The Art of Illumination

Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1).

Christ, stripped to a breechcloth, is bound to a column and flogged. The figure behind Christ pulling on the binding has his head greatly foreshortened. When the book is bound, this page faces the Mocking (Folio 131v), and the similar settings and gestures in the two scenes appear to be deliberate choices to unify the two pages.