Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a sumptuous fifteenth century Italian manuscript. On these pages we see the annunciation, the nativity, a depiction of the madonna and child, and the adoration of the magi. There is so much going on here, and lots of sparkly gold and glorious blues. No mistaking it is Italian!
Image source: Creative Commons licensed by Saliko, via Wikimedia Commons.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a leaf from a book of hours in the collection of Tufts University. The book is thought to date from the fourteenth century. The illustration depicts the annunciation.
Image source: Tufts University, Tisch Library Department of Special Collections. Creative Commons licensed via Flickr.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is an illuminated letter D with an illustration of the annunciation. This beautifully illuminated book of hours has marvellous marginal images of jousting and hunting throughout. Gorgeous, isn’t it?
Compare it with this illustration of the nativity which we looked at earlier in the year. Both have images of jousting, but are of very different times and styles.
Image source: Walters Museum MS W.104. Image declared as public domain on Wikimedia Commons.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is the Doffinnes Hours, a lovely fifteenth century book of hours in the collection of the Walters Museum. I love the red and gold dress that the Virgin Mary is wearing in this depiction of the annunciation.
Image source: Walters Museum MS W.185. Creative Commons licensed via Flickr.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is another advent themed image of the annunciation. It dates from the fifteenth century and was made for the dioces of Nantes. It now lives at the Library of Geneva. I like the border, with the beautiful peacock and the strange looking cherub riding some kind of mythical beast.
Image source: Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. lat. 33: Book of Hours. Creative Commons licensed via eCodices on Flickr.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a stunning Italian illumination of the annunciation. This colourful manuscript dates from the late fifteenth century, and is a missal created for Cardinal Domenico della Rovere.
Image source: British Library MS Additional 16914. Image declared as public domain on the British Library website.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is another illumination of the annunciation. I can’t quite believe it is December already, and that advent has begun. I love the build up to Christmas. Not so much the shopping, but this festival of optimism and new beginnings. The next few days we’ll look closely at other manuscripts which tell the Christmas story.
This page contains images of two of the seven joys of Mary. On the left we see the Virgin comforting a priest who is lying on his sick bed. On the right is the annunciation. It is from an illuminated edition of Speculum humanae salvationis.
Image source: Einsiedeln Stiftsbibliothek Codex 206(49). Creative Commons licensed via eCodices.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a beautiful German psalter dating from the mid thirteenth century. This is another depiction of the annunciation from a very well-used psalter. The book is currently being catalogued by the Walters Museum. I’d love to know more of its history as judging by its condition, it has been through a lot!
Image source: Walters Museum MS W.78. Creative Commons licensed via the Walters Museum website.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is another treasure from the Walters Museum. It is a late medieval depiction of the annunciation. It is from the same manuscript that gave us this fascinating dice game.
Image source: Walters Museum MS W449. Creative Commons licensed by the Walters Museum.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is another beautiful annunciation scene. This is from the Adimari Book of Hours, painted by Italian artist Zanobi di Benedetto Strozzi, around 1448. You can see more images from this book on the Walters Museum website. The pinks and gold leaf complement one another, and create a dazzlingly beautiful book. I first came across it in a delightful book called Time sanctified: the book of hours in medieval art and life, by Roger Wieck (see WorldCat or Abebooks). The book is one of my all-time favourites, as it’s readable but doesn’t scrimp on the detail (or the glossy plates). If you’ve not seen it, try and get hold of a copy from your local library!
Image source: Walters Museum MS W. 767. Creative Commons licensed via Wikimedia Commons.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a (slightly fuzzy) delightful photograph of a book of hours. The historiated initial is decorated with a scene depicting the annunciation. I love the use of colour in this book, which we last looked at in August. Lovely, isn’t it?
Image source: W328. Creative Commons licensed via Wikimedia Commons.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day depicts the annunciation. Another image from the Aussem Hours from the collection of the Walters Museum, it is a vivid and accomplished illumination. I love the rainbow colour of the angels’ wings, and the flowers in the border (especially the aquilegia, as it’s one of my favourites and I’ve just planted one in my garden). The borders in this manuscript have particularly fine botanical illustrations which remind me of the work of Simon Marmion.
Image source: Walters Museum W.437, The Aussem Hours. Creative Commons licensed.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a lovely sparkly annunciation scene from a Dutch book of hours dating from around 1470. I like the rather homely scene, and the reappearance of the medieval favourite - the tiled floor.
Image source: Walters Museum W918. Creative Commons licensed via Flickr.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a lovely annunciation scene from a fifteenth century Book of Hours. Made in England, it now lives in a library in California. What amazing journeys some of these little books have had!
Image source: University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, UCB MS 150, fols. 9v-10r. Image declared as public domain on Wikimedia Commons because its copyright has expired.
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a magnificent photograph of a late medieval book of hours complete with sumptuous velvet binding. Beautiful, isn’t it? Dating from the late fifteenth/early sixteenth century, it is another image from the set uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the Walters Museum in Baltimore.
The book is open at the beginning of Matins (I think). I’m not quite sure what is going on here. I think it is the annunciation, but mostly because that’s the image that normally appears at this point in a book of hours. There is no angel, nor is there a spray of lilies… so I might be wrong. Feel free to correct me if you know the answer!
Image source: Walters Museum W294. Image declared as public domain on Wikimedia Commons because its copyright has expired.
