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).

Penitential Psalms
David Makes an Offering to God (Psalm 31), Folio 66v

David kneels at an altar, offering a large golden reliquary in penance for his sins. The gothic-spired object is not unlike the kind of elaborate goldsmith work that Jean de Berry would have commissioned and donated to one of the chapels attached to his chateaux. In the illumination, God acknowledges the gift.