Presentation in the Temple

PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE, miniature cut from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1490s]

An early example of the bold, Renaissance style of the Master of the Chronique Scandaleuse.

150 x 120mm. The text opening None in the Hours of the Virgin (a little soiled). Mounted and framed.

The illumination, characterised by the confident, fine strokes of liquid gold that give delicate definition to the garments of the figures, and by the bright palette of the naturalistic backgrounds and fashionable classicising architecture, is attributable to the Master of the Chronique Scandaleuse, an illuminator active in Paris c.1490-c.1510, named from the Chronicle in Paris, BnF, ms Clair.481: F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, pp.274-7.

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