Illuminated Manuscript, Cologne Psalter-Hours, Annunciation, Walters Manuscript W.41, fol. 8v

This Psalter-Hours was made for a Franciscan community in Cologne, Germany, in the late thirteenth century. It is especially notable for its large program of illuminations, which includes roundels in the calendar depicting the labors of the month, two full-page miniatures, fourteen historiated initials, and grotesques perched upon the top of bar borders throughout. It is identical in style to Baltimore, Walters Ms. W.111, and both are related to the style of Liège manuscripts of the 1280s-90s. They are also considered to be stylistic precursors of works by Johannes von Valkenburg, such as two graduals he created for Franciscans in Cologne in 1299 (Cologne, Diözesan Bibliothek Ms. 1B and Bonn, Universitätsbibliothek Ms. 384). To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.