Book of Hours (Use of Rome), Annunciation to the shepherds, Walters Manuscript W.270, fol. 69v

This Book of Hours was produced in Bruges ca. 1440-50. Although it is misbound and missing several illuminations, those that survive reveal a striking collaboration of Spanish artists and a group of South Netherlandish illuminators known now as the Masters of the Gold Scrolls. The Spanish influence suggests the manuscript was possibly created for a member of the Catalan community in Bruges, and the possibility of Spanish ownership is strengthened by the added seventeenth-century heraldic frontispiece containing arms connected to several families of Spanish origin. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.