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Two leaves from a book of hours, with miniature depicting the Annunciation to the Shepherds
Two leaves from a book of hours, with miniature depicting the Annunciation to the Shepherds

Two leaves from a book of hours, with miniature depicting the Annunciation to the Shepherds

Date1460-70
MediumInk, egg tempera, and gold leaf on vellum
Dimensions7 x 4 7/8 inches (17.8 x 12.4 cm)
CultureFrench
ClassificationsManuscripts
Credit LineGift of Miriam Saunders
Terms
  • France
  • Manuscripts
  • Books of hours
  • Miniatures
  • Angels
  • Animals
  • Annunciation to the Shepherds
  • Books of hours
  • Decorated initials
  • Flowers
  • Landscapes
  • Miniatures
  • New Testament
  • Plants
  • Sheep
  • Shepherds
  • Trees
  • Vines
  • Vellum
  • French
Object number86.040.001
Label CopyThese two leaves, framed as a facing pair, are from a late fifteenth century Book of Hours. Books of Hours increasingly became the principal manuscript used for personal devotion beginning in the later thirteenth century. They are so named because the daily devotions were divided into eight segments to be read at specific times during the day. The text page on the right opens the devotions of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin for "Tierce" to be read at 9:00 in the morning. The page on the left contains a miniature of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, which traditionally illustrated this hour. The style of the decorated initials, elaborate borders with acanthus sprays, and the miniature with its flat landscape and ball-like stippled trees are all consistent with the style of illumination current in northern France in about the 1460s. (From “A Handbook of the Collection: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art," 1998)
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