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 Deposition, Folio 149r

In the second of two depositions in The Belles Heures (the first is on Folio 80r), a more active narrative scene is depicted. The figure of Joseph of Arimathea disappears behind Christ, while Nicodemus helps lower the body from a second ladder. One of Christ’s arms falls across his mother’s shoulder. The youthful Virgin looks up to her son, but instead of John at the other side of the cross, Mary Cleophas holds the crown of thorns in covered hands.