Prayers in Code: Books of Hours from Renaissance France

Focus Show
Prayers in Code: Books of Hours from Renaissance France
April 25–July 19, 2009

During the late Middle Ages, Books of Hours became common tools of private devotion and sought-after status symbols. Carried by fashionable ladies and collected by rich bibliophiles, Books of Hours differed greatly in style and ornament but were predictable in choice of pictures. The 24 manuscripts plus one painting in this exhibition will present unusual images that introduce a new fashion for emblems and rebuses (pictures depicted together to represent a word) while challenging our understanding of the relationship between the illustrations and the prayer text. With selected loans to complement the museum’s collection, this exhibition will explore the patronage at the court of King Francis I (1494–1547) during a time when the controversies over Humanism, Reformation and Orthodoxy shaped the intellectual life of discerning patrons.