Book of Hours

The Painter of Additional 15677

Artists

Most of the large miniatures and historiated initials were illuminated by an artist named the Painter of Additional 15677 after another Book of Hours (London, BL, Add. MS 15677). He was a competent and prolific professional. His figures, though stiff and puppet-like, with stereotypical faces, are well proportioned. His modelling is conventional, but he created pleasing sequences of shadowed passages and shell gold highlights. Although his colour scheme and method of painting are no match for the luminous palettes and sophisticated techniques of the other three artists, he reused creatively a wide range of designs circulating among them and other contemporaries. He painted the Calendar’s historiated borders with admirable topicality and the architectural borders throughout the volume with convincing perspective.

This page was illuminated by the Painter of Additional 15677. The full-page miniature shows God the Father enthroned and supporting Christ’s body, as if just removed from the cross, while the dove of the Holy Spirit hovers between them.