Illuminated around 1500 by the artist Jean Poyer, The Hours of Henry VIII receives its name from the possible but unproven eighteenth-century tradition that holds King Henry of England once owned this splendid manuscript. By following the simple instructions, you can explore every painting of this Renaissance masterpiece and learn how Books of Hours helped their readers to pray.

Books of Hours contain more or less standard texts—Calendar, Gospel Lessons, Hours of the Virgin, Hours of the Cross, Hours of the Holy Spirit, Penitential Psalms with Litany, Office of the Dead, and Suffrages—as well as a number of common accessory prayers. Based on the frequency and variety of added devotions, it appears that scribes included these for owners who wished to personalize their prayer books.

Mark's Lesson: Mark Contemplating
Border: Christ Preaching to a Crowd (fol. 12)

Portrayed in an interior setting similar to Matthew's, Mark sits with his symbol, the lion, as he writes his Lesson.

Mark's Lesson opens with these words In illo tempore. Recumbe[n]tibus undecim discipulisapparuit illis Ih[es]us (In that time, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples). Surrounding the text, Poyer illustrated Christ, depicted with a stern gesture leveled at the group as he reproaches the apostles for their lack of faith and hardness of heart.