full description

Missal
In French and Latin, illuminated manuscript on paper
France (Alsace, Molsheim), June 29, 1906
iii (paper) + 176 pages + iii (paper) on stiff paper, paginated in ink bottom outer corner recto and bottom inside corner
verso, preceded and followed by unnumbered pages for the title page and the scribal colophon, as follows: 1-50, 52*, 50*,
53-60, 62*, 61*, 63-172, collation impracticable, all leaves glued onto paper stubs, but complete, no signature or
catchwords, ruled very faintly in lead, each page framed with ink rules (111 x 70 mm.), written in a stylized script
modelled after a cursive gothic bookhand, red rubrics, red and blue bar line fillers, title page with an historiated initial,
sections begin with display script and 5- to 7-line colored initials, illuminated on every page in watercolor, often with
brushed gold, with TWENTY-EIGHT FULL-PAGE MINIATURES, MORE THAN TWENTY LARGE
MINIATURES, and half-page or smaller miniatures on the remaining pages, in almost pristine condition, very clean, no
marginalia, p. 49 loose. Bound in contemporary mottled leather tooled in blind with stylized scrolls and fleur-de-lis
designs, smooth spine, silk doublures, gilt edges, in excellent condition apart from wear to hinges and at the top and bottom
of the spine. Dimensions 124 x 87 mm.
This small-format modern illuminated Missal was copied by Clothilde Coulaux, an accomplished
female scribe and illuminator from Alsace, inspired by the work of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century
artists, first-hand knowledge of medieval buildings and towns in Alsace and elsewhere in France,
and her own imagination. The volume has illumination on every page, mixing serious devotional
images, including faithful copies of prints by Albrecht Dürer, Urs Graf, and Hans Holbein, along
with humorous vignettes, charming lords and ladies, and fairy-tale castles.
PROVENANCE
1. Written and illuminated by Clothilde Coulaux in Molsheim, France; the colophon on p.
173 (transcribed below), decorated with a picture of a young female scribe in “medieval”
dress (a self-portrait of Clothilde?), records that she completed her work on June 29, 1906
in Molsheim on the rue Notre Dame, across from the Parish church.
2. Dorine van Heerdt tot Eversberg, Fine Medieval Book of Amsterdam (see Coomans and
De Maeyer, 2007, page 61, fig. 3.25).
TEXT
[first unnumbered leaf]; Illuminated title page; [verso], full-page miniature;
pp. 1-40, Ordinary and Canon of the Mass;
pp. 41-114, Masses for the important feasts of the liturgical year, as follows: pp. 41-51, Christmas;
pp. 52-62, Easter; pp. 63-70, Ascension; pp. 71-78, Pentecost; pp. 79-86, Assumption; pp. 87-104,
All Saints; pp. 105-114; All Souls;
pp. 115-132, Marriage Mass;
pp. 133-164, Sunday Vespers, continuing with the Office for the major feasts of the Temporale;
pp. 165-172, Prayers honoring the Holy Sacrament and the Virgin;
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[unnumbered, p. 173, scribal colophon], incipit, “Ce missel romain fut achevé en l’honneur de
Nostre Seigneur Jésus Christ le vingt-neuvieme jour de juin de l’an de grace mil-neuf-cent-six, fête
des saints Apôtres Pierre et Paul, par Clothilde Coulaux demeurant en la cité de Molsheim rue
Notre-Dame en face l’église paroissale”; [unnumbered p. 174], Small relaxing figure of a man,
labelled, “Gaudeamus.”
The text consists of a copy of a Roman Missal including the Ordinary of the Mass, with the Canon
(the Mass Prayers said at every Mass), together with Proper Masses for the most important feasts
of the liturgical year, a Marriage Mass, the service for Vespers, and prayers honoring the Holy
Sacrament and the Virgin Mary. It is mostly in French, but there are also Latin passages, and
occasionally, prayers copied in two columns with both Latin and French (reflecting contemporary
usage, where the language of the Mass was Latin, but the laity followed along in French).
The volume is plentifully illustrated (discussed below), in a marvelous mixture of serious
devotional images, inter-mixed with scenes depicting a fairy-tale like view of the Middle Ages –
some serious, but often domestic, and even humorous. This manuscript shows very few signs of
use, and was most likely copied to display the scribe’s skill, functioning more as a treasured
keepsake than an actively used devotional volume. Inspired by the idea of the Middle Ages, and
the art of the late fifteenth- and early sixteenth centuries, this is an important witness to the
rebirth of the illuminated manuscript in modern France.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, calligraphy and illumination were extolled as
skills especially suitable for amateur artists, and in particular, women (there are examples of
amateur artists as early as the 1830s, but at least in France, most illuminators were professionals
until the last decades of the century). At the end of the century, Karl Robert, author of a manual
on illumination, remarked that illumination was ideally suited for women, since they were naturally
more patient then men (Robert, 1893). Journals promoting illumination included Le coloriste
enluminure (published from 1893-1899), and L’Enlumineur: L’Art dans la famille (from 1899-1900). The
goal of the “Illuminating Art Society,” founded in London in 1858 by David Laurent de Lara (with
the support of many “distinguished ladies”) was to promote and encourage “the medieval style of
illuminating, on vellum, adaptable for modern purposes, either sacred or secular.” In France,
similar aims were promoted by the Alphonse Labitte’s, “Société des miniaturists et enlumineurs de
France,” that was founded in 1894 and held an annual exposition in Paris, and the “Sociéte de la
Miniature, de l’Aquarelle et des Arts Précieux,” founded in 1898 (Hindman et al., 2001, p. 148151; Coomans and de Maeyer, eds., 2007, p. 61, fig. 3.25, reproducing p. 40 of the Missal
described here). Illumination was promoted as a private, domestic activity, and one with strong
devotional importance. Missals in particular were recommended as suitable volumes for
illumination.
