Item 6: Book of Hours (Use of Paris)

This manuscript, produced in Paris towards the middle of the 15th century, is an excellent example of the popular prayer book, the book of hours, at the peak of its development in the French capital.

The Flight into Egypt – one of the scenes in the narrative cycle of the Infancy of Christ – frequently introduces, as it does here, the canonical hour of vespers in the Little Office, or Hours of the Virgin; this was a key devotion in the book of hours. The scene is rendered with courtly dignity and elegance: Mary, robed in a rich blue cloak lined with gold and seated side-saddle, formally displays the swaddled Christ child to the reader. Pronounced golden haloes differentiate the couple from St Joseph and the angel, who appear as attendants on either side. The small chest carried by the angel also adds a charming genre touch.

The panoramic landscape and the reflections in the river are a reminder of the exploration of atmospheric and naturalistic phenomena undertaken by these artists, at the same time indeed as they were prolonging some of the dominant characteristics of courtly international style. The decorative borders of this manuscript are also very finely crafted. Coloured acanthus-leaf sprays, which tend to become more lush as the century progresses, are here arranged around vertical axes on either side of the miniature. And beautiful sub-patterns and motifs are related to the fine ivy-leaf and flower motifs, which persist from the decorative vocabulary of an earlier period.