The Farnese Hours is an illuminated

Illumination

Illumination, an observable property and effect of light, may also refer to:* Illumination , the use of light sources* Illumination , the use of light and shadow in art...

 manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

 created by Giulio Clovio, a Croatian artist, for cardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1546. Considered the masterpiece of Clovio, the book of hours

Book of Hours

The book of hours was a devotional book popular in the later Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and...

 is now in the possession of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

It contains religious stories (both Biblical and apocrypha

Apocrypha

The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

l), and illustrations with architectural borders and classical nudes.