Leaf from a Book of Hours showing a Man in Prayer before the Virgin of Loreto
Title
Leaf from a Book of Hours showing a Man in Prayer before the Virgin of Loreto
Description
This beautiful illuminated leaf contains the incipit of the “Ave sanctissima Mater” prayer, a short but direct personal appeal for the Virgin Mary’s intercession. The prayer is found from the 1470s onward and was often attributed to Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471–84), in an accompanying rubric granting an indulgence of 11,000 years for its recitation. The striking miniature on this page shows a kneeling male devotee, looking up at the Virgin and Child. This iconography known as the Virgin of Loreto was developed to illustrate the story of the miraculous translation of the Virgin’s house from the Holy Land to Italy. The elaborate shell gold frame, the unfurled text banderole, and the style of the miniature itself all point to the work of the Master of François de Rohan (act. ca. 1525–ca. 1546) and Étienne Colaud (act. ca. 1512–ca. 1541), leading illuminators active in Paris in the 1520s and 1530s.
Creator
Illuminator: Étienne Colaud or the Master of François de Rohan
Date
ca. 1525–35
Format
Manuscript leaf on parchment
Identifier
Private Collection, Philadelphia
Coverage
France
Collection:
5. Showcasing Salvation; Devotion by Design
Tags
Citation
Illuminator: Étienne Colaud or the Master of François de Rohan, “Leaf from a Book of Hours showing a Man in Prayer before the Virgin of Loreto,” Making the Renaissance Manuscript, accessed November 21, 2024, http://makingrenmanuscripts.exhibits.library.upenn.edu/items/show/37.
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