This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 193r https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.193.a

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 38v

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 38v https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.227.38.b

Triple Unite

Triple Unite https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.195

This precious volume was obviously highly prized by its owner, the French-born King of Navarre, who had his coat of arms painted on no less than twenty folios. Rather than directly commissioning this manuscript from a specific workshop, it seems that Charles the Noble acquired his book of hours -- perhaps ready-made for the luxury market -- while on a trip to Paris in 1404-05. A collaborative effort, six painting styles are evidenced within the pages of this codex, those of two Italians, two Frenchmen, and two Netherlanders. The painter who was responsible for the planning and decoration of the book, and who produced seventeen of the large miniatures, was a Bolognese artist known as the Master of the Brussels Initials. His principal assistant, responsible for most of the borders, was a Florentine who signed his name "Zecho" da Firenze on folio 208 verso.

Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425): fol. 243r, Text https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.40.243.a

Purchase

The Girls on the Bridge (Pikene på broen) 1919–20
https://botfrens.com/collections/90/contents/1147641

The cuirassier was the heavy cavalryman of the late 1500s and early 1600s. Carrying pistols and a sword, he was clad in full armor, like this suit, with the exception of his lower legs, which were protected by heavy riding boots. Shortly after 1650, such heavy cavalry armor disappeared from use. By then, European cavalries had abandoned full armor as impractical against the increased sophistication of firearms. Similar armors survive in the Armory of Graz, Austria.

Cuirassier's Armor: Helmet https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.37.a

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 67r https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.67.a

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 105r

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 105r https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.227.105.a

This elegant Latin manuscript is known today as The Gotha Missal after its eighteenth-century owners, the German Dukes of Gotha. The volume was originally copied and illuminated in Paris around 1375 -- a commission of the Valois king, Charles V "the Wise" (1364-1380), one of the great bibliophiles of the fifteenth century and brother of Dukes Philip the Bold of Burgundy and Jean de Berry. Manuscript missals were not intended for the lay user, but rather for the use of the celebrant at Mass. The present volume was therefore meant to be used by the king's private chaplain and was probably housed in Charles's private chapel, possibly in his principle residence, the Palace of the Louvre (demolished in the sixteenth century). The main decorative body of the missal consists of two full-page miniatures comprising the Canon of the Mass and twenty-three small miniatures. The style and high quality of the decoration points to its inclusion withing a select group of manuscripts accepted today as from the hand of Jean Bondol. Bondol was active at the court of Charles V from 1368 until 1381 where he headed the court workshop and also served as the king's valet de chambre. The blind-tooled leather binding dates to the fifteenth century.

The Gotha Missal: Fol. 153v, Text https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.287.153.b

Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Visitation

Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Visitation https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.366.1

This elegant Latin manuscript is known today as The Gotha Missal after its eighteenth-century owners, the German Dukes of Gotha. The volume was originally copied and illuminated in Paris around 1375 -- a commission of the Valois king, Charles V "the Wise" (1364-1380), one of the great bibliophiles of the fifteenth century and brother of Dukes Philip the Bold of Burgundy and Jean de Berry. Manuscript missals were not intended for the lay user, but rather for the use of the celebrant at Mass. The present volume was therefore meant to be used by the king's private chaplain and was probably housed in Charles's private chapel, possibly in his principle residence, the Palace of the Louvre (demolished in the sixteenth century). The main decorative body of the missal consists of two full-page miniatures comprising the Canon of the Mass and twenty-three small miniatures. The style and high quality of the decoration points to its inclusion withing a select group of manuscripts accepted today as from the hand of Jean Bondol. Bondol was active at the court of Charles V from 1368 until 1381 where he headed the court workshop and also served as the king's valet de chambre. The blind-tooled leather binding dates to the fifteenth century.

The Gotha Missal: Fol. 123v, Text https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.287.123.b

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 13r, December https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.13.a

Sultry Day - 1928
https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3104407

Head of Foreign God or Prince

Head of Foreign God or Prince https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.89

Sovereign (obverse)

Sovereign (obverse) https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.179.a

Portrait of Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, née Harrington

Portrait of Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, née Harrington https://clevelandart.org/art/1941.559

Fragment from a Gradual with Historiated Initial (V): The Virgin Mary

Fragment from a Gradual with Historiated Initial (V): The Virgin Mary https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.77

Book of Hours (Use of Paris): Fol. 118r, Angel and Devil Fighting over a Soul

Book of Hours (Use of Paris): Fol. 118r, Angel and Devil Fighting over a Soul https://clevelandart.org/art/1951.120.118.a

