Missal for the Use of Rome

Missal for the Use of Rome

The Missal contains all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of the Mass throughout the year. As a visible accessory to the celebration of the Mass, the Missal was embellished with significant decoration. The decoration in this Netherlandish Missal demonstrates the extent to which pictorial trends could migrate from centers of book production toward more regional settings. The irises, thistles, and carnations that decorate the illuminated frames for the major subdivisions within the book hark back to border decoration that was fashionable in Ghent-Bruges style Books of Hours in the late fifteenth century. The historiated initials of Saint Benedict and Saint Martin are evidence that the book was intended for a Benedictine monastery dedicated to the latter, perhaps Saint Martin of Tournai.

ca. 1530–50

Manuscript on parchment, 270 fols.

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 157

Southern Netherlands, possibly Hainault