Book of Hours (Use of Rome), Annunciation to the shepherds, Walters Manuscript W.183, fol. 62v

This pocket-size Flemish Book of Hours was created in Bruges between 1460 and 1470. A heavy contingent of South Netherlandish saints in the litany helps localize its production. Although small in scale, it is notable for its abundance of illuminations, nearly thirty extant, by artists working in the style of the prolific mid-fifteenth-century Flemish illuminator Willem Vrelant. Three artists worked on this book. The best painted the full-page miniature of David Penitent on fol. 85v; an able artist painted the other two full-page miniatures; the historiated initials and minor decoration are routine. Several other Books of Hours in the Walters' collection are similar in style to this manuscript, exhibiting the characteristics of the Vrelant circle, notably W.177, W.179, and W.180. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.