Middle Ages text from Wheaton Collection on display in Boston

If there were such a thing as a New York Times bestseller list in the late Middle Ages, the Book of Hours would top the list of books purchased by the laity. The handwritten and hand-illustrated illuminated manuscripts, used in personal devotion, often were the only book a family might own.

In 2005 Wheaton joined the circle of ownership. With support from the Adra M. Newell Endowed Fund, the college purchased the DuBourg Book of Hours and now students from several disciplines will have opportunities to study the 15th-century text, which is on display at Boston College's McMullen Museum from Jan. 19 through June 4.

The exhibition, Secular/Sacred, showcases more than one hundred objects (illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, silks, sculpture, metalwork, paintings, ceramics and early illustrated books) from Wheaton, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Boston Public Library and Boston College in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the style, subject matter, functions, and reception of works of art from the eleventh through the sixteenth century.

''There are several reasons why this Book of Hours is so wonderful,'' said Art History Professor Evie Lane, who oversaw the acquisition with Classics Professors Joel Relihan and Nancy Evans. ''Although we have a splendid collection of works of art, we do not own many medieval works. When I recently talked to the curator of manuscripts at the Boston Public Library, he congratulated us on the acquisition, saying it was a 'real coup.'''

Although there are many different types of medieval manuscripts that were produced in the Middle Ages (breviary, psalter, bestiaries, genealogies, gospel books and bibles), the Book of Hours was the most popular. Of the many thousands that were created, each one is unique, handwritten and hand-illustrated with painted pictures called miniatures on vellum or parchment. The images often sent messages about the way one should behave or ways one could be comforted in times of distress. It's believed that this text was probably made in Tours, France, in the workshop of Jean Charpentier in the late 1400s.

''This book provides us with a wonderful opportunity to teach our students about the history of manuscript illuminations from a variety of methodological perspectives, but it also enhances Wheaton's curriculum, which requires students to take courses connected across disciplines (classics, religion, history),'' Lane said.