| Full-page miniature within the Hours of the Virgin (f 18r - 72v) in a French Book of Hours, Use of Rome, from the beginning of the sixteenth century. At the top in the sky the half-figure of God the Father sits, encircled by the seraphim, with an orb in the left hand and the right hand raised in blessing. In the centre below, Bernard kneels on the ground before the standing Virgin who presses her bared breast with her right hand and sends a jet of milk towards Bernard. Standing slightly higher than the Virgin is Christ looking up at the Father to whom, using his right hand, he shows the wound in his side. The scene is set in a green hilly landscape with two castles on the top of hills in the background.The composition of a zig-zag of glances from Bernard to Mary, from Mary to Christ, from Christ to the Father, and from the Father back to Christ perfectly illustrates the intercession between them and may be compared with those in an earlier Burgundian Book of Hours in which a similar image, also illustrating the Office of the Virgin, quotes the words of Arnold of Bonneval (in PL 189:1726), although in this one the intercession is for the donors who are depicted kneeling while Bernard holds up a scroll of parchment with the quotation on the folio facing the main image (see MA 117). Also, while this is a Lactation image, in the other miniature Mary bares her breast to her Son to make the point that she has a request which cannot be refused while Bernard is removed to the opposite folio. The inscription at the bottom is the opening of Psalm 44:2 and reads: 'Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum' (My heart is stirred by a noble theme).
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