Morgan's new royal miniature prayer book

A major acquisition, belatedly noted:

The Morgan Library & Museum will put on special exhibition beginning May 20 an extremely rare Renaissance illuminated manuscript, the Prayer Book of Queen Claude de France (1499-1524), created around the time of her coronation in 1517. It is the most important single illuminated manuscript acquired by the Morgan in the last twenty-five years and will go on view in the East Room of the historic McKim building.

The tiny, jewel-like book, measuring just 2 3/4 by 2 inches, is richly illustrated with 132 scenes from the lives of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the apostles, and numerous saints. . .

The exhibition of the prayer book will include a second, related manuscript, the Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne. Anne was Claude's mother and queen of France as the wife first of King Charles VIII and then King Louis XII. This manuscript, which was commissioned around 1495 by Anne for her son, was illuminated by Jean Poyer, a leading Tours illuminator in whose workshop the Claude Master is now thought to have trained. Side by side, the two juxtapose a mother’s book with her daughter’s and the work of one illuminator with that of his protégé.

Full press release here. More info, including an online virtual viewer, here.

While you're at it, you can check out the Morgan's three Gutenberg Bibles, all of which are on display until September. Press release excerpt:

For the first time in more than a decade, The Morgan Library & Museum
presents all three of its Gutenberg Bibles, the largest number of copies in any single collection. Three Gutenberg Bibles allows visitors to see important differences in copies of the first substantial printed book in the Western world, an epoch-making technological innovation, yet also a highpoint in the art of graphic design. The exhibition is on view from May 20 through September 28, 2008, in the Morgan’s Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery.

Posted by David on June 2, 2008 9:04 PM