This is an excellent example of a late-fifteenth-century Hours of the Blessed Virgin, a prayer book celebrating the life of Mary and the annual liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It is decorated in Renaissance style with twenty-one large illuminated miniatures, three different border designs, and a striking series of illuminated initial letters. The image represented here is of the Evangelist St. Luke, symbolized by the winged bull in the background. The portrait of St. Luke, with the emphasis on his shaded beard and distinctive facial features, is extremely well painted. The decorated floral borders reflect design characteristics attributable to workshops in Bruges and Ghent.
Horae Beatae Mariae (Book of Hours). Germany, last quarter of the fifteenth century. Manuscript on vellum. Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
Call number: Rosenwald #9
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