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 Virgin
The Massacre of the Innocents, Folio 59v

Herod, seated on a throne inside his palace, issues orders to a servant that male babies born in Bethlehem should be killed. Just outside the structure, the order is carried out, and several hacked corpses of babies lie on the ground. This bloody scene is not the most common choice for marking the Hour of Vespers in books of hours.