Decorated Text Page

Blossoms strewn on a gold ground surround the opening text of the preface to Saint Paul's Epistles. Painted life-size and casting fictive shadows on the background, the flowers appear almost real. Nestled among the flowers are a variety of insects and a snail. The anonymous French illuminator of this page adapted his design from the illusionistic borders of earlier Flemish manuscripts, a common practice among French artists of the early 1500s. A more reserved floral motif decorates the gold ground of the initial letter P of the text.