Book of Hours

Gerard Horenbout

about 1500

Tempera colors and gold paint, Tempera Colors, Gold paint

J. Paul Getty Museum

The Virgin Mary, holding the Christ Child, is seated on a golden throne, flanked by four angels singing from books. The illumination is surrounded by a decorative border featuring flowers, insects, a snail, a bird, and berries. A book of hours, the most popular type of medieval devotional manuscript, provided Christians with prayers, psalms, and hymns arranged for recitation at specific times of each day. This richly illuminated book of hours contains traditional features such as the Office of the Virgin and Office of the Cross as well as distinctive elements, including a mass for the Virgin Mary, a mass for All Souls, and collections of prayers to the Virgin, Christ, and for the faithful reception of Holy Communion (a Christian ceremony in which believers receive bread and wine that are ritually transformed into Jesus’s body and blood, commemorating his s