Opportunities to purchase artefacts from the Gruuthuse library are very few and far between. Following the death of Louis of Gruuthuse in 1492, the largest part of his library passed into the hands of the French king, Louis XII. It is not exactly clear why this happened, but it does explain why almost 120 of the Gruuthuse manuscripts can now be found in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French National Library) in Paris, including the manuscript from which the recently purchased folio was at some point extracted. Other Gruuthuse manuscripts can be found in the collection of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België (Royal Library of Belgium) and its Dutch equivalent, which possesses the famous Gruuthuse manuscript containing the elegy 'Egidius waer best u bleven' (Egidus, where have you gone?).
Musea Brugge and the Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge took a conscious decision to purchase the new folio together. On the one hand, it represents an important addition to the already rich manuscript collection of the library. On the other hand, the Gruuthusemuseum is the ideal location to display it to a wider public. The new Gruuthuse folio will be on display for the first time in room 4 of the museum, where it is also possible to view other selected manuscripts from the collection of the Openbare Bibliotheek and the Grootseminarie (Grand Seminary).
On the reverse side of the folio there is a so-called half-sheet miniature, which depicts one of the most striking events from the life of St. Catherine: her mystic marriage with Christ. The Christ figure stands centrally, dominating the composition. In his left hand, he is holding a globe. With his right hand, he offers a ring to the kneeling Catherine, who is on his right. Christ and Catherine are surrounded by other holy personages: King David, John the evangelist, the apostle Paul, St. Dominic and a female figure who is thought to be the Virgin Mary. The scene takes place in a walled garden, in the right-hand side of which there is a passageway that leads to an interior. In the background, we can see a landscape, with a city in the distance.
This folio is richly decorated by the Master of Margaret of York, or his workshop. This master, whose real name is sadly not known, illustrated numerous manuscripts for Louis of Gruuthuse.
Source: museabrugge.be