[SCA-AS] [tmr-l@wmich.edu: TMR 06.05.15, Backhouse, Illuminations (Bugslag)]

Tue May 30 12:19:04 CDT 2006

FYI, this sounds like a useful item...

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Medieval Review <tmr-l at wmich.edu> -----

From: The Medieval Review <tmr-l at wmich.edu>
Subject: TMR 06.05.15, Backhouse, Illuminations (Bugslag)

Backhouse, Janet.  <i>Illuminations from Books of Hours</i>.   
London:  The
British Library, 2004.  Pp. 160.   GBP 9.95.   ISBN 0 7123 4849 2.

   Reviewed by Jim Bugslag
        University of Manitoba
        jbugslag at cc.umanitoba.ca

Undoubtedly the reason that The Medieval Review wanted this book
reviewed was the same as my reason for accepting to review it, sight
unseen: the name of its author, Janet Backhouse, a former Curator of
Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library, who has written widely
and perceptively on medieval manuscript illumination.  It should be
stated at the outset, however, that this book is not intended as a
contribution to scholarship.  Rather, Janet Backhouse has used her
unparalleled knowledge of the British Library's manuscripts to select
images for what is essentially a picture book.  Her very short
introduction to the volume introduces books of hours, their
illumination, the collections of of illuminated manuscripts in the
British Library, and the role of books of hours in the history of
collecting and connoisseurship--all in a compact 8 1/2 pages! The rest
of the book consists of full-page colour photographs of a remarkable
variety of folios from books of hours in the British Library's
unsurpassed collection of illuminated manuscripts.

Although the publisher touts this book as "an introduction to some of
the most beautiful and historically interesting manuscripts in the
collections of the British Library," the question is: an "introduction"
to whom? The most satisfactory answer to this is "the general public,"
and I would not wish to denigrate the British Library's efforts to
target this audience in its splendid publishing programme. The British
Library has, indeed, published and continues to publish exemplary works
of scholarship on its manuscripts. Its series, The British Library
Studies in Medieval Culture, publishes solid and wide- ranging
monographic studies of various aspects of medieval manuscript
illumination. Another excellent series is their well illustrated,
compact and affordable scholarly introductions to individual
manuscripts. Janet Backhouse has produced several of these, ranging
from The Lindisfarne Gospels (1995) to The Isabella
Breviary (1993), and apropos of this book, also including The
Bedford Hours (1990), The Hastings Hours (1996) and The
Sforza Hours (1992). She has also written a more substantial
"introduction" to books of hours under the title of Books of
Hours (British Library, 1985). In recent years, however, the
British Library has also taken considerable advantage of their
manuscript collections, and of their copyrighted photographs of them, to
produce a wide range of affordable illustrated books aimed at a broader
market. Whether intentionally or not, this parallels a movement common
to all British museums to make the cultural wealth of the country
accessible to all and to dispell the widespread notion-- nowhere,
perhaps more entrenched than with respect to illuminated manuscripts--
of art as the elitist preserve of the wealthy and cultured. Their
growing series, Medieval Manuscripts (formerly The Medieval World in
Manuscripts), is perhaps their most well-known venture of this sort. 
Each book explores a different aspect of medieval life through its
depiction in manuscript illuminations. Janet Backhouse was one of the
early contributors to this series with her Medieval Rural Life in the
Luttrell Psalter (2000), and has since contributed Medieval Birds
in the Sherborne Missal (2001). Although written by experts in their
fields, these books emphasize accessibility for a variety of general
audiences.

It is presumably for these same general audiences that Illuminations
from Books of Hours is intended. Although on the small side, it is
a lavish picture book which is delightful to flip through. For casual
visitors to the British Library, it would make a satisfying souvenir. 
It would also make a splendid gift. And it could easily awaken new
interest in Medieval and/or Renaissance art in someone who had little
previous exposure to it. In all these things, it is good for Medieval
Studies in general, for which a general humanistic awareness of Medieval
culture among broad contemporary audiences should be a disciplinary
goal. Yet, it remains to be seen whether the book can also be of more
scholarly service.

Scholarly interest in this book must hinge on the plates, since the
introductory remarks and meagre bibliography will not serve anyone but a
general audience.  Three factors are are pertinent here: selection,
quality and organization.  As far as selection is concerned, there
appears to have been a determined effort to showcase as many manuscripts
in the collection as possible.  No more than one image per manuscript
has been selected for illustration.  Some of these, such as the De
Brailes Hours and the Bedford Hours, are very well known, but the
majority are not, and it is conceivable that some of these images might
be useful in quite specialized research.  Some of the photographs, in
fact, were taken specifically for this publication and thus make the
images they replicate easily accessible for the first time.  A
comparable variety encompasses the artists responsible for the
illuminations, who range from the very well known (Perugino, Simon
Marmion, Jean Bourdichon, the Egerton Master, etc.) or their associates,
to lesser known hands (the Fastolf Master, the Master of Spencer 6,
etc.), and to a rather newer sort of collective authorial identity (the
Pink Canopies Group, the Gold Scrolls Group).

Most of the manuscripts are French, the majority by far emanating from
Paris, with a generous range of provincial centres.  Flanders and the
Netherlands are also well represented.  Continuing down the scale, Italy
is represented by 16 manuscripts, and England by 10, although some of
the Flemish manuscripts were done for the English market.  Other regions
are not well represented: a meagre three come from Spain, with only one
each from the Rhineland and Austria.  As far as the chronological range
is concerned, the vast majority were made in the 15th century, the
numbers increasing noticeably towards the end of that century, and this
trend is continued into the early 16th century, as well. Manuscripts of
the 14th century are disappointingly few (5 from the first half, and 6
from the second half), and the 13th century is represented by only 4
manuscripts.

