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The Langres Missal of 1517 Illuminated by Etienne Colaud

The Only Known Vellum Copy, with Extraordinary Provenance from Jean Bouhier to the Russian Tsars

Missale diocesis Lingonensis. Paris, Jean Petit, 1517.

One of the most spectacular Renaissance liturgical books to survive in private hands: the only known vellum copy of the 1517 Missale diocesis Lingonensis, illuminated throughout in gold and colours by the great Parisian master Etienne Colaud and his workshop, and preserved with a provenance that stretches across five centuries of European bibliophilic history.

From the bishopric of Langres to Dijon, from Jean Bouhier to the Demidoff family, and finally into the library of the Russian Tsars at Tsarskoe Selo, the history of this Missal mirrors the transformation of sacred books into objects of aristocratic and ultimately universal bibliophilic culture.

Edition & Bibliographic Information

Missale diocesis Lingonensis nunc cum variis additamentis. Paris, Jean Petit, 1517.

Printed throughout in black and red on vellum. Folio (311 × 224 mm). Illustrated with two full-page metalcuts, one half-page metalcut, and 101 column-wide metalcuts in two sizes, all illuminated contemporaneously in gold and colours by Etienne Colaud and his atelier. The volume further contains numerous illuminated initials on gold grounds, many smaller initials alternating in blue and red with gold decoration, musical notation printed in black on red four-line staves, and yellow highlighting of versals throughout.

Eighteenth-century red morocco binding with gilt decoration and supralibros, preserving the aura of one of the great aristocratic collector’s copies of the French Renaissance.

Langres at the Height of the Renaissance

Although today relatively quiet, Langres was once one of the most important bishoprics in France. Strategically positioned between Burgundy, Lorraine, and the expanding French crown, the city functioned both as a military frontier and a center of ecclesiastical power.

The Missal was commissioned under Bishop Michel Boudet (1469–1529), a major political and religious figure who served as French ambassador to Spain, assisted at the coronation of Francis I in 1515, and later became chaplain to Queen Claude de France.

This was therefore not merely a diocesan liturgical book, but a highly prestigious object produced during the political and cultural ascent of Renaissance France.

Etienne Colaud and the Transformation of Print into Illumination

What makes the present copy extraordinary is the illumination.

Etienne Colaud, among the leading Parisian illuminators of the early sixteenth century, transformed the printed metalcuts and initials into something approaching fully independent manuscript miniatures. Gold, deep reds, luminous blues, and delicate modelling animate the entire volume.

The title page alone functions almost as a miniature painting, surrounded by an elaborate illuminated border populated with acanthus scrolls, flowers, fruits, birds, and even frogs. The great Canon section opens with facing full-page images of the Crucifixion and God the Father enthroned beneath monumental architectural frames gleaming in gold.

Throughout the book, scenes from the life and Passion of Christ unfold beside apostles, martyrs, and saints in a visual program of astonishing richness.

The result is neither purely manuscript nor purely printed book, but a hybrid luxury object produced precisely at the moment when Renaissance illumination and typographic production still overlapped.

A Unique Survival

The edition itself is already extremely rare.

Weale and Bohatta recorded only four incomplete copies of the 1517 Langres Missal, not all of which can still be traced today. The present volume stands entirely apart from that small surviving group as the only known vellum copy and the only example illuminated throughout by Etienne Colaud’s workshop.

Its completeness and state of preservation make it one of the most important surviving French Renaissance Missals in private hands.

From Burgundian Bishopric to Bibliophilic Masterpiece

The provenance of the book is almost as extraordinary as the object itself.

By 1721 the Missal belonged to Jean Bouhier (1673–1746), the celebrated Dijon statesman, scholar, and bibliophile whose library was renowned throughout Europe. Bouhier represented a distinctly Enlightenment form of collecting: preserving the remnants of medieval and Renaissance culture while simultaneously participating in the intellectual world of modern France.

Later the Missal likely passed through the orbit of Edward Harley before eventually entering the Demidoff collection in Moscow in 1796. The magnificent eighteenth-century red morocco binding with Russian aristocratic supralibros dates from this phase of its history. The volume later entered the library of the Russian Tsars at Tsarskoe Selo, surviving the upheavals that dispersed so many imperial collections in the twentieth century.

Few books preserve such a continuous and geographically expansive history of elite collecting culture across Europe.

Provenance

Possibly Bishop Michel Boudet of Langres. Jean Bouhier (1673–1746), with illuminated arms and ownership inscription dated 1721 on the vellum front flyleaf. Possibly Edward Harley. Later the Demidoff family, Moscow, from 1796, with supralibros. Subsequently in the library of the Russian Tsars at Tsarskoe Selo. Sold Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Lucerne, 15 June 1932, lot 228. Later H. P. Kraus, New York, 1991, no. 75.

Literature

Not in Adams or BM STC French; Brunet III, 1763; Graesse IV, 546; Van Praet, Bibliothèques I, 100, no. 273; Weale/Bohatta 536.

