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 Geneviève, Folio 181r

The saint, holding a tall candle, is likened to the wise virgins who fill their lamps with oil. Geneviève, with her elegant curving stance, ignores the combat between a devil trying to blow out her flame with a bellows and an angel protecting it with his own taper. In addition to Saint Denis (see Folio 166v), Saint Geneviève was also a patron saint of Paris. The duke’s arms are in four medallions in the border, associating himself with Geneviève and therefore with Paris, where he had an important residence.