Two Miniatures from a Psalter
A thirteenth-century illuminated psalter page, dated 1240 and held by the J. Paul Getty Museum, probably made for a devotional reader in a monastic or aristocratic setting. The picture shows the Annunciation: a winged angel with a scroll stands at left against a gold ground, facing a veiled Mary in a red mantle, her hands raised in surprise. A designer might take the flat gold field, the bordered frame, and the expressive gesture and drapery lines as models for sacred or medieval-style decoration.
