Leaf from the Hours of Louis XII
A manuscript leaf from the Hours of Louis XII, painted by Jean Bourdichon around 1498 for a French royal patron and now held by the J. Paul Getty Museum. The miniature shows the Presentation in the Temple: an elderly priest holds the infant Christ at an altar draped in blue-green cloth while the kneeling Virgin in blue robes and attendants watch in a colonnaded interior. A designer might take its gold-edged frame, layered architectural perspective, and jewel-bright blues and reds for an ornate, devotional look.
