Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Piccolomini breviary
Italy, Lombardy, ca. 1475
MS M.799 fol. 335v

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Within initial A, bust of cleric, tonsured.
Text of chapter in first Vespers for 09.08, feast of birth of Virgin Mary.
Virgin Mary: Birth -- Anna, nimbed and veiled, seated in draped bed, looking toward female attendant extending hands to the bed. In foreground, infant Virgin Mary, nimbed, swaddled held by two midwives, veiled. All with initial F decorated with foliate ornament.
Text of collect in first Vespers for 09.08, feast of birth of Virgin Mary.
Border of floreate ornament in upper, left, and lower margins. Two birds, possibly woodpeckers, in lower margin.