Sigismund receives a letter from the Virgin, Windeck manuscript

What it is

This is a miniature from a German manuscript, Das Buch von Kaiser Sigismund, written by Eberhard Windeck. It was painted around 1440 by an illustrator from the workshop of Diebold Lauber. The picture shows King Sigismund directing a kneeling messenger to give a sealed letter to a standing woman in a burgundy gown and white headdress. The manuscript calls her the Virgin who has performed many miracles, and the record identifies her as Saint Joan of Arc. The manuscript appeared at a Sotheby's sale in 2009.

Why it matters

The book was made about a decade after Joan's death in 1431. It shows that her reputation had spread to German readers and was linked with a king. Sigismund and Joan are both figures from the same troubled period in European history, and the image shows how writers and artists remembered them together.

Look closer

• What do the king, the messenger and the woman each wear, and what does this suggest about their status?
• Why would a German writer in the 1440s include a figure from France in a book about a king?
• What does the text of the manuscript say, and what would you need to read it fully?