Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 2v, January - Snow Landscape

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric but for the private devotions of a lay person—in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451–1504); her coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she ...