More Family Portrait - Marking the Hours

You may or may not have wondered about the portrait of St. Thomas More and his family that appears in my masthead. I included it for obvious reasons (apart from the fact that St. Thomas More is the patron of this blog): it depicts a devoutly Catholic man who is devoted to his family, and who just so happens to be the leading public servant of his day. Pro ecclesia, pro familia, pro civitate.

What you may not know is the specific details about the scene that the artist, Hans Holbein, is depicting. A while back, Rich Leonardi clued me in on the details in recommending a book, Eamon Duffy's Marking the Hours. I recently purchased the book at Rich's recommendation, and thought I would share with you what Duffy has to say about the above portrait:

A FAMILY AT PRAYER

Holbein's wonderful drawing of Thomas More's family has often been taken as a portrait of a Renaissance humanist household with its books. In fact, the entire family are almost certainly holding uniform copies of a printed Book of Hours (similar to the cheap edition by Regnault which More was to take with him into the Tower) as they prepare to recite the Hours of the Virgin together. More's daughter-in-law leans over More's father to help him find the place.

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
New Masthead Image: "More Family Portrait"