ABSTRACT
De la Marche and Gerson were far from alone in their views. Indeed, recent research from a range of humanistic fields suggests that by the late-fourteenth century and even earlier, men across northern Europe considered themselves deeply threatened by the authority, visibility, and privilege of women in religion. A tally of women's and men's owner portraits in books of hours reveals that the volumes were undoubtedly gendered female from their inception around 1300 through their gradual decline in the sixteenth century. The Brussels Hours is worth considering further, for it highlights the increasing exploitation of images, particularly portraits, in the process of regendering books of hours. Specifically, the manuscript opens not just with one but two portraits of John de Berry. Several early examples of the diptychs extend men's claims to Christocentric piety, sometimes with specific incarnational references. Jesus sits upright on his mother's lap, with his legs splayed apart at the knees to reveal his crotch.
