Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
i + 169 + i folios on parchment and paper, parchment section: modern foliation in pencil, 1-170 (with an error and thus without a leaf numbered 58), with the addition of 16 contemporary folios on paper before the parchment endleaf, two watermarks: initials “PSL” and grapes, contemporary foliation in dark brown ink, 1-14 (one unnumbered leaf after f. 6 and one at the end), lacking at least one leaf (lacuna visible in the current structure) (collation, parchment section: i-xx8 xxi10[-4, lacking one leaf after f. 164, with loss of text]; paper section: i10 ii6) parchment section: horizontal catchwords, ruled in brown ink (justification 310 x 178 mm.), paper section: ruled in brown ink (justification c. 350 x 210 mm.), both sections written in black ink in Gothic bookhand (textualis) on five lines of text and five five-line staves in red ink with square musical notation on each page, rastrum 40 mm., rubrics in red, paper section with 1-line initials in red, parchment section with 1-line cadel initials in black and 1-line initials in red decorated with ink drawings of animals, hybrids and flowers, FORTY LARGE 2-LINE FOLIATE INITIALS ENCLOSING MINIATURES of saints and biblical scenes, putti, dragons, fountains, mythological figures, masks, dolphins, monkey, rabbit, birds, grasshopper, dragonfly, fruit and flowers, drawn in brown, red, violet, green and yellow inks and washes, and occasionally white gouache (e.g. ff. 149v, 165), stains and signs of use, some holes in the margins (e.g. ff. 67-69), on a few occasions a strip of paper with new words pasted over text to update liturgy (e.g. f. 86) or written above the original text (f. 48v), ink of text slightly faded in places (e.g. f. 32), overall in very good condition. CONTEMPORARY BINDING of brown calf over wooden boards, covers with metal fittings in the corners, spine with five raised bands, several page markers in brown and green cotton, leather worn, but in overall very good condition. Dimensions 411 x 275 mm.
A richly illustrated Antiphonal with forty large ink and wash initials enclosing saints and biblical scenes, as well as initials in red throughout the volume decorated with ink drawings of flowers, animals and hybrids. Likely made at a little-studied center with few surviving manuscripts, perhaps in Southern Spain, it is difficult to identify the place and date of its production. In good condition and preserved in its original binding, this Choir Book is an excellent example of an important genre of the medieval manuscript that continued to be copied for centuries, well into the early modern era.
1.This manuscript is very difficult to date and localize. The style of decoration as well as the later inscriptions in Spanish suggest that it may have been made in Southern Spain (see below).
In general, the manuscript includes little evidence pointing to local veneration which would aid in localization. The feast of the Visitation, as well as feasts related to St. Paul, are however, particularly important. The leaf opening the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary is marked with an original, permanent place marker in the form of a parchment strip attached to the fore-edge of the leaf, suggesting that this was the most important feast celebrated at the church where the manuscript was used. This is also suggested by the added office at the end of the book celebrating the feast of St. Elizabeth (the Visitation). A feast for St. Paul (f. 80v) includes a rubric preceding the antiphon, Ubi fit officium in ecclesia Sancti Pauli, instructing the service is to be celebrated in the church of St. Paul.
The two watermarks on the paper used for the contemporary added section at the end of the book may eventually allow dating this manuscript more precisely. The grapes in one of these watermarks are arranged in a very regular lozenge shape, as found in examples of this popular watermark at the end of the sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century, see e.g. Briquet 13214, localized in Toulouse in 1617, or Briquet 13202, localized in Narbonne 1585.
2. Many nineteenth-century inscriptions in Spanish, for example on the front pastedown, “Estampas pintadas a mano 49,” and in the lower margins of f. 31v, “La antifona de la magnifica…” and f. 69: “...figuracion del y esta al finalde este libro.” On the verso of the front flyleaf inscribed “Primes libro,” suggesting that at this stage our manuscript was still kept with a second volume, presumably containing the Temporal cycle.
