Full-page illuminated folio from a Book of Hours with gold highlights on vellum depicting the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, with inscription on the canopy in Gothic letters Veni, amica mea / coronab[eris] (Come, my friend / you will be crowned); seeded flowers on a yellow background in the margin. Bruges, attributed to Willem Vrelant (active in Utrecht, c. 1449 - Bruges, 1481), circa 1460/1470 Height: 12.4 cm Width: 7.9 cm Handwritten inscription on the back In a Renaissance-style frame (margin cut out, slight wear) The Flemish painter Willem Vrelant was one of the most prolific, influential and prosperous illuminators in Bruges during the third quarter of the 15th century. Originally from Utrecht, he moved to the city before 1454, when he is mentioned as an active member of the Guild of St John the Evangelist, which brought together illuminators, scribes, parchment makers and other book craftsmen. A receipt of payment attests that in 1468, Vrelant illuminated a sumptuous historical manuscript for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He also produced numerous manuscripts for export and worked for other renowned patrons, including Louis de Gruuthuse, Antoine de Bourgogne and Queen Elizabeth of Aragon. The years 1460/1470 were marked by the extensive use of grisaille by Flemish illuminators. This miniature is characterised by the combination of grisaille and polychrome within the same scene, a combination that can be found in several books of Hours illuminated by Vrelant, but which is generally divided between separate miniatures. According to Bernard Bousmanne, only two manuscripts illuminated by Vrelant feature miniatures combining polychrome and grisaille like this one, one in the Merseyside Museum in Liverpool (ms 12006) and the other in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in Rome (Barb. lat. 381). The style of this illumination is comparable to that of the miniatures in the Book of Hours for the Use of Rome in the Royal Library of Belgium (Brussels, KBR, ms. IV 145) or in a Book of Hours sold at Christie's in 2021 (Paris sale, Christie's, 22 November 2021, lot no. 1), both dated around 1470. It corresponds to Vrelant's Bruges period, when his work reached full maturity. It contains the most representative features of his production. The hands, for example, show a rough drawing in which the fingers, glued together, are barely sketched. The Virgin also displays the characteristics of Vrelant's female figures: long blond hair, an oval face with little expression, where the complexions are enhanced by pink hues and pen-and-ink strokes. Lastly, the architectural decoration can be found in many miniatures attributed to Vrelant, with a blue starry vault whose keystone and edges are highlighted in gold. These features can be seen in the Arenberg Hours dated to the early 1460s (Los Angeles, The Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 8, fol. 45, 84 and 179) or in the manuscript of La fleur des histoires preserved in Geneva and dated to around 1480 (Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 64, fol. 56r, 88r, 90r, 119r & 301r). Works consulted: - B. Bousmanne, Item à Guillaume Wyelant aussi enlumineur : Willem Vrelant, un aspect de l'enluminure dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux sous le mécénat des ducs de Bourgogne Philippe le Bon et Charles le Téméraire, Brussels, 1997. - T. Delcourt (ed.), Miniatures flamandes 1404-1482, 2012, p. 238-255 LF