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The Visitation, from a Book of Hours

A work made of manuscript with 230 folios, 12 full-page miniatures and other decorations in gold leaf, tempera and colored inks, and littera textualis inscriptions in latin and french in dark black ink, ruled in red with red rubrics, on parchment, with two parchment fly leaves upper cover, three parchment fly leaves lower cover, sheets with gilded edges, in modern binding of brown morocco leather over wooden boards.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of manuscript with 230 folios, 12 full-page miniatures and other decorations in gold leaf, tempera and colored inks, and littera textualis inscriptions in latin and french in dark black ink, ruled in red with red rubrics, on parchment, with two parchment fly leaves upper cover, three parchment fly leaves lower cover, sheets with gilded edges, in modern binding of brown morocco leather over wooden boards.

Date:

c. 1440-1445

Artist:

Workshop of the Master of the Ghent Privileges
Flanders (Ghent or Tournai, active 1430s-1460s)

About this artwork

Books of Hours were the most popular book of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; more of them were produced from c. 1250–1550 than any other type of book, devotional or otherwise. This example has been attributed to the workshop of the prolific Master of the Ghent Privileges, and characteristically ornaments a sequence of prayers and devotional reading to be recited at precisely set times of the day and night. Images such as this tender scene of the encounter between the Virgin and her cousin Saint Elizabeth, both miraculously with child, helped introduce the different segments of the Hours of the Virgin, the core section of all Books of Hours.

Status

On View, Gallery 237

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Master of the Privileges of Ghent and Flanders

Title

The Visitation, from a Book of Hours

Place

Flanders (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1440–1445

Medium

Manuscript with 230 folios, 12 full-page miniatures and other decorations in gold leaf, tempera and colored inks, and littera textualis inscriptions in Latin and French in dark black ink, ruled in red with red rubrics, on parchment, with two parchment fly leaves upper cover, three parchment fly leaves lower cover, sheets with gilded edges, in modern binding of brown morocco leather over wooden boards

Dimensions

Book: 19 × 13.5 cm (7 1/2 × 5 3/8 in.); Sheets: 11.5 × 10 cm (4 9/16 × 3 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Anonymous gift

Reference Number

1915.538

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/71519/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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