Artwork Page for Leaf Excised from a Book of Hours: The Nativity

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Leaf Excised from a Book of Hours: The Nativity

c. 1480

Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximillian

(Flemish, c. 1444–1519)
Culture
Flanders, Ghent, 15th century
Medium
ink, tempera and liquid gold on vellum
Measurements
Leaf: 10.8 x 8.2 cm (4 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection 2011.64
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

This book, made by an artist of the Ghent-Bruges school of illumination, represents the culmination of Flemish book painting. Its main features were the use of rich colors, decorative and illusionistic effects, a love of landscape, and a strong sense of visual narrative. Its most distinctive innovation was the development of a new style of border decoration featuring realistic motifs which cast shadows onto colored grounds to create an effect of spaciousness. These motifs included a diverse assortment of flowers, butterflies, insects, birds, and sprays of acanthus foliage.
A vertically oriented tempera painting depicts figures with light skin tones; a woman in blue and a man in red kneel beside a reclining infant. Two winged children in white and green robes join them. Behind, an ox and donkey watch, while a figure peers through a window. Radiant gold rays descend from the roof. The arched scene is framed by a yellow border teeming with scattered flowers, thistles, strawberries, birds, and insects.

Leaf Excised from a Book of Hours: The Nativity

c. 1480

Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximillian

(Flemish, c. 1444–1519)
Flanders, Ghent, 15th century

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