Although we know very little about the scribe of this manuscript, Clothilde Coulaux, she almost
certainly belongs to the category of the accomplished amateur scribe. The Coulaux family was an
important family of industrialists in nineteenth-century Molsheim. Clothilde was granted second
prize at the Concours d’Enluminure of 1896 sponsored by Le colorist enluminure, in the amateur category
(reported in vol. 4, 1896, pp. 4-5).
ILLUSTRATION
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Every page in this Missal is enlivened by figurative paintings; the following is only a partial list of
some highlights:
[first unnumbered leaf] Title page, Virgin and child;
[first unnumbered leaf, verso], Full-page, Virgin and Child; copy of an engraving by Albrecht
Dürer, Virgin and Child crowned by an Angel, Bartsch 37;
p. 2, Full-page, Adam and Eve at the top; below, a street scene, possibly depicting a scene in
Molsheim or elsewhere in Alsace;
p. 8, two-thirds of the page, Virgin in the stable venerating the Child, on the ground;
p. 11, Virgin and child, after Albrecht Dürer’s engraving, Virgin and Child with a monkey; (child
holds a bird and apple, landscape with a lake and timbered house, and a monkey seated next to
them); a careful copy of Bartsch 42;
p. 21, Full-page; a Couple seated playing an organ;
p. 27, Full-length, on the right of a text page, St. Agnes, crowned, holding book and palm branch,
her lamb beside her;
p. 33, Full-page, the Virgin(?), crowned with halo, holding a chalice, in a Reniassance arch;
p. 38, Full-page, St. John the Baptist;
p. 42, Half of Dürer’s engraving of the Nativity, showing Joseph at the well, Bartsch 2; on a text
page taking up most of the page;
p. 44, Full-page, Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds within a stable, a copy of Dürer’s
woodcut Bartsch 85;
p. 52, Full-page, Crucifixion set in a landscape; copy of the Dürer engraving, Bartsch 24;
p. 51 (paginated as p. 50), Full-page, the Virgin and Child in a landscape; Virgin holds a bunch of
grapes and offers it to Jesus;
p. 54, Small image of face of Christ after Dürer’s sudarium of St. Veronica, B25;
p. 55, One-quarter of the text page, St. Veronica in a landscape, the sea and a ship in the distance,
reminiscent of the Hans Memling in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, but not a copy;
p. 56, Full-page, Mary Magdalene in a landscape;
p. 60, Deposition of Christ, copy of Dürer (Passion no. 13), Bartsch 15;
p. 62 (inverted leaf, should be p. 61), Full-page roundel with Christ blessing;
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p. 61 (inverted leaf, should be p. 62), Full-page miniature, copy of Dürer Resurrection, Bartsch 17;
p. 64, Partial page, knight on horseback, “Sire de [K]eramor” and below, castle, labelled, “La
Roche Clermaud”;
p. 70, Full-page, raising of Lazarus after Dürer;
p. 81, Full-page, the Virgin on a crescent moon;
p. 83, Almost full-page, Virgin and Child with a book;
p. 84, Almost full-page, the Virgin, crowned, and Child on a crescent moon; copy of Dürer,
Bartsch 31;
p. 87, Full-page, the Holy Family in a landscape, after Dürer, Bartsch 44 (but omitting God the
Father at the top);
p. 92, Almost full-page, the Archangel Michael slaying the dragon, after Dürer’s woodcut, Bartsch
72;
p. 93, Full-page, Erasmus, a copy of Bartsch 107;
p. 94, Full-page, Joan of Arc (perhaps inspired by the manuscript reproduced in Robert, 1893,
plate VI);
p. 96, Full-page, St. Christopher; a copy of Dürer, Bartsch 52;
p. 101, Full-page, a woman, sewing, seated before a window;
p. 104, Full-page, an Angel;
p. 105, Full-page, a woman, a wildman, and a large heraldic shield of a skull after the Dürer
engraving;
pp. 106-111, and 113, the Mass for All Souls is illustrated with a series of detailed smaller
miniatures depicting scenes of death as a skeleton visiting the living, labelled La duchesse, La fiancée,
Jeune homme, Le médecin, l’avocat, le soldat and la menestrelle, and le veillard;
p. 112, Full-page, Death comes to a man asleep in his study;
p. 114, Full-page, a young woman (Clothilde?), holding a book and quill, in medieval dress, in a
gold frame, lettered “Hodie mihi cras tibi, Memento homo quia pulvis es” (Today me, tomorrow
you; Remember man that you are dust);
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pp. 115-132, the Marriage Mass is particularly lavishly illustrated with courtly scenes depicting
courtship, engagement, birth of a child, and family life, depicting several different richly dressed
couples; on p. 121, a mermaid;
p. 132, Full-page roundel, decorated with ivy leaves, of a woman before a window (half length);
p. 133, Full-page, two musicians;
p. 165, Almost full-page, a woman and child in a landscape;
pp. 168-169, double page opening, the Annunciation; the figures of the Angel and Mary probably
copied from Dürer, but with a landscape in the background;
p. 173, Colophon, illustrated by a miniature of a young woman writing (a self-portrait?).
