Book of Hours (Use of Venice), In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment

a delightful example of an Italian Book of Hours MADE FOR A NUN in an inviting, small format. Dimensions 114 x 83 mm. 267 folios on parchment, missing two leaves, written in a rounded southern gothic book hand in thirteen long lines, nineteen illuminated initials with borders and three historiated initials with borders. BINDING: Bound in early (sixteenth- or seventeenth century?) brown leather, once with two clasps (both missing), rebacked, very fragile and partially separating at front join. ILLUSTRATION: With thanks to Federica Toniolo, we attribute the illumination here to the circle of the Master of the Commissione Donato, a Venetian illuminator active (truncated) in the second quarter of the Quattrocento into the third quarter. Representing a late Gothic trend in Venetian manuscript illumination contemporary with the late work of Cristoforo Cortese, manuscripts in the circle display an interest in the natural world, soft modelling, a colorful palette, and energetic border illumination. TEXT: Dated by the scribe, this small devotional prayer book was owned by a nun from Venice. She appears kneeling in the border of the first decorated page, her coat of arms (not yet identified) in the lower margin. The study of the history of women in religion in the Middle Ages and the early modern period has flourished in the last decades, and manuscripts such as this one, with concrete evidence that it was made for a nun in Venice in 1442, play an important part of this story. PROVENANCE: Written and illuminated in 1442, very likely in Venice; Modern owner's signature in blue pen, inside front cover, "Sean Galvin," most likely the son the collector Sir John Galvin (1908-1994), Dublin, Ireland, also owner of the famous Códice Múrua. CONDITION: normal evidence of use (dirt and some stains), but with wide margins and in overall good condition. (Inventory #: BOH 247)