Subject choice is quite wide (see the subject index appended below). 
There are, not surprisingly, five Annunciation scenes, and four each of
the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Crucifixion, but many images
are one- offs.  One might have wished for more illustrations from the
Office of the Dead, or other specialized image types, such as calendar
scenes which are conspicuous by their absence, but the range of imagery
is, none the less, impressive.  Most of the images are full-page
illuminations, but there are also some pages with a minimal amount of
text.  Nevertheless, the impressive range of uses and vernacular text
versions which are represented here is perhaps not as useful as it might
have been in a different format.

For a small and inexpensive book, the quality of the images is
surprisingly high.  Backhouse explains in her introduction that
large-scale manuscripts were intentionally avoided because of the scale
of the reproductions, which average about 12 x 8 cm.  Details can be
seen quite clearly with a magnifying glass, and the resolution is high
enough to enable use of the images in Powerpoint presentations.  Each
image is identified with a plate number, its subject, its name or the
patron of the manuscript, the use it follows, the artist's name or
attribution (where possible), its country and sometimes city of origin,
its date, the dimensions of the manuscript, and its pressmark and folio
number.

The organization of the images, however, might have been made more user
friendly.  I have discovered no organizational principal beyond
delightful variety.  There is an index of pressmarks at the back, but
the value of the book would have increased considerably with indexes of
manuscript names, artists' names and subjects.  The subject index that
is appended to this review gives some idea of the complexity of finding
things in the book.  Despite this drawback, however, the access that
this book gives to images, many not easy to obtain elsewhere, may
conceivably be of interest to at least some medievalists, even if they
were not the primary market intended for it.

Subject Index (by plate number)

Adoration of the Magi: 62, 68, 83, 101
Agony in the Garden: 51
Andrew, St: 121
Annunciation: 1, 14, 90, 96, 111, 140
Annunciation to the Shepherds: 34, 43, 100, 108
Anthony, St: 52
Anthony, St, Temptation of: 135
Appearances of the Resurrected Christ: 109
Arms of the Passion: opp. plates
Arrest of Christ: 12, 132
Avarice: 123
Barbara, St, with kneeling patron: 53
Burial Scene: 80
Catherine, St: 10, 94
Christ among the Doctors: 102
Christ and the Woman of Samaria: 137
Christ and Woman taken in Adultery: 28
Christ before the High Priest: 116
Christ before Pilate, with Pilate's wife describing the warning she  
had in a
    dream: 20
Christ Cleansing the Temple: 75
Christ feeding the 5000: 126
Christ nailed to Cross: 45
Christ Washing Apostles' Feet: 136
Christ the Redeemer, blessing: 18
Christopher, St: 72
Coronation of the Virgin: 55, 85
Crucifixion: 21, 33, 113, 133
David and Bathsheba: 2
David and Goliath: 29, 106
David anointed by Samuel: 99
David at prayer: 47
David on horseback, fleeing the Lord's vengeance: 6
David the Psalmist: 39, 131
Death confronting Pope, Emperor and King: 25
Death overcoming a Lady: 15
Death, the Grim Reaper: 103
Death riding on a bull: 114
Descent from the Cross: 30, 78
Dives and Lazarus: 139
Ecce Homo: 105
Entombment of Christ: 46
Entry into Jerusalem: 41
Eustace, St, Conversion of: 38
Fall of Man: 36
Flagellation of Christ: 8, 63, 132
Flight into Egypt: 24, 110
Fountain of Redemption: 57
Funeral Service: 130
Francis, St, preaching to creatures: 61
Gabriel greeting: 26
George, St, and Dragon: 31, 59
God the Father enthroned in Heaven: 13
Gregory, St, Mass of: 70
Harrowing of Hell: 16, 89
Hermes, St: 10
Herod ordering Massacre of the Innocents: 98
Holy Host of Dijon: 91
Jerome, St, in prayer before Crucifix: 22
Job, prosperous and blessed: 107
Job, mocked by his friends: 117
John B, St, Martyrdom of: 42, 82
John E, St: 56
John E, St, on Patmos: 3
Last Judgement: 54, 92, 112
Last Supper: 58
Lord's Prayer: 48
Luke, St, painting the Virgin: 37
Man of Sorrows: 40
Margaret, St: 44
Mark, St, Writing: 69
Mary Magdalen, St, with kneeling donor: 66
Mary Magdalen, St, Anointing feet of Christ: 81
Matthew, St, writing: 17
Matthew, St, as a tax gatherer: 75
Meeting at the Golden Gate: 32
Michael, St, and the devil: 87
Nativity: 4, 95, 125
Nativity, with kneeling donor: 118
Noli Me Tangere: 79
Paul, St: 97
Pentecost: 27, 109, 137
Peter, St, Denial of Christ by: 132
Pieta: 67
Presentation of Christ in the Temple: 88, 134
Raising of Souls to Heaven: 84
Raising of Lazarus: 23, 73, 124
Resurrection of Christ: 9, 35
Road to Calvary: 50
Sebastian, St, Martyrdom of: 127
Temptation of Eve: 74
Thomas Becket, St, Martyrdom of: 11
Tobias (child patron?) with Angel: 138
Ursula, St, with 11,000 Virgins: 64
Veronica, The: 7
Virgin Mary, Assumption of: 86
Virgin Mary, Death of: 71, 119
Virgin Mary, Funeral of: 65
Virgin Mary, Marriage of: 104
Virgin Mary, Presented to the Temple: 77
Virgin Mary, Seven Sorrows of: 76
Virgin and Child, seated: 5
Virgin and Child, seated, with kneeling donor: 19, 128, 129
Virgin and Child, standing, with kneeling donor: frontispiece
Virgin and Child in Glory: 93
Visitation: 49, 60, 115

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