The Adoration of the Magi from a Book of Hours owned by Sister Anne la Routye
Catholic Churchbetween 1460 and 1465
University of Sydney Library
Camperdown, Australia
This beautifully illuminated Book of Hours first owner was not recorded. The first recorded owner was Sister Anne la Routye, a nun of the Hôtel-Dieu (a public hospital) in the early sixteenth century in Paris. Anne la Routye acquired the book in 1514. It was created between 1460 and 1465 in Paris, France.
Books of Hours associated with Hôtel-Dieu in France are very rare. This book has been created by two different periods of work, belived to be about fifty years apart. The second owner, Anne la Routye is believed to have guided the second body of work on the book.
In this page, the three wise men kneel before Mary and Jesus, and offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The decorative border includes strawberries, flowers, a frog, cricket, turtle, and butterflies. This page was used for the Australia Post Christmas stamp in 2019.
This book has been rebound by an previous owner, leading to some content loss.
- Title: The Adoration of the Magi from a Book of Hours owned by Sister Anne la Routye
- Creator: Catholic Church
- Date Created: between 1460 and 1465
- Location Created: Paris, France
- Physical Dimensions: 17 x 11.9 cm
- Original Language: Latin
- Provenance: First owner unrecorded, believed to be “a woman with some substantial dowry, married into a family of the Paris judiciary or merchant class, during the latter part of the reign of Charles VII (1422-1461) and the early part of the rule ofumis XI (1461-1483).” (Monks, 1995), Sister Anne la Routye (b. 1490/1), acquired the Book of Hours in 1514, is believed to be the figure from folio 250v., Tempsford Hall Library markings (undated). Tempsford Hall was purchased from the Payne family for the sum of £64,600 in July of 1853 by William Stuart (b. 1798), Sophia Margaret Juliana Stuart (nee Penn) and she gave it as a present to her son William Stuart on his 44th birthday in 1842. Inscription reads “W. Stuart from my mother 31 Oct. 1842”., Millicent Helen Olivia Stuart (d. 1933), wife of William Stuart (d.1922) recorded as “the late Mrs M.H.O Stuart” in Messrs Bernard Quaritch bookseller’s catalogue in 1969., Owners between 1933 and 1972 unknown, Millicent Stuart’s estate was split between Kathleen Anne Pole Stuart Wynne and Reginald Pole Stuart. “Quaritch did not find 'a stock slip for the manuscript which would indicate where we bought it and to whom we sold it'” (Monks, 1995), Gifted to the University of Sydney by the Friends of the Library (in part), purchased from Messrs Bernard Quaritch of London in 1972.
- Subject Keywords: Medieval period, Manuscript, Book of Hours
- Type: Manuscript
- Original Source: University of Sydney Library, Add.Ms. 58
- External Link: View page in digitised version, Peter Rolfe Monks (1995) A singular Book of Hours, The Australian Library Journal, 44:2, 101-112, Australia Post Christmas Stamps 2019
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