Thanks to support from the Heritage Foundation, the Groeninge Museum in Bruges has been enriched with a testimony to the art of Bruges manuscript illumination. This pre-Van Eyck manuscript, which was destined for the English art market, has been the subject of extensive research. The result of this research is now presented as part of the exhibition The Bowet Book of Hours. A Bruges Masterpiece.

After spending several centuries abroad, this pearl in the art of illumination has been returned to Bruges. The Groeninge Museum is devoting a fascinating documented exhibition to the work.

Made in Bruges c.1410-1420, the Bowet Book of Hours is part of a series of manuscripts dating from the pre-Van Eyck period. At this time, Bruges was the cultural centre of the Southern Netherlands and it was in the studios of Bruges, more than anywhere else, that the wave of innovation in the art of the miniature could be seen, which led to the painting of the Van Eyck brothers.

Manuscripts of the period are rare in Belgian collections and so the Bowet Book of Hours is a real artistic gem. It was for this reason that the Heritage Fund acquired this work, which had been destined to leave Belgium.

The exhibition will enable the visitor to learn more about the context in which the Bowet Book of Hours was made and find out more about each of the sixteen full page miniatures. Other illuminated manuscripts from the same period will also be exhibited.