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Source Description
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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
140492
label
Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
140492
contentType
object
title
Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425)
description
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.
date
c. 1404
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60763692
creators
7765
genreSpecific
Bound Volume
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Codex: 20.3 x 15.7 x 7 cm (8 x 6 3/16 x 2 3/4 in.)
cul
France, Paris
accession
1964.4
Source extras
tec
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
tombstone
Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425), c. 1404. Master of the Brussels Initials and Associates (French). Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; codex: 20.3 x 15.7 x 7 cm (8 x 6 3/16 x 2 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1964.40
collection
MED - Manuscript Illuminations
didYouKnow
King Charles the Noble likely used this book of hours at his royal castle of Olite in Navarra in northern Spain.
citations
citation
Meiss, Millard. “The Exhibition of French Manuscripts of the XIII-XVI Centauries at the Bibliotheque Nationale.” <em>Art Bulletin</em> XXXVIII (September 1956)
page_number
pp. 194-5
citation
Porcher, Jean. French miniatures from illuminated manuscripts. London: Collins, 1960.
page_number
pp. 58-9
citation
Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.). The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962. 1962.
page_number
pp. 67-8
citation
Meiss, Millard. “French and Italian Variations on an Early Fifteenth-Century Theme: St. Jerome and his Study.” <em>Gazette des Beaux-Arts </em>LXII (September 1963)
page_number
pp. 159 & 164
citation
"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, January-March, 1964," <em>The Art Quarterly</em> XXVII (1964)
page_number
p. 204 & 208
citation
Wixom, William D. "Twelve Masterpieces of Medieval and Renaissance Book Illumination. A Catalogue to the Exhibition: March 17-May 17, 1964." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 51, no. 3 (1964).
page_number
pp. 53-55
citation
Wixom, William D. "The Hours of Charles the Noble" <em>Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 52 (March 1965)
page_number
pp. 50-91
citation
Burt Wasserman, "News and Notes" <em>Art Education</em> 18, no. 1 (January 1965)
page_number
pp. 37-8
citation
Winternitz, Emanuel. "The Hours of Charles the Noble: Musicians and Musical Instruments." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 52, no. 3 (1965).
page_number
pp. 84-91
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 57, 62
citation
Bodleian Library, Otto Pächt, and J. J. G. Alexander. Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Oxford: Clarendon P., 1966.
page_number
p. 50, pl XLIX
citation
Wixom, William D. "The Hours of Charles the Noble." <em>The Burlington Magazine</em> (July 1966)
page_number
p. 370 & 373
citation
Castelnuovo, Enrico. Il gotico internazionale in Francia e nei Paesi Bassi. Milano: Fratelli Fabbri, 1966.
page_number
pl. IV
citation
Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medieval France. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 264-265; cat.no. VI-25
citation
Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean De Berry: The Late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke. 1967.
page_number
pp. 36, 146-147
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 57, 62
citation
Calkins, Robert G. "The Brussels Hours Reevaluated." <em>Scriptorium</em> XXIV (1970)
page_number
p. 20, Pl. 6A
citation
Hutchinson, G. Evelyn. Aposematic Insects and the Master of the Brussels Initials. [New Haven, Ct.]: [Sigma Xi], 1974.
citation
Hutchinson, Evelyn G. "Aposmatic Insects and the Master of the Brussels Initials" <em>American Scientist </em>62 (1974)
page_number
pp. 161-172
citation
Meiss, Millard, Sharon Off Dunlap Smith, and Elizabeth H. Beatson. French Painting in the Time of Jean De Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries. New York: George Braziller, 1974.
page_number
pp. 375, 377, 384f, 447, no. 62
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 68, 71
citation
Thomas, Marcel, Ursule Molinaro, Bruce Benderson, and Marcel Thomas. The golden age: manuscript painting at the time of Jean, Duke of Berry. 1979.
page_number
pp. 50-51
citation
Calkins, Robert G. “An Italian in Paris: The Master of the Brussels Initials and his Participation in the French Book Industry.” <em>Gesta</em> 20 (1981)
page_number
pp. 225-6
citation
De Winter, Patrick. "Art, Devotion and Satire." <em>The Gamut</em> 2 (Winter 1981)
page_number
pp. 42-59
citation
Karłowska-Kamzowa, Alicja. Les relations artistiques entre la Pologne, la France, la Flandre et la Basse Rhenanie du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Poznań: UAM, 1981.
page_number
pp. 29-30 fig. 7c
citation
Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983.
page_number
p. 279 repr. p. 415
citation
De Winter, Patrick M. "Bolognese Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum," <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> LXX (June 1983)
page_number
pp. 338-40, repr. p. 339-344
citation
Calkins, Robert G. Programs of Medieval Illumination. [Lawrence, Kan.]: Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1984.
