MINIATURIST, French
(active 1450s in Burgundy)

Book of Hours

1450s
Manuscript (I. B. 30)
Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, Naples

This French manuscript is decorated in the margins of the folios containing the calendar with elegant borders of polychrome leaves and flowers, interspersed with birds and butterflies. Similar borders form the backdrop for fifteen miniatures, enclosed by arched frames, all but one representing episodes from the life of Christ. The exception is the scene of David and Bathsheba on folio 94, shown here, the only Old Testament episode included in the decorative scheme.

The manuscript is typical of the Franco-Burgundian school of the beginning of the second half of the fifteenth century, which was heavily influenced by Flemish styles.