Book of Hours [Bezborodko Master].
Manuscript, Utrecht, 1491 (BPH 2)

In many Dutch-language books of hours, such as in this one, an addition can be found which did not belong to the common corpus of Latin prayers: the Hours of the Eternal Wisdom, originally a text by the German mystic Heinrich Suso. Geert Groote, the translator of the Latin prayers, was responsible for this mystical contribution. The Eternal Wisdom opens with the Fall of the Angels, the only known example of this subject being represented in Dutch illumination.

The Bezborodko Master belongs to the group of artists known as the ‘Masters of the Dark Eyes’; this manuscript is the most exuberantly illuminated of all his works.