The Prayer Book of Claude de France is a tiny, jewel-like manuscript that was made for Claude (1499–1524) around 1517, the year she was crowned queen of France. Her coat of arms appears on three different folios. The book is richly illustrated: the borders of each leaf are painted, front and back, with 132 scenes from the lives of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and numerous saints. The manuscript and a companion Book of Hours also made for the queen (in a Paris private collection) were illuminate...| www.themorgan.org
The Book of Flower Studies contains 39 detailed illuminations of European flowers (ff. 1-35, 37-40) and a majuscule alphabet (ff. 35v-36). The manuscript is composed of fifteen quires; each quire is constructed from two bifolia or four folios| The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Stag Beetle is one of Dürer's most influential and most copied nature studies. Singling out a beetle as the focal point of a work of art was unprecedented in 1505, when most of Dürer's contemporaries believed that insects were the lowest of creatures. Dürer's keen interest in nature, however, was a typical manifestation of the Renaissance. This beetle, rendered with such care and respect, seems almost heroic as he looms above the page. (Source: The Getty)| The Public Domain Review
Ever wondered what sentiments the various flowers express? The Victorians have you covered.| The Public Domain Review
