Meditationes Vitae Christi. Unknown provenance.
Written in Latin, the Meditationes Vitae Christi is a devotional work retelling the life Jesus Christ. The text, which originated in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, was an extremely popular work which fostered private devotion and meditation on Christ’s Passion.
Book of Hours, France, 15th century.
Books of Hours contain the text of the Office of the Virgin Mary, the seven Penitential Psalms, and the Office of the Dead, inviting the reader to participate in worship throughout the day. This French Book of Hours once belonged to St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622). It measures a mere 10 cm x 7 cm (approximately 4 in x 2¾ in), but is not illustrated.
Book of Hours, Use of Reims. France, 15th century.
An illuminated Book of Hours which includes a number of prayers in French, some of them unusual, suggesting that an effort was made to customize the book for a reader unfamiliar with Latin.The artist has been identified as the Master of Jean d'Albret, who was active in Paris from approximately 1490 to approximately 1510.
Speculum Humanae Salvationis (Mirror of Human Salvation), Germany, 14th century.
Speculum Humanae Salvationis is an anonymous work of medieval typology which uses both text and illustration to explain how the events of the Old Testament prefigure the New Testament. Several hundred copies of this text have survived, in Latin, German, Dutch, French, English, and Czech. This facsimile reproduces the oldest existing manuscript of the Speculum, in Latin, which today resides at Kremsmünster Abbey in Austria.
Liber Scivias, Germany, 12th century (recopied 20th century)
Scivias is a visionary work by medieval abbess and composer Hildegard von Bingen. The manuscript, known as the Rudesheimer Codex, includes illustrated descriptions of her religious visions as well as songs and a religious drama. The original manuscript was made soon after Hildegard's death, and was recopied in the 1920s by nuns at the abbey she founded in Eibingen, Germany. The original manuscript was lost during the Second World War, so the facsimile reproduces the 20th century copy.
Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. France, 15th century.
Facsimile of a lavish Book of Hours produced in Paris before 1410 by the Limbourg Brothers, two famous French illuminators.