Da Costa hours
Illuminated by Simon Bening (1483/84–1561)
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), 1910
Virgin Mary: Coronation—Two nimbed persons of the Trinity, wearing cross surmounted papal tiaras and holding scepters are flanked by the dove of the Holy Spirit. The persons of the Trinity are seated on a throne with a patterned hanging. The person on the left raises his right hand in a blessing. The person on the right crowns a nimbed Virgin Mary with his right hand. She is kneeling, and her joined hands are raised. An angel holds the Virgin’s mantle off the floor. Two other angels, partially visible amid clouds in the foreground, raise joined hands.
The scene is framed by a border with a landscape in which two shepherds tend a flock of sheep. One shepherd stands and supports himself with a staff, and the other sits against a tree.