Book of Hours (Use of Paris) (c. 1420): Art, History and Details

Book of Hours (Use of Paris) (c. 1420) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is The Bedford Master (French, Paris, active c. 1405–30).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The identity of the Bedford Master is not known. He is named for his work on two books produced for John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, between 1415 and 1435. He was active in Paris and known to have been the head of a large and prolific workshop. The illuminator, one of the most innovative artists of his time, based his style on trends of the period around 1400.

Object facts

• Title: Book of Hours (Use of Paris)
• Date: c. 1420
• Creator attribution: The Bedford Master (French, Paris, active c. 1405–30)
• Culture: France, Paris
• Type: Bound Volume
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Codex: 18.4 x 13.3 cm (7 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1951.120

A detail from the museum

Books of hours were the most abundantly produced book in the Middle Ages.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Gombrich, E. H. Essays in Honor of Hans Tietze: 1880-1954. Directed by Ernst Gombrich, Julius S. Held [and] Otto Kurz. 1958.
• Delasse, L.M.J. “An Exhibition of Netherlandish Book Illumination.” Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin XVII (Summer 1960)
• “Gothic Art 1360-1440.” Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin (Sept. 1963)

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.