A LEAF FROM THE BEAUVAIS MISSAL, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Northern France, perhaps Beauvais or Amiens, late 13th or early 14th century]

A leaf from an important and famous illuminated Missal – the third of a three-volume set – owned by Beauvais Cathedral in the 14th century and William Randolph Hearst in the 20th. The Missal was broken up in the mid-20th century, and many leaves are now in institutions and collections throughout the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Pierpont Morgan Library, Houghton Library, and Boston Public Library.

The historiated initials have sometimes been attributed to the artist of the Hours of Yolande of Soissons (Morgan Library, MS M.729), made at Amiens in the 1280s, and while this attribution has not been widely accepted, it is notable that Hangest (from whence came the manuscript’s earliest recorded owner) is only ten miles north-west of Amiens, a likely origin for the artist of the Missal. The text of the present leaf is from the Mass for the Ascension.

Provenance:
- ROBERT DE HANGEST, canon of Beauvais Cathedral, his gift to the Cathedral in 1356. The intact Missal was still at Beauvais in the 17th century.

- DIDIER PETIT DE MEURVILLE (1793-1873), of Lyon; his sale, 1843, lot 354.

- HENRI-AUGUSTE BRÖLEMANN (1775-1854), of Lyon, by descent to his great grand-daughter, Blanche Bontoux (1859-1955), also known as Madame Etienne Mallet.

- Sotheby's, London, May 4, 1926, lot 161, purchased by William Permain for:

- WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST (1863–1951). Sold by Gimbel Bros New York, 1942 to:

- PHILIP C. DUSCHNES (1897-1970) who doubtless broke up the volume and sold a number of leaves to:

- OTTO EGE (1888-1951) of Cleveland.

Measurements:
288 x 195 mm.

Bibliography:
P.J. Kidd, 2014, ‘The Beauvais Missal: A New Piece of the Provenance’, in Medieval Manuscripts Provenance.
Otto Ege Collection , Denison University Library.
H.-A. Omont, ‘Recherches sur la bibliothèque de l'église cathédrale de Beauvais’, Mémoires de l'Institut national de France, 40, 1916.

θ Please see our Conditions of Sale for definitions of cataloguing symbols.

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