to the Virgin Mary
The Hours of Mary of Burgundy is a book of hours, a form of devotional book for lay people, completed in Flanders around 1477. It was probably commissioned for Mary of Burgundy, then the wealthiest woman in Europe; Mary was the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and wife of Maximilian I, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The book contains 187 folios (folio 14v pictured), each measuring 22.5 by 15 centimetres (8.9 in × 5.9 in). It consists of the Roman Liturgy of the Hours, 24 calendar roundels, 20 full-page miniatures and 16 quarter-page format illustrations. It includes meticulously detailed illustrations and borders by the influential illuminator known by the notname of the Master of Mary of Burgundy. Other miniatures, considered of an older tradition, were contributed by Simon Marmion, Willem Vrelant and Lieven van Lathem. The two best-known illustrations contain a revolutionary trompe-l'œil technique of showing a second perspective through an open window. (Full article...)