Author Description

"When this volume first appeared in 1966, it was celebrated for its extraordinary beauty. Now, more than thirty-five years since its first publication, it is made available once again. Illustrating one of the great art treasures of the world. The Hours of Catherine of Cleves is a fifteenth-century illuminated manuscript containing a series of some of the most beautiful illustrations of the Bible ever made. Many of the great scenes from the Old Testament and many more from the New Testament are included, along with the Stations of the Cross and portraits of the saints.". "The work of an unidentified Dutch master painter, the manuscript was made for Catherine of Cleves on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of Guelders. All 157 surviving miniatures are reproduced to actual size and in exquisite color with gold, together with three samples of the pages containing Latin prayers. Page after page reveals the elaborate program and rich illumination of the original. The images show an artist increasing in skill, relying in his earlier work on tradition and later emerging as an independent artist of bold, clear colors, dynamic brushwork, and lively imagination." "Each page is accompanied by descriptive commentary by John Plummer. His introduction discusses the development of the Book of Hours as a liturgical form in general, and the history of the Cleves Hours specifically, and describes the place it holds in the history of Northern painting."--BOOK JACKET.