Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 27
Illuminated pages
The illuminated programme is exceptionally rich and structurally ambitious. It encompasses fiftyone large miniatures and over ninety subsidiary scenes, framed within seventy-two broad
decorative borders, of which forty-two form fully pictorial compositions enclosing the text. Simon
Bening himself executed the principal narrative and devotional miniatures, while the Victoria and
Albert Master and the so-called Stockholm Master contributed extensive historiated and
ornamental borders, as well as selected half-page scenes. The result is a highly integrated visual
cycle in which narrative intensity, seasonal observation, and decorative invention operate in
concert. A complete folio-by-folio inventory of the illuminated pages, with attributions, is provided
in Appendix II.
The Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg occupies a distinguished place at the intersection of art,
devotion, and politics in the early sixteenth century. Commissioned by one of the most influential
ecclesiastical princes of his age and illuminated in Bruges by Simon Bening and his workshop, it
reflects both the sophistication of Netherlandish manuscript painting and the devotional culture
that shaped the years immediately preceding the Reformation. Its indulgenced prayers, heraldic
display, and carefully articulated visual programme reveal a manuscript conceived as both a
personal devotional aid and a statement of status. The preservation of the two volumes, together
with the dispersal of associated miniatures now held in major public collections, underscores its
lasting historical and artistic significance.
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