This Book of Hours, referred to as the Black Hours, is one of a small
handful of manuscripts written and illuminated on vellum that is stained
or painted black. The result is quite arresting. The solid black background is utilized to great advantage, especially by means of gold highlighting.
The anonymous painter of the Black Hours is an artist whose style depended mainly upon that of Willem Vrelant, one of the dominant illuminators working in Bruges from the late 1450s until his death in 1481.