3. Belonged to the Dutch goldsmith family Brom, whose book label, printed “Ex Libris Brom Ultrai,” is pasted on the front pastedown. The goldsmith shop Edelmidse Brom was based in Utrecht from 1856 to 1961 and specialized in making gold and silverware for the Roman Catholic Church, from tableware to larger pieces such as altars and baptismal fonts. The business was started by Gerard Bartel Brom (1831-1882) and was continued by his son Jan Hendrik (1860-1915) and his grandchildren Jan Eloy (1891-1954), Leo (1896-1965) and Joanna (1898-1980). The company and family archives are now held in the Katholiek Documentatie Centrum in Nijmegen and contain one copper plate engraved with the Brom family coat of arms and the same text as on the book label in our manuscript: “Ex Libris Brom Ultrai” (no. 2617). Interestingly, in addition to working with metal and enamel, the Brom family also decorated liturgical books, including a cover for the Roman Missal designed by Joanna Brom in 1957 for the parish of St. Joseph in Achterveld (province of Utrecht). (See Online Resources for more information on Edelmidse Brom.)
ff. 1-163v, Proprium Sanctorum. Sancti Saturnini Martyris commemoratio. Ad vesperas. Antiphon, incipit, “Iste sanctus pro lege dei sui certavit usque ... ut enarrent mirabilia tua. Can.”; [ending imperfectly after a rubric announcing a canticle, lacking one leaf];
Sanctoral from the feast of St. Saturnin of Toulouse (29 Nov.) until the feast of St. Clement of Rome (23 Nov.).
ff. 165-170v, [Chants for the Mass on the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ (6 August)], In festo Transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Introitus”, incipit, “Illuxerunt coruscationes tue orbi terre ... donec a mortuis resurgat Filius hominis”;
[Paper section], ff. 1-14 (including one unnumbered leaf), Office of St. Elizabeth or the Visitation; [ff. 14-(15v), blank].
The Sanctoral includes the feasts of St. Saturnin of Toulouse, St. Andrew, the Conception of the Virgin Mary, St. Lucy, St. Thomas the Apostle, Cathedral of St. Peter, St. Paul the Apostle, St. Agnes, Conversion of St. Paul, the Purification of the Virgin Mary, St. Agatha, the Annunciation to the Virgin, St. Philip and St. James, the Invention of the Holy Cross, St. John Before the Latin Gate, Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, St. John and St. Paul, martyrs, St. Peter and St. Paul (including an antiphon destined specifically for singing in the church of St. Paul), Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Octave of St. Peter and St. Paul, St Mary Magdalene, St. Peter in Chains, St. Paul, St. Stephen, St. Mary of the Snows, Transfiguration of Christ, St. Mary of the Snows, St. Lawrence, Assumption of the Virgin, the Decollation of St. John the Baptist, (additional antiphons for the Nativity of the Virgin, the Visitation of the Virgin and the Exaltation of the Cross), St. Euphemia, St. Lucy and St. Geminianus, St. Michael the Archangel, All Saints, St. Cecilia, St. Felicity of Rome, and St. Clement of Rome.
Forty large initials by more than one artist, illustrated with the motifs or subjects as follows:
f. 1, Two putti among vines terminating in dragon heads;
f. 2v, St. Andrew with the cross of his martyrdom;
f. 7v, Joachim and Anne holding hands; a flower sprouts from their chests from which appears an image of Anne holding the infant Mary (Conception of the Virgin Mary);
f. 13v, St. Lucy holding a martyr’s palm and a plate with her eyes;
f. 16v, Seahorse with two putti (St. Lucy);
f. 18, Doubting Thomas touching the wound of Christ;
f. 19, St. Peter with a key (Feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome);
f. 26v, St. Paul the Apostle falling from his horse on the road to Damascus;
f. 29v, Monkey looking at his reflection in the mirror (Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle);
f. 31v, Presentation of Christ in the Temple and Purification of the Virgin Mary;
f. 39v, Strawberries and flowers (Purification of the Virgin Mary);
f. 40v, St. Agatha holding a palm and a plate with her breasts;
f. 44, St. Agatha in prayer;
f. 45v, Annunciation to the Virgin;
f. 49v, St. Philip and St. James;
f. 53v, Hybrid (half-man, half-plant), seahorses and a mask (St. Philip and St. James);
f. 54v, Holy Cross
f. 66v, St. John the Baptist holding a staff surmounted with a cross;
f. 71v, rabbit, bird and flowers (St. John and St. Paul, martyrs, 26 June);
f. 76, St. Peter with a key and St. Paul with a sword;
f. 80v, St. Paul (rubric, Ubi fit officium in ecclesia Sancti Pauli);
f. 86, Visitation of the Virgin Mary;
f. 89v, bird, dragonfly, flowers (Visitation);
f. 92v, St. Mary Magdalene holding the Crown of Thorns; her ointment jar posed to the left of the initial;
f. 96v, Fountain of dolphins and seahorses (St. Mary Magdalene);
f. 97v, St. Peter lying in a prison (St. Peter in Chains);
f. 102, St. Stephen martyred with stones, holding a palm;
f. 106, Crowned Virgin Mary and Child (St. Mary of the Snows);
f. 110v, Transfiguration of Christ;
f. 116v, St. Lawrence with the grill and a palm;
f. 122, Assumption of the Virgin;
f. 126v, Beheading of St. John the Baptist;
f. 131, Holy Cross (Exaltation of the Holy Cross);
f. 136v, Hybrid (half-man, half-plant) (St. Euphemia, St. Lucy and St. Geminianus);
f. 138, St. Michael the Archangel;
f. 143, Virgin Mary surrounded by saints and the dove of the Holy Spirit (All Saints);
f. 149v, Bishop enthroned (feast of martyrs, bishops and confessors);
f. 156, St. Cecily holding a music score and a portable organ;
f. 159v, Pope Clement enthroned;
f. 165, Transfiguration of Christ.
