The Hours of Isabella Stuart

Hours of the Virgin and scenes from the Apocalypse

Texts and Images

The Hours of the Virgin, the core text in Books of Hours, received a large miniature for each of its eight canonical hours of prayer. The miniatures show events in the Virgin’s life. Every page has a marginal miniature from the cycle illustrating the Apocalypse.

Like the Visitation (fol. 53r), this miniature displays the steep landscape typical of the Giac Master’s works. The white thread is all that remains from the protective curtain once sewn above the miniature. The marginal scene illustrates the Apocalypse cycle. The arms of Isabella Stuart have been added within the initial.