Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Prayer book of Anne de Bretagne.

Collection in Focus: Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne

The incredible Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne has a compelling story behind the beautiful craftsmanship. Our Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Roger S. Wieck describes the work in detail.

Accession number
MS M.50
Object title

Prayer book of Anne de Bretagne.

Created
Tours, France, between 1492 and 1495.
Binding

Rose velvet in red morocco chemise, in red morocco case.

Credit line

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1905.

Description

31 leaves (1 column, 18 lines), bound : vellum, illuminations ; 126 x 80 mm

Provenance

Made for Anne de Bretagne: her cipher A,N,E with cordelières in a number of borders, her portrait on fol. 10v, and an idealized portrait on fol. 31r (most likely of her first son by Charles VIII, the dauphin, Charles-Orland (1492-1495); inherited by her daughter Claude de France; purchased ca. 1820 by Armand-René-Louis de Crochard (1801-1859), of Fontaine-Milon, near Angers; inherited by his son, Armand de Crochard (1828-1881), a member of the Société des antiquaires de l'Ouest (and in his possession in 1877); bought in Nantes by Théophile Belin (1851-1921) of Paris by 1903; purchased for 52,500 francs by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1905 from Belin; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).

Notes

Ms. prayer book; written and illuminated in Tours, France, between 1492 and 1495.
Also known as the Prières d'Anne de Bretagne.
Decoration: 34 miniatures framed by her emblem, the cordelière; the letters of the name of Anne fill the borders surrounding the miniatures.
Artist: Jean Poyer (formerly Poyet).
Manuscript commissioned by Anne de Bretagne to teach the dauphin, Charles-Orland, his catechism. Inherited by her daughter Claude de France and used as a model ca. 1515 for the Primer of Renée de France, Claude's younger sister (Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, MS Lat 614=a.U.2.28).
Folio 31r shows a youth, probably representing Charles-Orland, kneeling, his hands joined and raised in prayer towards God the Father. Behind the youth is a throne.
Revised: 2016

Script
bastarda
Language
Latin and French
Century
Classification