe Domine intellege clamorem meum, Intende voci orationis meae rex meus et Deus meus, Quoniam ad te orabo Domine mane exaudies vocem meam, Mane adstabo tibi et videbo quoniam non deus volens iniquitatem tu es, Neque habitabit iuxta te malignus neque permanebunt iniusti ante oculos tuos, Odisti omnes qui operantur iniquitatem, ... Decidant a cogitationibus suis, secundum
  • Department: Medieval Art
  • Culture: Austria (? ) or Bohemia (?), 15th century
  • Credit Line: The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
  • Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
  • Accession Number: 2006.12

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