Exhibit | April 30, 2012

Les Enluminures NY Opens With 'An Intimate Art'

An exhibition on Books of Hours titled AN INTIMATE ART - 12 BOOKS OF HOURS FOR 2012 will celebrate the opening of Les Enluminures' new gallery in New York, from May 2 - 25.

Owned then by kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, and ordinary people, such as doctors, lawyers, and merchants, the Book of Hours has long been known as the medieval “best seller.”  Used by owners to say their daily devotions, employed to teach children to read, and often passed down from mother to daughter, the Book of Hours originated in the latter half of the thirteenth century, probably in northern France/ Flanders, and the earliest examples are Psalter-Hours, including the text of the Psalter with that of the Book of Hours.  

Founder and owner of Les Enluminures, Dr. Sandra Hindman says, “Highlights of the “12 Books of Hours in 2012” show included in the exhibition include two exceptionally early thirteenth-century examples:  an early northern French Book of Hours with historiated initials from the thirteenth century that was used as the “vade mecum” by a Spanish merchant who kept notes on European markets he attended, and an entirely unknown and unpublished Psalter-Hours from St.-Omer with a suite of full page miniatures along with exceptional historiated initials and lively marginal illustration. At the other end of the spectrum is a Book of Hours from the early sixteenth century from the circle of the Master of Claude de France and with the unusual feature of the Gods of Antiquity illustrating the calendar.”  

Other beautiful examples include a Dutch Book of Hours with fine miniatures by the Master of Zweder of Culembourg, a representative of the Dutch “international style” and rare on the art market.  There will be a fully illustrated catalogue that features these 12 special Books of Hours, and other Books of Hours and related miniatures will be included in the exhibition.

Les Enluminures presents “AN INTIMATE ART: 12 Books of Hours in 2012”

May 2 - 25 2012

New LES ENLUMINURES gallery in New York
23 East 73 Street
Seventh floor
New York NY 10021
10am - 6pm Mondays through Saturdays
 212 717 7273
info@lesenluminures.com   www.lesenluminures.com