Mary Magdalene, for instance, on fol. 147 v. The
pillar architecture of some of the borders, with pendant festoons of
flowers, is also very handsome.
18855, folio, is a Book of Offices written in a Gothic text. The
miniatures are large full-page paintings within architectural frames or
porches, with coloured pillars or pilasters with panels of rich blue,
covered with golden traceries, bronze gold pendants at side,--occasional
borders as in the "Hours of Anne of Brittany." The work is of the older
school of Tours, but loaded with ornamental details from North Italian
pilaster-work. Among the best miniatures are the Nativity (34 v.), the
Adoration of the Magi (42 v.), and the Bathsheba. The last perhaps a
little too open a scene for a lady's bathroom, but placed within a most
gorgeous architectural window or doorway (fol. 62 v). Compare also Harl.
5925, No. 574, for a title-page of French Renaissance style from a
printed book, which suggests Venice as the source of the style of 18853.
In the National Library at Paris are, of course, a number of this class
of MSS., such as the Offices (MS. Lat. 10563), "Officium Beat? Mari?
Virginis ad usum Romanor" (1531), or the exquisitely painted "Heures de
Henry 2d" (fds. Lat. 1429), or the magnificent "Epistres d'Ovide" of
Louisa of Savoy (fds.
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