A Book of Hours Leaf - David in Prayer - c 1450-75

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Original vellum leaf containing an arch bordered miniature  from a medieval  illuminated manuscript  Book of Hours. This leaf faced  the opening to the Penitential Psalms.  The recto is undecorated.   (184 x 125mm – 7 ¼ x 4 7/8’’) 

France (Anjou), Use of Angers, c. 1450-75.

The miniature painting depicts David in Prayer. King David, dressed in rich robes, kneels in prayer beneath a baldachin with hands folded, on a tiled floor before an altar on which paired tablets are propped.  He directs his appeal for forgiveness to God, in semi figure, who is seen through the arched window looking down from a dark blue cloud while holding an orb and gold scepter.  David is shown wearing his crown while his hat rests on the tile floor in front of the altar.

Surrounding the miniature is an elaborate full border in a dense floral motif (with columbines – symbol of the Holy Spirit, and strawberries – symbol of perfect righteousness) in red, blue, pink, green, liquid & burnished gold, and a jester holding a marotte.

Angers was the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty and one of the intellectual centers of Europe during the reign of Rene of Anjou, (1434-80). When this leaf was scribed the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, House of Lancaster & House of York, were engaged in the War of the Roses.

A very attractive large miniature of a popular subject, with some evidence of devotional use in the vicinity of David's face, and slight flaking of paint on jester.

Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat

  • Inventory# IM-12560
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