Art & Art History
Department

The Rosy Hours: A 21st Century Calendar Book

Abstract: My project began as an investigation into the development of illuminated manuscripts as a whole, and developed into a study of text and image. Specific iconographies occurring in manuscripts from different periods allow us to study changes in the way the text and images relate to one another over time. I investigated these changes within the category of the Book of Hours manuscript format, focusing mainly on the 15th century Les Tres Riches Heures, made for the French Duke of Berry. Books of Hours often featured scenes of secular activities (the Labors of the Months) relating to the calendar, which allowed the patron to have him- or herself depicted in the book, also grounding the scriptures in day-to-day life. Image is hereby used to perform different functions, relating to text and independent of it. My version of a twenty-first century Book of Hours, using as its text a selection of quotes from various sources, does three things at once. The paintings tell a story which begins in January and ends in December; the text creates a mood which affects the reader, and the text and the paintings taken together evoke a more enriched experience which reflects the impact of the medieval masterpieces I have studied. Reading the quotes while looking at the pictures produces a kind of gestalt-experience of the mood I am trying to convey, which is what the Tres Riches Heures did so well.