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).

Suffrages of the Saints
Saint James the Greater, Folio 160v

Saint James is given the attributes of the pilgrims who traversed Europe to venerate his shrine in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain: a pilgrim’s hat, staff, and purse. Here two pilgrims kneel at his feet, and his frontal stance inside a niche presents him as both the living saint and a statue to venerate.