“Unfinished Hours” (1440–50), folios 14v-15r, M.358, at the Morgan Library and Museum. A page speckled with gold rests alongside a completed folio. (photo Elaine Velie/ Hyperallergic ) At the stately Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan, a 15th-century illuminated manuscript lies unfinished nearly 600 years after it was started. Some of the book’s pages only feature text and splotches of gold leaf; others showcase roughly painted vines and flowers. A few are finalized except for sketches in the margins, and a handful of folios are fully done. The book’s varied stages of completion make it a rare example of this type of manuscript, but also the perfect tool to understand how Medieval artisans crafted their exquisitely detailed works. Roger Wieck, the Morgan’s curator and department head of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, sat down with Hyperallergic to leaf through the book — and explain what makes it so unique. “Unfinished […]

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