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 99r https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.99.a

Byzantine Gold Coins The vast number of surviving Byzantine coins attests to the level of trade across the empire. Controlled and supervised by the emperor, the producers of coins took care to represent his authority and reflect his stature. Talented artists were recruited to engrave the dies (molds) used for the striking of coins. Emperors increasingly came to include their heirs and co-emperors on their coinage, as well as other family members or even earlier rulers. Coins were recognized, then as now, as small, portable works of art. With their inscriptions and images, Byzantine coins provide valuable documentation of historical events and a record of the physical appearance of the emperors. The coins shown here include the solidus, the basic gold coin of 24 karats; the tremissis, a gold coin of one-third the weight and value of the solidus; and the nomisma, which in the 10th century replaced the solidus as the standard gold coin.

Solidus with Bust of Justinian II (reverse) https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.47.b

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 61v https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.61.b

A Lane of Cypresses with a Couple Walking - 1888
https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14237

Biblical manuscripts were highly prized and important possessions of churches, monasteries, cathedral schools, and universities throughout medieval Europe. The biblical texts were known as the vulgate, the translations made by Saint Jerome in the fourth century from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, which became the definitive and official Latin version of the Roman Church. In the 13th century, the bible was, for the first time, produced as a single volume with an officially sanctioned sequence to its books and chapters as illustrated by this example. The very extensive decoration of this bible is arranged hierarchically to indicate the relative importance of the various texts so that full or almost full-page initials mark the openings of the first prologue, Genesis, and the first Gospel; historiated initials mark the beginning of each book and illuminated initials mark the Prologues.

Fol. 220v, Psalm 38, historiated initial D, David kneeling, gesturing to the bust of God above https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.2.220.b

In this complex composition, David B. Woodbury merged the documentation of an event with his desire to record an impressive landscape. The image depicts a precarious, yet essential military log bridge that traverses a swamp created by the accumulated waters of the Chickahominy River, located southeast of Richmond, Virginia. Constructed under difficult physical conditions, the structure was later destroyed by floodwaters caused by heavy rains. The workers involved with the structure's construction are positioned in a single line so that each person is identifiable; however, reduced to diminutive size by the camera's distant viewpoint, the workers appear to be dominated by their natural environment. This image appeared in the first volume of a two-volume set of 100 Civil War photographs published between 1865–66 by Alexander Gardner (1821–1882), who printed the negatives and compiled the album, which included work by a number of other photographers.

Military Bridge, Across the Chickahominy, Virginia https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.283

Born either in Ghent or Antwerp in 1483, Simon Bening became one of the most famous manuscript painters of the 1500s. He was the son of the miniaturist Alexander Bening (whose work is nearby). His long career in Bruges, where he worked from 1508 until 1555, was distinguished by a series of major commissions for celebrated families. This illuminated leaf, one of 11 preserved from the now lost parent manuscript, was painted for a member of the important Spanish family of Enriquez de Ribera, whose coat of arms appears at the bottom of the miniature. The incident, shown in the upper register, during which Jesus gives a piece of bread to Judas (dressed in yellow and green) to indicate his knowledge of his betrayal, is depicted primarily according to the Gospel of John (13:21-30). In the lower register, Judas, realizing that his betrayal is understood, gets up suddenly to leave. His wooden stool topples over, and Christ’s words appear in a banderole: Quod facis fac cito ("What thou doest, do quickly," John 13:27). The two scenes are surrounded by an illusionistic border in liquid silver, with liquid gold acanthus, butterflies, and flowers. In the upper left of the border is the evangelist Matthew.

Single Leaf with Scenes from the Last Supper https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.52

This precious book was highly prized by its owner, Charles III, King of Navarre, a French-born prince whose coat of arms is painted on 20 folios. Charles visited Paris on numerous occasions and likely acquired this volume there in 1404. Paris was the center of the European book trade at the time and attracted illuminators from many parts of Europe. This manuscript represents one of the most remarkable fusions of French and Italian taste in book illumination. Though conforming to Parisian standards, most of the book’s major miniatures are the work of the Brussels Initials Master, an Italian illuminator who previously worked in Bologna and Padua.

Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425): fol. 2r, February https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.40.2.a

Hauberk

Hauberk https://clevelandart.org/art/1923.1120

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 148v

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 148v https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.227.148.b

Landscape near Montmajour with Train - 1888
https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14314

This crossbow, made for the use of a small child, was designed to throw small stones or pellets. The bow string is an accurate replacement.

Pellet Crossbow for a Child https://clevelandart.org/art/1928.671