What was a Book of Hours concerned with?
Activity In the exhibition we have on loan the Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours from the Kungliga Biblioteket in Sweden. The artists involved in the creation of this beautiful book, such as Simon Bening, would have spent many hours on one illuminated pageimagine the effort involved if more than one copy of the Book of Hours needed to be made! The scribes who wrote each page, would also have spent many hours on their work, being careful not to make any mistakes or they would have to start that page again. The Book of Hours is written on vellum, a very fine type of animal hide. For this exercise, students will make paper, and then use it to create their own illuminated manuscript. Have students prepare their paper first. Preparing vellum for the illuminated manuscripts was a time-consuming art. Students must take the time to prepare their paper before they can make their manuscripts. Ask students to research common designs and borders from manuscripts. Have them write their own Book of Hou
