DAVID, Gerard
(b. ca. 1460, Oudewater, d. 1523, Bruges)

Grimani Breviary: Mary Magdalen Penitent

1510s
Manuscript (Ms. lat. I 99), 280 x 215 mm
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice

The Grimani Breviary is one of the most famous and best known illuminated manuscript. It contains 831 pages with 110 pictures all of them in a decorated frame. It was produced in Ghent and Bruges by a group of illuminators, among whom were Simon Bening and the panel painter and illuminator Gerard David, who was enlisted to produce some exquisitely painted heads in important miniatures and at least one full-page miniature, Mary Magdalen Penitent.