#rosaries

Reynard the Fox, Drawing by Josef Wolf, Etching by Augustus H. Fox, 1853

"And he would tell his beads and seemed to pray. And smite his breast, and so pass on his way."

the virgin and child in red, white and pink roses

miniatures from an illustrated vita christi, with added devotional texts and illuminations. the manuscript was created in east anglia c. 1190-1200 and augmented c. 1480–1490 in northern england. the devotional pictures of mary and the child stem from the 15th century. the circles that surround the flowers symbolize rosaries; reciting the rosary involves repeating the hail mary prayer fifty times, represented by 50 white beads punctuating the circles.