THE BOOK OF HOURS
The book was very popular in Medieval Ages because of its content. It is illuminated manuscript. Especially in the Gothic period people needed easier books and they came up with Book of Hours which were far less complex than the breviarys they used. The common charasteristic of the Book of Hours is that they start with a calender which marks thespecial days of christianity. Then cames the part that is taken from the four gospels and continues with specific parts endind with various prayers. As it can seen from the name ‘hours’ it is based on a system and it is for people to understand clearly and systematicly.
It is said that majority of the books were made for woman and usually given to them as a wedding gift from the husband. It definitely becomes the family property and it goes through out the years. The illumination amount in the book decided its price. At the time it was not easy to have a book of hours; you had to be very very rich or it had to be given from your family.Hence it was impossible to have any book since 15th century when book became more affordable but the book of hours were very precious. Today its kept in a place dark so that light won’t get to the papers and it’s almost impossible to see them.
As we can see the drawings and the format of the pages are extremely complex and very new. We must look at them reminding us that they are hand made and each of the pages looks like a painting by itself. It is too much for a book of religion and visually very attractive. As the time goes the page structure evaluates but these book are very important step in the evaluation process for my sake.
References:
http://www.bookofhours.org/
http://justonemore.info/2009/11/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_hours
http://www.medievalist.net/hourstxt/hrsintro.htm
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