For a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see Wunderkammer Catalogue 90, number 19:
Wunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume I

Heribert Tenschert Collection

The Langres Missal of 1517 Illuminated by Etienne Colaud

Name: The Langres Missal of 1517 Illuminated by Etienne Colaud
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The Only Known Vellum Copy, with Extraordinary Provenance from Jean Bouhier to the Russian Tsars

Missale diocesis Lingonensis. Paris, Jean Petit, 1517.

One of the most spectacular Renaissance liturgical books to survive in private hands: the only known vellum copy of the 1517 Missale diocesis Lingonensis, illuminated throughout in gold and colours by the great Parisian master Etienne Colaud and his workshop, and preserved with a provenance that stretches across five centuries of European bibliophilic history.

From the bishopric of Langres to Dijon, from Jean Bouhier to the Demidoff family, and finally into the library of the Russian Tsars at Tsarskoe Selo, the history of this Missal mirrors the transformation of sacred books into objects of aristocratic and ultimately universal bibliophilic culture.

Edition & Bibliographic Information

Missale diocesis Lingonensis nunc cum variis additamentis. Paris, Jean Petit, 1517.

Printed throughout in black and red on vellum. Folio (311 × 224 mm). Illustrated with two full-page metalcuts, one half-page metalcut, and 101 column-wide metalcuts in two sizes, all illuminated contemporaneously in gold and colours by Etienne Colaud and his atelier. The volume further contains numerous illuminated initials on gold grounds, many smaller initials alternating in blue and red with gold decoration, musical notation printed in black on red four-line staves, and yellow highlighting of versals throughout.

Eighteenth-century red morocco binding with gilt decoration and supralibros, preserving the aura of one of the great aristocratic collector’s copies of the French Renaissance.

Langres at the Height of the Renaissance

Although today relatively quiet, Langres was once one of the most important bishoprics in France. Strategically positioned between Burgundy, Lorraine, and the expanding French crown, the city functioned both as a military frontier and a center of ecclesiastical power.

The Missal was commissioned under Bishop Michel Boudet (1469–1529), a major political and religious figure who served as French ambassador to Spain, assisted at the coronation of Francis I in 1515, and later became chaplain to Queen Claude de France.

This was therefore not merely a diocesan liturgical book, but a highly prestigious object produced during the political and cultural ascent of Renaissance France.

Etienne Colaud and the Transformation of Print into Illumination

What makes the present copy extraordinary is the illumination.

Etienne Colaud, among the leading Parisian illuminators of the early sixteenth century, transformed the printed metalcuts and initials into something approaching fully independent manuscript miniatures. Gold, deep reds, luminous blues, and delicate modelling animate the entire volume.

The title page alone functions almost as a miniature painting, surrounded by an elaborate illuminated border populated with acanthus scrolls, flowers, fruits, birds, and even frogs. The great Canon section opens with facing full-page images of the Crucifixion and God the Father enthroned beneath monumental architectural frames gleaming in gold.

Throughout the book, scenes from the life and Passion of Christ unfold beside apostles, martyrs, and saints in a visual program of astonishing richness.

The result is neither purely manuscript nor purely printed book, but a hybrid luxury object produced precisely at the moment when Renaissance illumination and typographic production still overlapped.

A Unique Survival

The edition itself is already extremely rare.

Weale and Bohatta recorded only four incomplete copies of the 1517 Langres Missal, not all of which can still be traced today. The present volume stands entirely apart from that small surviving group as the only known vellum copy and the only example illuminated throughout by Etienne Colaud’s workshop.

Its completeness and state of preservation make it one of the most important surviving French Renaissance Missals in private hands.

From Burgundian Bishopric to Bibliophilic Masterpiece

The provenance of the book is almost as extraordinary as the object itself.

By 1721 the Missal belonged to Jean Bouhier (1673–1746), the celebrated Dijon statesman, scholar, and bibliophile whose library was renowned throughout Europe. Bouhier represented a distinctly Enlightenment form of collecting: preserving the remnants of medieval and Renaissance culture while simultaneously participating in the intellectual world of modern France.

Later the Missal likely passed through the orbit of Edward Harley before eventually entering the Demidoff collection in Moscow in 1796. The magnificent eighteenth-century red morocco binding with Russian aristocratic supralibros dates from this phase of its history. The volume later entered the library of the Russian Tsars at Tsarskoe Selo, surviving the upheavals that dispersed so many imperial collections in the twentieth century.

Few books preserve such a continuous and geographically expansive history of elite collecting culture across Europe.

Provenance

Possibly Bishop Michel Boudet of Langres. Jean Bouhier (1673–1746), with illuminated arms and ownership inscription dated 1721 on the vellum front flyleaf. Possibly Edward Harley. Later the Demidoff family, Moscow, from 1796, with supralibros. Subsequently in the library of the Russian Tsars at Tsarskoe Selo. Sold Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Lucerne, 15 June 1932, lot 228. Later H. P. Kraus, New York, 1991, no. 75.