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This small book for private devotion came from the Benedictine monastery of San Martino alle Scale near Palermo.
The miniature illustrated here shows Bathsheba standing near a fountain dressed in transparent muslin; David, wearing a turban and crown, looks on from the window of a palace in the background. The border is painted on a liquid gold ground and decorated with acanthus leaves interspersed with other realistically painted foliate motifs, as well as flowers, butterflies and the coat of arms of the noble Campo family of Palermo.
The illumination has been attributed on stylistic grounds to the Ghent and Bruges school of Alexander Bening, whose art is characterized by the animation and plasticity of the scenes, executed with firm strokes and a pleasing expressive freedom.
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