Posts Tagged ‘underdrawing’

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hours of the Passion

Folio 132r Folio 138v Folio 145r

Above: Details of illuminations from Folio 132r, Folio 138v, and Folio 145r from the 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).

As much as a book of hours is about devotion to the Virgin, the heart of the Christian story is still the drama and suffering of the Passion of Christ, a narrative expressively explored in detail in the Belles Heures. Read more »