Bifolio from Book of Hours

This Book of Hours was transcribed by Pietro Ursuleo of Capua (d.1484). The script used is humanist minuscule, a secular style of writing that was invented in Italy at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It was designed to restore legibility and elegance to manuscripts. The manuscript’s illuminator was Joachinus de Gigantibus de Rotenberg, a German miniaturist who worked in Italy during the second half of the fifteenth century. His style was defined by his subtle choice of colors and border decorations using plant motifs and intertwined white vine-stems (bianchi girari), a motif developed by Italian humanists in Florence. The borders of the page shown here also include angels with trumpets, birds, and animals. The historiated, gold gilt initial “D” surrounds an image of the Virgin and Child.