Cleveland Museum of Art

The Nativity: Leaf from a Book of Hours (3 of 6 Excised Leaves)

Henri d'Orquevaulx

Date

c. 1420–30

Medium

ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Culture

France, Metz, 15th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This leaf survives from what must have been an extraordinarily rich book of hours. Stylistically, the illuminations relate to the workshop of Henri d'Orquevaulx, a documented Metz manuscript painter. Little is known about d'Orquevaulx's life or career. Compositionally, structurally, and stylistically, the miniatures suggest strong links to Netherlandish illumination. The popularity of books of hours lasted until around the 1550s, when the German priest Martin Luther, in his attempts to reform the Catholic Church, declared them full of “un-Christian tomfoolery,” and they fell out of favor.

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