Book of Hours of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain

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he facsimile edition represents the restoration of the book's original composition, bringing together folios currently found in the collections of the National Library of Spain (Madrid), the Staatliche Museenzu Berlin (Germany) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (USA).

Consisting of 650 pages, every single one of which is illustrated and illuminated in gold and silver by Flemish painters of renown, with 87 large-format miniatures and 583 pages embellished with quarter-page decorations in which a variety of animals, plants and insects are represented. The master credited with the Book of Hours of Marie of Burgundy, the master of the Dresden prayer book, Lieven van Lathem, Nicolas Spierinc and Simon Marmion, have been praised for their mastery of trompe-l'oeil effects in the ornamental borders of the books they illuminated, a lavish hand with decorative elements and the large number of extremely sophisticated iconographic resources they brought to their tasks. All of these aspects make this book of hours one of the most significant works of art produced during the waning of the Middle Ages.

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