| Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves at the Morgan Library & Museum
By STAN PARCHIN
| | Hours of Catherine of Cleves: The Duchess Praying to the Virgin and Child (ca. 1440). Utrecht, Netherlands. MS M.945, fol. 1v. Morgan Library & Museum. Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern. | 
| | Hours of Catherine of Cleves: Mouth of Hell (ca. 1440). Utrecht, Netherlands. MS M.945, fol. 168v. Morgan Library & Museum. Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern. | 
| | Hours of Catherine of Cleves: St. Michael Battling a Demon (ca. 1440). Utrecht, Netherlands. MS M.917, page 44. Morgan Library & Museum. Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern. | 
| | Hours of Catherine of Cleves: Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1440). Utrecht, Netherlands. MS M.917, page 237. Morgan Library & Museum. Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern. |
November 28, 2009
Some 100 beautifully illustrated pages from one of the most celebrated Dutch illuminated manuscripts of the Late Middle Ages are the focus of Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, a major special exhibition at New York's Morgan Library & Museum from January 22 to May 2, 2010. Many of the religious volume's leaves or pages, decorated sumptuously by an anonymous northern Netherlandish artist of the 15th Century, are displayed individually and joined by earlier relevant works. Also on view are contemporary codices, including the Morgan Book of Hours by the Masters of the Delft Grisailles, its folios executed in pen and ink with soft gray tones, gold accents and several choice colors.
Appearing concurrently in the museum's first-floor Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery is Flemish Illumination in the Era of Catherine of Cleves. Bring a magnifying glass to fully appreciate the two exhibitions' extraordinary late medieval treasures from the Morgan Library's collection.
Catherine of Cleves and Dynastic Politics
At age six, Catherine of Cleves (1417-1476) was betrothed to Arnold of Egmond, duke of Guelders and count of Zutphen (1410-1473). Their marriage seven years later, a calamitous union arranged for dynastic and political reasons, produced six children over the course of a decade. Unhappy with her bellicose husband, the disillusioned Catherine eventually chose to live apart from her warrior spouse in castles in Nijmegen and Lobith.
Duchess Catherine and Adolf, her sole surviving son, became embroiled in a bitter family dispute of epic proportions. She imprisoned Arnold, insolvent because of his futile territorial wars. After the ruler was compelled to relinquish his throne to Adolf, anarchy erupted. Arnold eventually regained his freedom and title in 1471. Aided by the powerful Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1433-1477), Adolf was incarcerated that same year. His father died in 1473, followed by Catherine in 1476. The couple's son and the illustrious Burgundian potentate both perished in 1477.
Hours of Catherine of Cleves
Purchased by the Morgan Library in 1963, the Hours of Catherine of Cleves was commissioned around 1440. The duchess' book of personal devotional prayers contains the standard Hours of the Virgin and Office of the Dead. It features unusual daily Hours, each with an appropriate votive Mass. Fifty-seven Suffrages (petitions to individual saints), along with 157 surviving colorful miniatures of landscapes and domestic interiors (some arranged in cycles), are included. The unidentified artist's vivid realistic imagery, inspired by the works of Netherlandish masters Jan van Eyck (ca. 1380/90-1441) and Robert Campin (1378/79-1444), anticipates the pictorial accomplishments of 17th-century Dutch still-life painters.
The manuscript's leaves are richly embellished with unique innovative borders. Their marginalia or illustrations are varied in theme. While some depict everyday agrarian and household activities, others reveal detailed observations of flora, fauna and currency. The pages' most fascinating images are those of demonic creatures moving furtively about the contents of the overtly religious text. Their presence strongly reflects Catherine's belief in Hell and her soul's consignment to its fiery pits unless she recited the book of hours' prayers.
Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves is a singular opportunity to examine a variety of late medieval Christian beliefs, each expressed in the pages of an exquisitely hand-illuminated manuscript created before the advent of the printing press.
"Catherine's World: Devotion, Demons and Daily Life in the Fifteenth Century" at the Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, The Netherlands from October 9, 2009 to January 3, 2010 features numerous pages from the lavish "Hours of Catherine of Cleves" as well as other works by the manuscript's artist. They're complemented by authentic costumes and the duchess' household account books.
Sources
Dückers, Rob, Ruud Priem, et al. The Hours of Catherine of Cleves: Devotions, Demons and Daily Life in the Fifteenth Century (exh. cat.). New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2010.
Plummer, John, et al. The Hours of Catherine of Cleves. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 2002.
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