The Sobieski Hours

An exhibition of Polish Memorabilia from the Royal Collection

This manuscript - the Sobieski Hours - was produced in France for Margaret of Burgundy
c.1420-40. In the late
17th century it belonged to Jan Sobieski III, King of Poland, for whom it was rebound. It then passed via his grand-daughter, Clementina (who in 1719 married Prince James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender'), to her son Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal York, on whose death in 1807 it was bequeathed to George IV. It is the finest illuminated manuscript in the Royal Collection. This page depicts the 'Fifteen Joys of the Virgin'. The patron, Margaret of Burgundy, is portrayed in the different scenes wearing a pink gown