Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425)
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
20.3 × 15.7 × 7 cm
Classification
Bound Volume
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession Number
1964.40
Tags
About this artwork
Creating a book of hours was an arduous and costly process. These books were made from vellum, animal skins that were laboriously prepared in a multistep process. The texts were written with a quill pen and the illustrations were hand painted using water-based pigments. Gold was added for a look of great luxury. Such a book would take years to create, making these valuable objects unique.
About the Artist
Master of the Brussels Initials and Associates (French)
Georges Hugnet (1906–1974) was a multifaceted French artist, poet, writer, and critic whose innovative collages and graphic works bridged Dada and Surrealism. Born in Paris on July 11, 1906, he spent much of his early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, returning to France around 1913. His early life and artistic training remain sparsely documented, with no records of formal art school attendanc...