Book of hours Facts for Kids

Van Reynegom Book of Hours

A book of hours is a breviary containing prayers, Psalms, antitphons, and other materials to be recited at the canonical hours. These books were popular during the Middle Ages for common use among the nobility and the clergy. One of the most famous is the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.

Images for kids

Opening from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, c. 1440, with Catherine kneeling before the Virgin and Child, surrounded by her family heraldry. Opposite is the start of Matins in the Little Office, illustrated by the Annunciation to Joachim, as the start of a long cycle of the Life of the Virgin.
An early 15th-century French book of hours (MS13, Society of Antiquaries of London) open to an illustration of the 'Adoration of the Magi'. Bequeathed to the Society in 1769 by the Revd Charles Lyttleton, Bishop of Carlisle and President of the Society (1765-8).
Example of a more affordable and thus more common book of hours: Excerpt from a "simple" Middle Dutch book of hours. Made in the 2nd half of the fifteenth century in Brabant.
Even this level of decoration is richer than those of most books, though less than the lavish amounts of illumination in luxury books, which are the ones most often seen reproduced.
Black Hours, Morgan MS 493, Pentecost, Folios 18v/19r, c. 1475–80. Morgan Library & Museum, New York
A full-page miniature of May, from a calendar cycle by Simon Bening, early 16th century.
The lavish illusionistic borders of this Flemish book of hours from the late 1470s are typical of luxury books of this period, which were now often decorated on every page. The butterfly wing cutting into the text area is an example of playing with visual conventions, typical of the period. (Among the plants are the Veronica, Vinca, Viola tricolor, Bellis perennis, and Chelidonium majus. The lower butterfly is Aglais urticae, the top left butterfly is Pieris rapae. The Latin text is a devotion to Saint Christopher).
Example of a French-Latin book of hours. The miniatures have didactical purposes. Excerpt from the Book of Hours of Alexandre Petau. Made in the 16th century, Rouen.
The Visconti Hours
Calendar page from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves for June 1–15.
Book of Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux: Arrest of Jesus and Annunciation
Book of hours of Simone de Varie, portrait of the owner and his wife
Book of Hours, British Library, the Arrest of Christ
Scenes from the Life of Christ and Life of the Virgin in the same book
Book of Hours, 1420-1450, Bruges, from the collections of the National Library of Israel
Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry A Funeral Service
Bedford Hours; building the Tower of Babel
Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier: Deposition by Jean Fouquet
The Visitation, 1440–45
Printed Bulgarian book of hours, 1566
The Golf book c.1540 by Simon Bening in the British Library
Llanbeblig Hours. St. Peter, holding a key and a book
The beginning of Ave Maria in historiated letters in Heures de Charles d'Angoulême
Saint Lifard with a dragon in the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany by Jean Bourdichon

Book of hours facts for kids

Images for kids

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