Leaf from a Book of Hours

Master of Morgan 366

early 1470s

Tempera colors, gold paint, and ink, Tempera Colors, Ink

J. Paul Getty Museum

A gilded figure, likely an angel, is surrounded by four smaller winged figures. Decorative borders frame the central scene, which includes text and a coat of arms. This leaf from a book of hours shows the Assumption of the Virgin, the ascent of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, into Heaven upon her death. Though this scene is not explicitly discussed in the Bible, it became a core aspect of the Catholic tradition in medieval Europe, giving devotees a sense of comfort in knowing that there was a chance that they too could ascend into Heaven once they left their Earthly bodies behind. This cutting may have been a part of a late fifteenth-century book of hours illustrated by the Master of the Morgan 366, a French illuminator whose name derives from a book of hours found in the Morgan Library. Phi