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).

Hours of the Passion
The Death of Christ, Folio 145v

The Limbourgs have created a highly unusual treatment of the Crucifixion, showing the eerie darkness that overtook the earth at Christ’s death. The darkness “from sext to none” at the death of Christ follows the Gospel account, not the text of the prayers in the manuscript. The earth quaked, the rocks broke, graves opened for the dead to crawl out, and the centurion reacted with awe.