Description
This Book of Hours was completed for the use in Rouen in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. The original female owner is depicted in a donor portrait kneeling at the right of Pietà on the last illuminated page of the book (fol. 114r). Marked prominence is given to this female worshiper as her scale exceeds that of the Virgin as well as Sts. John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene. The Pentecost miniature on fol. 74r exemplifies the current interest in replacing the traditional central perspective with a diagonally conceived composition. This off-center orientation highlighting St. Peter rather than the Virgin was a popular topos in contemporary Rouen Hours.
Results