Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: The Virgin before an enthroned bishop-saint with Robert II de Neville and his wife, Joan de Atherton, observing. Miniature for the second Marian Litany
  • Creator:
  • Description: The Neville of Hornby Hours was a family manuscript intended for personal use. In this illustration, the Virgin is portrayed as a beautiful, young woman with flowing hair. A large golden crown rests on top of her head emphasizing her majesty and role as a queen. She addresses a seated bishop-saint, probably the Litany’s purported author, who appears to be flipping through the large book in front of him. He focuses his attention on her and raises his hand in a gesture of instruction. Flanking the Virgin and enthroned bishop-saint from the side niches are two smaller human figures identified as Robert II de Neville and Joan de Atherton. They are focused on the conversation between the Virgin and the bishop-saint occurring in the center of the painting, and they raise their hands in speech.
  • Source: British Library
  • Rights: Public domain
  • Subject (See Also): Bishops Books of Hours Donor Portraits Lay Piety Mary, Virgin, Saint Neville of Hornby Hours
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 14
  • Date: Second quarter of 14th C., possibly 4th decade
  • Related Work: Neville of Hornby Hours: http://molcat1.bl.uk/illcat/record.asp?MSID=8838&CollID=28&NStart=2781 http://molcat1.bl.uk/illcat/record.asp?MSID=8838&CollID=28&NStart=2781
  • Current Location: London, British Library, Egerton MS 2781, fol. 101v
  • Original Location: England, S.E., possibly London
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital Images; Manuscript illuminations
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Vellum (parchment); Paint
  • Donor: Laywoman; Isabel de Byron, Wife of Robert I de Neville of Hornby Manor
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 17 cm/11 cm/
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Kathryn A. Smith, Art, Idenity, and Devotion in Fourteenth Century England: Three Woman and their Books of Hours, The British Library and University of Toronto Press, London, 2003, pg. 37