Bottom line: Also known as the”Rothschild Hours,” this Flemish illuminated manuscript was compiled in the early 1500s by various artists. The original owner of this book of hours is unknown but is believed to be someone of nobility and royalty.
By the later 1500s, it belonged to the Wittelsbach Dynasty, and in the 16th century, it found its way to the count palatine in Heidelberg. By 1623, it had vanished. It reappeared in the hands of the Viennese branch of the Rothschild family in the late 1800s.
It was taken from Louis Nathaniel von Rothschild after Germany annexed Austria just before World War II. After the war, it was taken by the Austrian government, which placed it in the National Library until 1999, when it returned the book to the family. It landed in the hands of Kerry Stokes, an Australian billionaire, in 2014.
