Simon Bening (1483–1561) and assistants, The annunciation: the hours of the Virgin, Bruges, Flanders, c 1522–23. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, MS 294b (cat no 61). Reproduction by permission of the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

These miniatures come from a richly illuminated book of hours of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, a great patron of the arts. In keeping with Flemish tradition, the Annunciation takes place in the Virgin’s bedroom. The spacious room evokes aspects of the Church setting which had also become popular first in French and then in Flemish art. The slenderly framed interior is set against a landscape where the pictorial narrative continues, with Mary on her way to visit her cousin Elizabeth. By contrast to the solemnity of the Annunciation, this image has a certain local and domestic air. An angel companion carries Mary’s trim baggage and at the end of the winding road a Flemish town awaits her.