Aldenham Book of Hours, use of Sarum,
Manuscript on vellum in Latin and English, illuminated in the circle of the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook of 1500 by the Master of Charles V’s Officia Salomonis,
Flanders, Bruges or Ghent, c. 1500-1510.
145 x 105 mm; f:165v, Soul carried to heaven.
202 of presumably 206 leaves. Written space: 80 x 50 mm.
The painter of the present manuscript, the Master of Charles V's Officia Salomonis, was named after miniatures in a Book of Hours created for Charles V's sea-voyage from Spain to Germany. His work is stylistically related to that of the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook, active in Bruges from c. 1465 until c. 1515.
Without a doubt, this Book of Hours was destined from the onset for a patron living in England, as is shown in details of the calendar, the litany, and the Hours of the Virgin. That patron, to whom the miniature (f. 63v) refers, bought or received a manuscript with miniatures and border decoration painted in the famous Ghent-Bruges style. This style draws on a wide range of patterns with illusionistic borders full of naturalistically painted flowers, insects, and birds. With twenty-six smaller miniatures accompanied by a fine illuminated border and seven full- page miniatures, opposite seven text pages surrounded by full borders, which were painted by the same illuminator. His soft palette of colours is consistent throughout. The style of this painter is stylistically related to that of the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook, active in Bruges from around 1465 until about 1515. Blithely, he shows particular sympathy for blunt or plain characters. Such details attest to the refreshing originality and groundedness of Flemish art that inevitably should lead to genre painting of the 17th century.