page_number
pp. 116 & 118
citation
Winter, Patrick M. de. La bibliothèque de Philippe le Hardi, duc de Bourgogne, (1364-1404): étude sur les manuscrits à peintures d'une collection princière à l'époque du "Style gothique international". Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1985.
page_number
pp. 100, 108, fig. 265
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Images of the Mind</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 9
citation
Martínez de Aguirre, Javier. Arte y monarquía en Navarra, 1328-1425. Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, Departamento de Educación y Cultura, Institución Príncipe de Viana, 1987.
page_number
p. 313, 340, 341, 379
citation
D'Amico, Rosalba, Renzo Grandi, and Jacques Le Goff. Il Tramonto del Medioevo a Bologna: il cantiere di San Petronio. Bologna: Nuova Alfa, 1987.
page_number
p. 171
citation
University of Glasgow, and Nigel Thorp. The Glory of the Page: Medieval & Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from Glasgow University Library. London: Published for Glasgow University Library and the Art Gallery of Ontario by Miller, 1987.
page_number
p. 132
citation
Gibbs, Robert. "The Brussels Initial Master: From Proto-Renaissance to Northern Renaissance and Back" <em>Apollo</em> (November 1991)
page_number
pp. 317-321
citation
Smeyers, Maurits, and Bert Cardon. Flanders in a European perspective: manuscript illumination around 1400 in Flanders and abroad : proceedings of the International Colloquium, Leuven, 7-10 September 1993. Leuven: Peeters, 1995.
page_number
pp. 30, 32, 35, 78-81, & 89
citation
Duffin, Ross W. "Backward Bells and Barrel Bells, Some Notes on the Early History of Loud Instruments" <em>Historic Brass Society Journal</em> 9 (1997)
page_number
pp. 113-129
citation
Baldissin Molli, Giovanna, Giordana Mariani Canova, and Federica Toniolo. La miniatura a Padova: dal Medioevo al Settecento. [Modena]: Franco Cosimo Panini, 1999.
page_number
pp. 471-2
citation
Marinelli, Sergio, Angelo Mazza, and Diego Arich de Finetti. La pittura emiliana nel Veneto. [Verona]: Banca popolare di Verona--Banco S. Geminiano e S. Prospero, 1999.
page_number
pp. 24-5
citation
Châtelet, Albert, and Boucicaut. L'âge d'or du manuscrit à peintures en France au temps de Charles VI et les Heures du Maréchal Boucicaut. Paris: Institut de France, 2000.
page_number
pp. 43, 96-97
citation
Châtelet, Albert, and Boucicaut. L'âge d'or du manuscrit à peintures en France au temps de Charles VI et les Heures du Maréchal Boucicaut. Paris: Institut de France, 2000.
citation
Natale, Mauro. El Renacimiento mediterráneo: viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras entre Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV : Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, del 31 de enero al 6 de mayo de 2001, Valencia Museu de Belles Arts de València, del 18 de mayo al 2 de septiembre de 2001. Madrid: Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2001.
page_number
pp. 90, 190, 285-287, 620-623
citation
Bango Torviso, Isidro Gonzalo. Maravillas de la España medieval: tesoro sagrado y monarquía. León: Junta de Castilla y León. Caja España, 2001.
page_number
p. 100
citation
Maginnis, Hayden B. J., and Gabriele Erasmi. The World of the Early Sienese Painter. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
page_number
fig. 57
citation
Bango Torviso, Isidro Gonzalo. Maravillas de la España medieval: tesoro sagrado y monarquía. León: Junta de Castilla y León. Caja España, 2001.
page_number
p. 100
citation
Musée du Louvre. Paris, 1400: les arts sous Charles VI. [Paris]: Fayard, 2004.
page_number
p. 274
citation
De Hamel, Christopher. Les Rothschild, collectionneurs de manuscrits. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2004.
page_number
fig. 4a, 12, 19b
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.
page_number
pp. 212, 216-7
citation
France, James. Medieval Images of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 2007.
citation
Fliegel, Stephen N. <em>A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages.</em> Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2012.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 74, fig. 58
citation
Hindman, Sandra, and James H. Marrow. Books of hours reconsidered. 2013.
page_number
p. 50, footnote 12, p. 194
citation
Alexander, J. J. G. <em>The Painted Book in Renaissance Italy: 1450-1600.</em> New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
page_number
Mention: p. 286, no. 13
citation
De Hamel, Christopher. <em>Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts </em>London: Allen Lane with an imprint of Penguin Books. 2016.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 422
citation
Fliegel, Stephen N. "A Royal Book of Hours: The Hours of King Charles the Noble.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 57, no. 4 (July/August 2017): 18-19.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 18; Mentioned: P. 18-19
creditline
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:13:12.916000
sourceId
140492
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Manuscript Illuminations
med
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
71ec0b44be86f65d