Souls Released from Purgatory
ca. 1440
The Netherlands, Utrecht
MS M.917/945, ff. 106v–107r
Purchased on the Belle da Costa Greene Fund with the assistance of the Fellows and with special assistance of Mrs. Frederick B. Adams, Sr., Mrs. Robert Charles, Mr. Laurens M. Hamilton, The Heineman Foundation, Mrs. Donald F. Hyde, Mrs. Jacob M. Kaplan
Catalog link
The Monday Hours of the Dead end on this happy note. Indeed, this miniature for the final Hour of Compline depicts the whole point of praying the Hours of the Dead: shortening the time spent by one's friends and relatives in the fires of purgatory. An angel leads an overjoyed group of naked souls from their fiery torment. In the bottom border, the vignette of a man caging birds is a secular counterpoint to the miniature's religious theme.