Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

397. Ave sanctissima maria mater dei, fol. 199r

ca. 1515

Da Costa hours
Illuminated by Simon Bening (1483/84–1561)

Ghent, Belgium
172 x 125 mm
MS M.399, fol. 199r

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), 1910

Virgin Mary and Christ Child: Type, Apocalyptic Woman―A half-figure of a nimbed and crowned Virgin Mary appears amid an aureole of light. She holds a nude Christ Child with a rayed nimbus in her right arm and an apple in her left hand, which the Christ Child grasps. The figures appear within a crescent moon. The miniature begins the prayer Ave sanctissima maria mater dei.
The miniature and text are framed by a border decorated with flowers and inhabited by a caterpillar.