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 Soldiers at the Tomb, Folio 152v

In the most detailed landscape of the Passion cycle, the three soldiers sleep at the tomb of Christ, one holding a shield decorated with a grotesque face. In the distance, the barren mount of Calvary stands with three crosses, the middle one empty but the two thieves still on the other two.