[Miniature: Annunciation to the Virgin]
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: c.late 19th century - early 20th century
Dimensions:
Image: 219 x 175 mm (21.9 x 17.5 cm)
Sheet: 300 x 227 mm (30 x 22.7 cm)
Medium: Ink and paint on a machine-made paper.
Object number: F.24
DescriptionDrawing of angel in pink, the Virgin in blue, reading a book at a green prie-dieu within a white gothic turret; figures in pink kneeling, with books on either side, surrounded by scrolls of flowers.
N.B This is a modern (late 19th century) copy of an early 15th century illumination from a Book of Hours. The original can be found in the British Museum (Royal MS.2.A.XVIII). The style resembles the Boucicaut Master, who worked in Paris (and is known to have been active between 1405 and 1420). This particular image (of the Annunciation), would open 'Matins' in a 'Book of Hours'. The Boucicaut Master, his circle and his followers, seemed to have specialized in illuminating this kind of book, a personal text of private devotion known as the Book of Hours (also called a 'primer' or a 'horae'). The central text of such a Book of Hours would have been the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, and would have been used by a Lay person to imitate the prayer-life of the religious.
N.B This is a modern (late 19th century) copy of an early 15th century illumination from a Book of Hours. The original can be found in the British Museum (Royal MS.2.A.XVIII). The style resembles the Boucicaut Master, who worked in Paris (and is known to have been active between 1405 and 1420). This particular image (of the Annunciation), would open 'Matins' in a 'Book of Hours'. The Boucicaut Master, his circle and his followers, seemed to have specialized in illuminating this kind of book, a personal text of private devotion known as the Book of Hours (also called a 'primer' or a 'horae'). The central text of such a Book of Hours would have been the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, and would have been used by a Lay person to imitate the prayer-life of the religious.