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 Beseeches God (Psalm 129), Folio 71v

David and a companion call on God from a cave, while a third figure by a wattle fence sleeps with a key dangling from his hand. The text of the psalm has the line “from the morning watch even until night”—could this have inspired the jailor-like figure, asleep on the job as were the soldiers meant to watch Christ’s tomb?