The Rothschild Prayerbook or Rothschild Hours (both titles are used for other books), is an important Flemish

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

book of hours A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

, compiled c. 1500–1520 by a number of artists. It has 254 folios, with a page size of 228 × 160 mm. After a Nazi-era confiscation from the Austrian branch of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

, it was in the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (, ) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Hofburg#Neue Burg, Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in Innere Stadt, center of Vienna. Sin ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

as Codex Vindobonensis S.N. 2844, before being returned. Since its sale in 1999 it has held the world record price at auction for an illuminated manuscript. In 2014 it was purchased by Australian businessman

Kerry Stokes Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in industries including electronic and print media, property, mining and construction equipment. He is most widely k ...

from Christie's New York and is on display in the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

Illuminations

It contains the work of several leading miniaturists of the final flowering of the Ghent-Bruges school of Flemish illumination, who also co-operated on the Grimani Breviary, the Spinola Hours (Getty, Malibu) and other major manuscripts of these years. Most of the sixty-seven large miniatures are by the " Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian", an older artist, and Gerard Horenbout or the Master of James IV of Scotland (these being two names probably for the same artist). Other miniatures are by

Gerard David Gerard David ( – 13 August 1523) was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color. Only a bare outline of his life survives, although some facts are known. He may have been the Meester ghera ...

, better known as a panel painter, or a pupil working in his style, with two miniatures by Simon Bening, and other work by further masters. Rothschild Prayerbook 2

There are wide borders, many with flowers and other objects and drolleries, and another group with ''

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

'' imitations of bronzes. Other borders frame the miniature with illusionistically painted wooden tracery. Some pages follow the fashion of showing one scene as a framed inset within another larger one, In total 140 pages, over half of the whole book, have significant decoration outside the text. The calendar has scenes of the ''

Labours of the Months The term Labours of the Months refers to cycles in Medieval art, Medieval and early Renaissance art depicting in twelve scenes the rural activities that commonly took place in the months of the year. They are often linked to the signs of the Z ...

'' at the bottom of the pages.Walther and Norbert, 416-417 As with other very lavishly illuminated manuscripts, it was probably worked on over a long period.

History

The early history of the book is obscure, and the original owner is unknown, though he or she would clearly have been a very wealthy person. This is a feature shared by several important manuscripts of the late Ghent-Bruges school, where typically the heraldry and portraits of the owners of most luxury manuscripts are not found. The contents of the book, which has extra mass texts and prayers beyond those usually found in a book of hours, contain distinctive elements that relate it to the Chartreuse des Dunes, near

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

. By 1500 the printed book of hours had largely replaced manuscript ones, except for luxury books like this, which were restricted to the higher nobility and royalty. The manuscript belonged to the princely

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

family in the 16th century, and then to the library of the

counts palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German language, German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank abo ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, leaving that collection before 1623. Its history is then unknown until it reappeared in the collection of the Viennese branch of the

in the late 19th century. It was confiscated from Louis Nathaniel von Rothschild immediately after the March 1938 German annexation of Austria. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the new Austrian government used legislation forbidding the export of culturally significant works of art in part to pressure the Rothschilds into "donating" a large number of works to Austrian museums, including the prayerbook, which went to the National Library. In exchange the family was allowed to export other works. Under international pressure over this and similar disputes, the government of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

returned the book and other works of art to the Rothschild family in 1999. The book was sold for them by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

auction house in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 8 July 1999 for £8,580,000 (then $13,400,000), still the world record auction price for an illuminated manuscript before they sold it themselves. The prayerbook was offered for sale again at Christie's, New York, on 29 January 2014, when it fetched £8,195,783. The bidder remained anonymous until September 2014, when it was revealed on the Australian TV program '' Sunday Night'' that

, an Australian businessman, billionaire and owner of the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

that ''Sunday Night'' airs on, had purchased it. The Prayerbook is part of Stokes' collection in Perth, Australia and was loaned to the National Library of Australia in Canberra for display. A full

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

has been published: E. Trenkier, ''Rothschild Gebetbuch: facsimile und comentarium'', Codices Selecti, 67 (Graz, 1979).

Gallery

File:Rothschild Prayerbook 1.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 3.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 4.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 5.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 6.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 7.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 8.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 9.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 10.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 11.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 12.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 13.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 14.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 15.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 16.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 17.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 18.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 19.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 20.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 21.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 22.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 23.jpg File:Rothschild Prayerbook 24.jpg

Notes

References

*T Kren & S McKendrick (eds), ''Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe'', Getty Museum/Royal Academy of Arts, 2003, *Walther, Ingo F. and Wolf, Norbert, ''Masterpieces of Illumination'' (Codices Illustres); pp 350–3; 2005, Taschen, Köln;

External links

* {{cite web , title=The Rothschild Prayerbook , url=http://www.christies.com/sales/old-masters-week-featuring-renaissance-january-2014/the-rothschild-prayerbook/ , publisher=