Book of Hours

Cut from a 1400s French prayer book known as a Book of Hours, this manuscript leaf–made out of vellum–was portable and personalized. This signaled a shift to individual piety, where the owner (typically nobility) customized the Book of Hours in conjunction with religious zeal. Decorated with Christian iconography and copied in Latin, these manuscripts allowed to privately pray the canonical hours. Each page consists of two columns of thirty lines, concisely coordinated using guidelines, with red text to emphasize specific words and phrases.

Details from the Book of Hours