The style of illustration suggests localizing the manuscript in southern Spain. More research is needed to identify the place of production, probably one that is still little-studied. However, the form as well as the coloring of the foliage, details such as the green and white sprouting flower on f. 7v, and a somewhat similar manner of drawing figures may be found in a Carta ejecutoria de hidalguia painted in Granada in Andalusia in 1590 (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 19043; see El documento pintado, no. 37, pp. 188-191).
The decoration is typical of the Renaissance. Fantastic creatures such as dragons, seahorses and hybrids (half-man, half-plant) are found among recognizable species (dolphins, monkey, rabbits, grasshopper, dragonflies, snails, moths...). They enliven the classical decor of the putti, masks, jewels, fountains, maiolica, cornucopia and flower garlands. A wonderful hybrid, taking the form of a half-human, half-vegetal, is depicted several times in the typical goat-legs pose; see especially the fine ink and wash drawing on f. 136v. This type of ornamental grotesque was immensely popular across art forms in Europe in the sixteenth century, its golden age, found in etchings, ceramic, stained glass, tapestries and so forth.
The nineteenth-century inscription “Estampas pintadas a mano 49” on the front pastedown at first glance suggests that at that date the manuscript contained nine more large painted initials than it does today. These losses, however, are not visible in the quire structure, suggesting that the number in this inscription is an error (the alternative, that entire quires are missing, seems less likely).
An Antiphonal (also called an Antiphonary) was the main Choir Book for the Divine Office. In contrast to Breviaries, Antiphonals omit the spoken texts and include only the texts and music for sung portions of the Divine Office. It takes its name from the texts known as antiphons, which are verses, usually from the Psalter, sung before and after the Psalms or the Magnificat during Matins and Vespers. The large-format of Choir Books like this one meant that many people could sing from a single manuscript, a practice amply documented by miniatures of such groups in manuscripts of the period.
The music in this Antiphonal was written in square notation in five-line staves, and the C and F clefs were placed in the beginning of the staves. The C clef has a ladder-like form, with two rungs surrounding the staff line indicated as C, as found in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century printed music. The F clef has three lozenge-shaped dots, which had developed over time from the shape of the F letter. The use of clef enabled writing music for different vocal ranges without the need of ledger lines.
Antiphonarium Romanum ad ritum Breviarii, ex decreto sacros[ancti] concilii Tridentini restituti Pii Quinti pontificis marimi jussu editi et Clementis VIII auctoritate recogniti, ea omnia continens, que tum ad divinum officium decantandum, cum ad religiosorum commodum, necessaria sunt..., Venice, 1614.
El documento pintado: Cinco siglos de arte en manuscritos, Madrid, 2000.
Escudier, D. “Les manuscrits musicaux du Moyen Age (du IXe au XIIe siècle). Essai de typologie,” Codicologica 3, 1980, pp. 34-35.
Gastoué, A. Musique et liturgie. Le graduel et l’antiphonaire romains, 1913.
Harper, John. The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century, Oxford, 1991.
Hiley, D. Western Plainchant: A Handbook, Oxford, 1993.
Hesbert, R. J. Antiphonale Missarum Sextuplex, Brussels, 1935.
Huglo, M. Les livres de chant liturgique, Turnhout, 1988.
Hugues, A. Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and Office: A Guide to their Organization and Terminology, Toronto, 1982.
Moller, H. “Research on the Antiphonar. Problems and Perspectives,” Journal of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society 10 (1987), pp. 1-14.
Plummer, J. Liturgical Manuscripts for the Mass and Divine Office, New York, 1964
Edelmidse Brom (Wikipedia) https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edelsmidse_Brom
TM 1212
