Artworks
Preparations before Mass for priests as well as laics. Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Flemish Brabant, Heverlee (near Louvain),
Written in several scripts and painted by brother Pieter Engel at Heverlee abbey, 1582.
100 x 65 mm, 75 leaves, 8 painted heraldic representations, 34 ornamented frames, 16 full-page illuminated miniatures.
ff. 8v-9: Wildmen presenting coats of arms
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Preparations before Mass for priests as well as laics. Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Flemish Brabant, Heverlee (near Louvain),
Written in several scripts and painted by brother Pieter Engel at Heverlee abbey, 1582.
100 x 65 mm, 75 leaves, 8 painted heraldic representations, 34 ornamented frames, 16 full-page illuminated miniatures.
ff. 44v-45: Knight of the Golden Fleece kneeling before Crucifix
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Preparations before Mass for priests as well as laics. Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Flemish Brabant, Heverlee (near Louvain),
Written in several scripts and painted by brother Pieter Engel at Heverlee abbey, 1582.
100 x 65 mm, 75 leaves, 8 painted heraldic representations, 34 ornamented frames, 16 full-page illuminated miniatures.
ff. 53v-54: The Martryrdom of St. Catherine, who is behaded by Maxentius
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The contents are best described as a prayer book for the use of a man, probably a priest, perhaps brother Petrus Angeli himself. The texts reflect devotional practices and some of the functions of a priest. It is a comprehensive collection, including about thirty or more prayers, organized – following introductory pages and calendar – with prayers grouped according to their type. These focus on Mass and Communion, on the Virgin Mary, and on the Passion followed by Suffrages to various saints.
The calligrapher and illuminator of the present manuscript, who prepared his texts and painting on mostly quires made of two bifolia, must have been trained professionally and shows himself to be a qualified artisan. He proclaimed his name in the colophon heading the booklet (fol. 6v) as a professed monk at the Celestine abbey at Heverlee: Scripsit et pinxit f[rater] Petrus Angeli professione & ordine coelestinorum prope Lovanium, or: ‘written and painted by brother Pieter Engel, professed and of the order of Celestines near Louvain’.
This work is now in the collection of the Universiteitsbibliotheek in Leuven, where it has been fully digitised. Access to the work can also be gained on the FLANDRICA.be site.
