The Rohan Master: a Book of Hours

ISBN 10: 0807606901 / ISBN 13: 9780807606902

Published by George Braziller, New York, 1973

About this Item

NF, top right corner front board slightly stained, rear gutter also lightly stained, housed in VG slipcase (front and rear panels lightly rubbed, top front right corner slightly frayed) but overall a solid copy with clean unmarked text. ; 4to, crimson cloth, gilt decorated front board, gilt lettered and decorated spine, slipcase, 247pp. , appendix, list of plates, list of related manuscripts, selected bibliography. Reproduced from the Illuminated Manuscript (Ms. Latin 9471) Belonging to the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France. Translated from the French by Katherine W. Carson and includes an introduction by Millard Meiss with a second introduction and commentaries by Marcel Thomas.

Seller Inventory # 4635

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Rohan Master: a Book of Hours
• Publisher: George Braziller, New York
• Publication Date: 1973
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807606901
• ISBN 13: 9780807606902
• Binding: Hardcover

About this title

Synopsis

This powerful and breathtakingly beautiful Book of Hours was designed in the fifteenth century by one of the greatest masters of expressionism in France at the time, and executed by him (together with members of his workshop) for a royal patron. A relatively unknown masterpiece, it emerged from artistic obscurity in 1904 to widespread acclaim and critical appreciation.
As Millard Meiss points out in his Introduction: "The Rohan Master cared less about what people do than what they feel. . . .Whereas his great predecessors, the Boucicaut Master and the Limbourgs, excelled in the description of novel aspects of the natural world, he explored the realm of human feeling." And, in his explorations, the Rohan Master disclosed a way of viewing and visually depicting reality (replete with familiar biblical figures, saints, angels, devils) and the emotions of simple men and women - suffering, elation, fear, melancholy, and hope - in a manner that is both original and powerfully moving.
From the first folio of this remarkable and often startling manuscript to the final plate, the entire range of human emotions is compassionately but uncompromisingly explored. Named after the Rohan family, whose arms appear in this manuscript, this distinctive artist earned himself a place as one of the greatest manuscript illuminators of the early Renaissance.

About the Author

Thomas, The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France.

Millard Meiss (1904-1975) est l un des grands representants de l ecole d histoire de l art americaine influencee par Panofsky. Ses travaux ont porte sur l art italien du Trecento et du Quattrocento, avant qu il ne se consacre totalement a l etude de la miniature francaise.