Getty Museum

Initial D: The Annunciation; Initial D: A Young Man Praying to Christ in the Clouds

Date

about 1300

Medium

Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink

Culture

French

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

Within the initial *D* that opens the service of Matins in the Hours of the Virgin, the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin that she will conceive the son of God. On the curling scroll held by Gabriel are the words from Luke's Gospel, *Ave maria gratia plena dominus tecum* (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord be with you). Between them stands a stylized lily in a pot, a symbol of Mary's purity. A man in prayer appears in a second illuminated initial *D.* At the bottom of the page on a line extending from the initial, two horsemen tilt at each other in a playful game.

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