{"product_id":"illuminated-manuscript-arts-crafts-devotional-artists-book","title":"[Illuminated Manuscript | Arts \u0026 Crafts] Devotional \/ Artist's Book","description":"\u003cp data-end=\"228\" data-start=\"0\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDevotional manuscript of the Creation, the Creed, and modern spiritual quotations, with watercolor miniatures of Swiss and French views. N.p. (probably Switzerland \/ France \/ England), c. 1910-1920.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"538\" data-start=\"230\"\u003e14pp., stiff cream paper written and illustrated on rectos only, each page framed in ink and filled with a combination of hand-lettered text and miniature watercolor panels; text in English and French. Unsigned, but very clearly the work of a single, consistent hand. Vellum boards, page edges stained blue. Measures approx. 6\" x 9.5\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"841\" data-start=\"540\"\u003eA charming Arts \u0026amp; Crafts-era neo-medieval devotional manuscript, organizing the seven days of Creation around the gifts of the Spirit and the phrases of the Apostles’ Creed \/ Lord’s Prayer, and decorating them with a mix of copied manuscript imagery and presumably the artist's own travel views.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1696\" data-start=\"843\"\u003eEach leaf is laid out as an illuminated page: a narrow text column in a gothic hand, flanked by one or more watercolor miniatures and sprays of foliage, birds, cats, rabbits, and other marginalia in imitation of late-medieval books of hours. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1696\" data-start=\"843\"\u003eThe \"Sunday\" opening shows the Spirit moving upon the waters, a red descending dove set against a roundel of sunset sea; \"Monday\" and later days carry gifts such as \u003cem data-end=\"1348\" data-start=\"1286\"\u003eLight and Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Fear of the Lord\u003c\/em\u003e, mapped to the days of Creation and to clauses of the Creed (\"I believe in God the Father Almighty… Thy Kingdom come… I believe in the Communion of Saints… the Resurrection of the body, \u0026amp; the life everlasting,\" etc.). One page is explicitly noted as “Copied from MS in British Museum”, confirming the artist’s use of actual medieval exemplars.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2231\" data-start=\"1698\"\u003eInterleaved with these biblical and liturgical texts are short spiritual and literary passages, several in French, quoted and carefully attributed in the margins: Victor Hugo, Burne-Jones, H(enri) Perreyve, St. Francis Xavier, and others. Several miniatures are topographical and captioned with place-names: \"Lucerne - Franziskanerplatz\", \"Beauvais\", mountain landscapes, village churches, and fountains. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2629\" data-start=\"2233\"\u003eThe drawing is capable but markedly individual (with but a hint of William Blake): not a professional scribe’s hand, but a serious amateur with a particular love of birds, flowering branches, and small narrative scenes (fishermen at the oars under a radiant Christ, a Tree of Jesse with “Radix Jesse floruit,” villagers in conversation beneath banners, etc.).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2629\" data-start=\"2233\"\u003eVellum boards with some light rubbing to edges and corners, some small stains and browning to covers. Boards slightly splayed outwards. Pages lightly browned, some spotting to endpapers. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Under the Hill Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45491568804036,"sku":null,"price":650.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0461\/8328\/4899\/files\/DSC_0844.jpg?v=1770611137","url":"https:\/\/www.underthehillbooks.com\/products\/illuminated-manuscript-arts-crafts-devotional-artists-book","provider":"Under the Hill Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}