Performance, Object, and Private Devotion: The Illumination of Thomas Butler’s Books of Hours

Abstract

This article considers the major cycles of illumination in two Books of Hours belonging to Thomas Butler, seventh Earl of Ormond (c.1424−1515). The article concludes that the iconography of the two manuscripts reflects the personal and familial piety of the patron and was designed to act as a tool in the practice of devotion.

Keywords

• private devotion
• books of hours
• illumination
• holy trinity
• pictorial cycles
• butlers
• ormond