Cleveland Museum of Art

Leaf from a Book of Hours: Calendar Page for June (verso)

Date

c. 1510

Medium

ink, tempera and liquid gold on vellum

Culture

France, Rouen, 16th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

On this calendar page, June is illustrated with the month’s labor of gathering hay. One figure cuts hay with a scythe while the other uses a rake to gather it. Also featured is a crab, signifying the month’s zodiac sign, Cancer. In this lavishly decorated leaf, the most important feast days are listed in gold, while other days are in alternating red and blue inks. The original manuscript containing this leaf was whole as late as the 1980s, and today its leaves can be found in museums around the country. It is believed that medieval men and women read their books of hours aloud, not silently.

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