Superb Image of David Handing the Letter to Uriah in Contemporary Hand Color with Gilt Highlights

"[Book of Hours Leaf]", Hardouin, Gilles

This leaf is from the brief transitional period when the new technology of printing with movable type was combined with the more labor intensive methods of hand painting. The earliest printers were trained in the manuscript tradition and incorporated the conventions of historiated initials and illustrations into their early work. At first they left those spaces blank for the illuminator to complete entirely by hand. Later they developed printing methods (using woodcuts or iron engravings) to decorate the leaves.

This superb hand-colored image shows King David, kneeling in armour, handing the letter to Uriah that is intended for his commanding officer, Joab, The text below the image translates as:

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your fury, nor chastise me in your wrath.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak.

The verso of this vellum leaf includes initials that were hand painted in red, blue and burnished gold, surrounded by elaborate iron engravings that feature additional biblical scenes. This vellum leaf is from a Book of Hours printed on vellum by Gilles Hardouin for Germain Hardouin librayre demourant entre les deux portes du Palays en l’enseigne Saincte Marguerite (bookseller living between the two gates of the Palace at the sign of Saint Marguerite) of Paris.

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Condition: B+

There is some show-through of the color on verso, and also a printer's crease in the left border on verso.