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).

Prayer to the Holy Cross
Adoration of the Cross, Folio 93r

The rubric for the prayer is in Latin, with the text in French. In the second of only two half-page miniatures in the manuscript (the other is Folio 91r), two figures flank an altar and raise their hands in prayer to the cross. The elongated format of the illumination enhances the sense of height in the church’s three-story elevation.