In addition to full-page miniatures, every page of this manuscript includes painted details, varying
in size from one-quarter to almost full-page, some are amusing -- a few examples: p. 1, a miniature
figure with a bell over his head; p. 39, a small figure holding a very large ink well, standing in a
puddle of ink; and p. 13, a man, holding up a glass of wine, with the caption, “Vinum bonum
leatificat cor hominum” (Good wine gladdens the hearts of man”). Others are serious, and are
appropriate to the text, for example, the details illustrating the Ordinary and Canon of the Mass
include: p. 19, a censor; p. 25, an angel holding a chalice; and p. 32, two angels holding a crown
above a chalice. On p. 46, there is a court scene with a lord being served a roasted pig, illustrating
the celebration of Christmas with a feast. The figures are dressed costumes inspired by fifteenthand sixteenth-century sources (see for example on p. 9, the figure in a fur-trimmed robe, crowned,
with long curling toe shoes). There are numerous scenes of daily life, many of them set in a town
that likely was based on Molsheim, or other towns in Alsace; on p. 8, there is a drummer with a cat
in a window; p. 50, a family in a window distributing a coin and bread to a beggar; and p. 68, a man
with a beer.
Many of the full-page miniatures are faithful reproductions of engravings and wood-cuts by
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), carefully drawn and then colored in water color. Throughout,
Clothilde shows a preference for Northern European sources from the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Some of the details may be based on stained glass (p. 20, St. Cosmas, p. 27, Agnes with
lamb, p. 76, Apostle Thomas), or sculptures, that she would have been familiar with from churches
in Molsheim and elsewhere (for example, p. 45, a Sculpture of Virgin and Child; or the Crucifixion
on p. 59, similar to the Crucifixion in the Jesuit Church in Molsheim). The decorative initials
seem more likely to be based on initials in contemporary manuals on illumination than on firsthand knowledge of manuscript sources (similar to Robert, 1893; or Labitte, 1893). She may have
been familiar with printed Books of Hours (for example, p.26, Dance of Death). In his manual on
modern illumination, Karl Robert recommended as models modern works by Mme. Rabeau and
Aline Guilbert, as well as sixteenth-century works of Geoffroy Troy, Lucas Cranach and Albrecht
Dürer. Clothilde may well have been using similar sources (Hindman et al., 2001, p. 152).
LITERATURE
Alexander, Michael. Medievalism: The Middle Ages in Modern England, New Haven, 2008.
www.lesenluminures.com
Le coloriste enlumineur: journal d'enseignement du dessin, de la miniature, des émaux, de l’aquarelle, de la peinture sur
verre, sur soie, etc., à l'usage des amateurs et professionnels, vol. 4 (1896), pp. 4-5.
Coomans, Thomas and Jan De Maeyer, eds. The Revival of Medieval Illumination: Nineteenth-century
Belgium Manuscripts and Illuminations from a European perspective (Renaissance de l'enluminure médiévale: manuscripts
et enluminures belges du XIXe siègle et leur contexte européen), Louvain, 2007.
Emery, Elizabeth Nicole and Laura Morowitz. Consuming the Past: The Medieval Revival in fin-de siecle
France, London, 2003.
Hindman, Sandra, Michael Camille, Nina Rowe, Rowan Watson. Manuscript Illumination in the Modern
age: Recovery and Reconstruction, eds. Sandra Hindman and Nina Rowe, Evanston, Illinois, 2001.
Labitte, Alphonse. 1893. Les manuscrits et l'art de les orner, Paris, Ch. Mendel, 1893.
Robert, Karl. Traité pratique de l'enluminure des livres d'heures, canons d'autel, images et gravures, selon la méthode
des anciens, d'après les documents du moine Théophile, et selon les procédés modernes, d'après les meilleurs artistes peintres,
imagiers et enlumineurs, Paris, 1893.
Watson, Rowen. Vandals and Enthusiasts: Views of Illumination in the Nineteenth Century, Victoria and
Albert Museum, 31 January-30 April 1995, London, 1995.
ONLINE RESOURCES
International Society for the Study of Medievalism
http://www.medievalism.net/
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