Masters of the Dark Eyes Missal, Initial R with the Annunciation, Walters Manuscript W.175, fol. 163r

This Latin Missal was written in Utrecht, Netherlands, ca. 1500. Portraits of the original owners, whose names are not recorded, are accompanied by heraldry indicating that the husband was of the family of St. Férréol of Dauphiné; the wife was of the Cambronne of Ponthieu family. The manuscript is heavily illuminated with more than fifty historiated initials and miniatures by a group of artists known in scholarship as the "Masters of the Dark Eyes." The marginal decoration is also notable, for along with naturalistic flowers, insects, and jewels, there are several instances where the margin itself is historiated. This Missal provides an excellent example of the "Masters of the Dark Eyes" style, and there are a number of related manuscripts that have been identified by these same artists, including two at The Hague: KB, 76 G 9, and KB, 135 E 19. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.