When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb, 
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 
cried out in a loud voice and said, 
“Blessed are you among women, 
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, 
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, 
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
–-Luke 1:39-45

Behold, my love comes o'er the hills
as softly as the deer steps forth,
as sweetly as the trickling rills
come bless the winter-laden earth.

As yet he hides behind the wall,
but love is coming to the door
to bring me to his banquet hall—
So comes the mother of my Lord.

And now I hear the true dove's voice
that says the winter days are past,
and this within me leaps for joy 
to recognize its spring at last.

Who am I, that this love should come
when God has done such things for me?
And she who said,“Let it be done,”
oh, blest is she who has believed!

And now he grows within her womb.
The barren fig tree puts forth buds;
the desert wakes and greens and blooms
when he tells me, “Arise, my love!”

These leaves survive from what must have been an extraordinarily rich book of hours. Stylistically, the illuminations relate to the workshop of Henri d’Orquevaulx, a documented Metz manuscript painter. Little is known about d’Orquevaulx’s life or career. Compositionally, structurally, and stylistically, the miniatures suggest strong links to Netherlandish illumination. By Henri d’Orquevaulx – https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.172, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77719154