{"id":647162,"date":"2025-04-11T10:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T14:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=647162"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:37:14","slug":"review-spring-2025-ghent-bruges-book-of-hours-647162","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-spring-2025-ghent-bruges-book-of-hours-647162\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning time\u2019s pages"},"content":{"rendered":"

A collaborative acquisition of the medieval Ghent-Bruges Book of Hours offers unique opportunities for research, teaching, and community outreach.<\/h2>\n

On January 30, the hottest book at the University wasn\u2019t a national bestseller or a novel adapted into a blockbuster film\u2014it was a 500-year-old Catholic prayer book.<\/p>\n

On that evening, a sold-out crowd of nearly 300 people packed into the Memorial Art Gallery<\/a>\u2019s auditorium to hear Nancy Norwood, the museum\u2019s curator of European Art, and Anna Siebach-Larsen<\/a>, director of the Rossell Hope Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center for English Studies<\/a>, discuss the recent acquisition of the pocket-sized Ghent-Bruges Book of Hours.<\/p>\n

\"View
SMALL BUT MIGHTY:<\/strong> The Ghent-Bruges Book of Hours\u2019 compact trim size is somewhere between the size of a pack of playing cards and a mass-market paperback. The current binding, added in the late 16th century, is luxurious Spanish leather with gilt detailing while the book\u2019s 456 pages are made of vellum, a high-quality parchment created from specially prepared animal skin. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Filled with richly colored illustrations and Latin calligraphic script, the volume, produced around 1500, serves as a window into another time. \u201cIt was used by everyday people of the time who wanted to bring practices of worship into their daily lives,\u201d says Siebach-Larsen. The 456-page book contains prayers, readings, and even a perpetual calendar (meaning that it could be used year after year).<\/p>\n

What is a book of hours?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The name is descriptive: A book of hours was designed to help its readers structure time for prayer, while \u201cGhent-Bruges\u201d refers to the distinctive, detailed style of manuscript illumination found in the two named Belgian cities.<\/p>\n

The manuscript was a hit with the evening\u2019s audiences and continues to be on display at the Memorial Art Gallery to the public. It will also serve as a cornerstone of the University\u2019s renowned medieval studies program and collection.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
ALL IN THE DETAILS:<\/strong> The book\u2019s rich blue hues, used primarily in high-end manuscripts, may have come from lapis lazuli, a rare and valuable metamorphic rock. Gold leaf is also used as an embellishment throughout the book, while ornate Latin calligraphy is used for the prayers, readings, and perpetual calendar contained within the volume. The lower corner of a page containing a prayer to the Virgin Mary features what is likely an image of the patron. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norwood sees an even more expansive role for the document in the years ahead. \u201cThis is an acquisition that will benefit multiple departments\u2014visual studies, religious studies, art history,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s one tiny book, but it consolidates so many different things and extends into all sorts of fields.\u201d Because many of the prayers included in the book were chanted, even faculty from the Eastman School of Music<\/a> have expressed interest in integrating it into their teaching and research.<\/p>\n

And while complete imaging by Lisa Wright, a digitization specialist for the River Campus Libraries<\/a>, will allow for wide access to the book, the value of having the real object is significant. For example, the binding offers clues to how the book was made, the wear on specific images and pages suggests the ways it might have been used, and decorative gilt shines in a way that digital imaging can\u2019t fully capture.<\/p>\n

Siebach-Larsen says that there\u2019s something emotional\u2014almost visceral\u2014about having a physical object that many people find meaningful. \u201cThere\u2019s something about seeing an object in front of you that allows you to connect with the past in a unique way,\u201d she says. \u201cThis book is beautiful, and, at the same time, many of the images are strange to us. But it\u2019s not \u2018distant.\u2019 It\u2019s right there in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
ARTISTIC LICENSE:<\/strong> While most of the components in the book follow standard formats, the patrons could choose which saints were included\u2014and the more they paid, the more saints they could feature. The decorative borders provided artists a unique creative outlet. The design details weren\u2019t necessarily related to the story. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The acquisition marks a significant partnership between the museum and the River Campus Libraries. By pooling their resources and working together, the two University units were not only able to acquire a manuscript that would have been out of reach for either individually but also to ensure that it would be available for their respective events, programs, research, and teaching. \u201cThis collaborative aspect has been an area of emphasis for us, and it aligns with the \u2018One University\u2019 model that we\u2019re pursuing,\u201d says Siebach-Larsen, adding that the Book of Hours acquisition process could serve as a roadmap for future collaborative efforts at Rochester.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the book functions as both a scholarly reference and a source of fascination, bridging the gaps between teaching, scholarship, and public engagement. It is something that will be studied, admired, puzzled over, and, perhaps most importantly of all, experienced for years to come.<\/p>\n

\n

A version of this story appears in the spring 2025 issue of <\/em>Rochester Review<\/a>, the magazine of the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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