Book of Hours for the Use of Limoges

Master of Catherine Gentille · 1480/1500 (late 15th century binding)

Medium

Manuscript with 182 folios, 11 miniatures, 15 historiated initials and other decorations in tempera, gold leaf and colored inks, and littera textualis inscriptions in Latin and French, in light black ink, ruled in red, on parchment, bound in leather stamped with various designs

Original size

Images, average: 15 × 8 cm (5 15/16 × 3 3/16 in.); Sheets, average: 21.5 × 14 cm (8 1/2 × 5 9/16 in.); Book: D.: 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Italian Renaissance

The Book of Hours for the Use of Limoges is a masterwork of late medieval illumination — intimate in scale yet extraordinary in its density of gold, color, and devotional imagery. The Master of Catherine Gentille, active in France during the latter half of the fifteenth century, worked in a tradition where manuscripts were luxury objects as much as religious tools. Each of the eleven miniatures and fifteen historiated initials in this volume was executed in tempera and gold leaf on vellum, with the text inscribed in the careful littera textualis hand across 182 folios. The result is a book designed to be held, prayed over, and treasured — every page a considered composition balancing Latin liturgy with jewel-like decoration. Books of Hours were the most widely owned type of book in the medieval period, yet each commission was unique; this one, created for use in the Limoges rite, reflects both regional liturgical practice and the refined tastes of its original patron. A hand-painted oil reproduction translates the luminosity and compositional richness of the original miniatures onto canvas — preserving the warm gold tones, the layered pigments, and the precise, devotional attention that has kept this manuscript visually compelling for more than five centuries.