The Annunciation, full-page miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours [northern Netherlands (IJssel region, probably Zwolle), c.1470-75]

single leaf, 185x135mm, plus 10-12mm stub at the right edge, vellum, with a full-page miniature for Matins in the Hours of the Virgin, recto blank, some rubbing and flaking of pigment, under-drawing visible in the Virgin’s face, darkened along the spine fold

This Dutch miniature, painted in a hitherto unstudied style, can be attributed to the IJssel region both by the foliate forms of its border, and by the strongly linear appearance of the miniature, which suggests the use of a woodcut as a model: the use of prints as models was common in the region, and it is therefore likely that our miniature was produced in Zwolle, its main city. As Anne Korteweg kindly informs us, exactly the same composition is used in London, BL, Add. 29887 (reproduced in L.S. Wierda, De Sarijs-handschriften: Laat-middeleeuwse handschriften uit de IJsselstreek, 1995, fig.23) confirming both the IJssel attribution and the likelihood of a print exemplar.