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Da Costa hours
Illuminated by Simon Bening (1483/84–1561)
Ghent, Belgium
ca. 1515
172 x 125 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), 1910
MS M.399, fol. 151v
Description:
Christ: Nativity―A ray of light from a star, visible through a hole in the wall of a stable, falls on the naked Christ Child on the ground amid rays of light. He is flanked by a nimbed and veiled Virgin Mary and Joseph the Carpenter, both kneeling with joined hands raised. Two kneeling angels look on. Behind the Virgin Mary, an ox and an ass standing beside a hayrack turn their heads toward a group of figures. The scene is within an illusionistic wood frame.
Credits:
Image courtesy of Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz/Austria.