Renaissance Book of Hours Leaf

Original leaf from a Renaissance manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of ruled text, written in Latin with lettre batarde script in dark brown ink and blue ink ( which is highly unusual) on animal vellum. Three two-line and one-line illuminated intials in gold/silver on red/blue or green ground.This leaf concluded the Hours of the Virgin-Hour of Compline. The two-line illuminated intial B” begins the prayer “Beate et gloriose…. The two-line “E” begins he prayer “Exaudi nos Deus… The two-line “O” begins the prayer “Omnes sancti…Book of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society and are not only works of art, but cultural documents of their time. They reveal a unique combination of sacred and secular imagery-made of the finest materials, by the best craftsmen, for a small audience, which could both appreciate and afford them.

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