About this work
Books of Hours were popular devotional manuscripts used in the late medieval period for personal prayer and meditation. The Wharncliffe Hours, named after its nineteenth-century owner, the first Earl of Wharncliffe, is recognised as one of the finest examples of French illumination. The creator of the Wharncliffe Hours, Maître François, headed one of the leading Parisian workshops for book production at this time. He worked for aristocratic patrons in the Loire region, as well as in Paris. François painted the main pictures in these pages around 1475–80, while one or more assistants executed the decoration of the borders.