Book of Hours

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Accession number: 
MS M.659
Title: 
Book of Hours
Created: 
Bruges, Belgium, ca. 1500.
Binding: 
Formerly in full red levant morocco, blind-tooled, by Marguerite Duprez Lahey in 1926; now matted.
Credit: 
Purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943) in 1926.
Description: 
1 leaf : vellum, ill. ; 183 x 133 mm
Provenance: 
Frederick Locker-Lampson; his name written at lower part of verso (catalogue, 1886, p. 221); purchased by J. P. Morgan (1867-1943) in 1926.
Notes: 

Ms. breviary or book of hours single leaf; illuminated in Bruges, Belgium, ca. 1500.
Verso is blank with the name F. Locker written at the bottom.
Artist: Gerard David, or Gerard David and another illuminator, or workshop of Gerard David.
Decoration: one full-page miniature depicting the Virgin and child with female saints.

Variant Title: 

The Virgin among virgins.

This Virgo inter Virgines (The Virgin Among Virgins) was painted by the Flemish painter Gérard David about the same time he did the well-known panel of the same subject that he donated to the Carmelite Convent of Sion in 1509; both share details of style and costume. In the panel, most of the virgins have attributes, while those in the miniature do not, except for the one holding a basket of flowers, which may be Saint Dorothy. Some of the letters on the neckline of the Virgin's dress can be read as "O Maria." Three other leaves in a Breviary in the British Library have been attributed to David.

This miniature once belonged to the poet Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821–1895). After Morgn acquired the leaf, following an earlier practice, Marguerite Duprez-Lahey bound it in full blind-tooled morocco.