Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Book of Hours
Netherlands, ca. 1494
MS M.1078 fol. 121r

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Initial and margins with scenes of Holy Kinship:
Virgin Mary and Anna, veiled, both with rays as nimbi, sit flanking nude Christ Child, standing, with right hand raised in blessing. Behind Mary stands Joseph, holding blossoming rod; behind Anna stand Joachim, Cleophas, and Salomas. Scene in vinescroll initial O.
In left margin:
Elizabeth, nimbed, veiled, sits and holds in her lap infant John Baptist, nimbed, holding lamb. Behind them stands Zacharias.
In right margin:
Nimbed woman, possibly Ismeria, sits and holds in her lap nimbed swaddled infant, wearing miter, possibly Servatius of Tongres. Behind them stands man, possibly Eliud.
In lower margin:
Zebedee stands beside Mary Salome, nimbed, wearing veiled headdress, holding open book, flanked by Evangelist John, as young child, nimbed, holding goblet in both hands, and by Apostle James Major, as child, nimbed, wearing hat with pilgrim's shell and holding pilgrim's staff.
Mary Cleophas, nimbed, wearing veiled headdress, sits with her four nimbed children (Apostles James Minor, Simon, and Judas, and Joseph Barsabas), including one holding open book, one holding tool (?), and one seated in her lap. Behind her stands Alphaeus.