Flemish Flower painting

FLOWERS FOR MAY

Our may theme is Maying and Flowers 

Flemish depictions of still lifes and flowers did not start in the 16th century. They date back to illuminated manuscripts like this Flemish Book of Hours with a page featuring flowers and butterflies and angels and the Virgin Mary on one page facing another page with a drawign of a strange battle between woodwoses and knights and other odd creatures.

Books of Hours One

Books of Hours

Gothic Script in Context

An illuminated Book of Hours was THE status item in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Many aristocrats and rulers delighted in commissioning and collecting them.

One of the most famous of them of that of the  Duke of Bedford.

I've chosen these 2 pictures cos I hope they illustrate the following

1) The relationship of picture in text in illuminated manuscripts

2) the size of the originals

3) the use like modern web pages of framing to emphasize section

4) gothic script in its original context

Enjoy this and the next few posts in this series.