Cleveland Museum of Art

Leaf from a Book of Hours: Office of the Dead Opening Prayers (recto); Psalm 5 (verso)

Date

c. 1460

Medium

Ink, tempera and gold on vellum

Culture

France, Paris

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The leaf shows the life of St Alexis, a monk of the 300s. His veneration became popular in France since the 1100s when the French poem la Vie de saint Alexis was written. This text is regarded as one of the earliest examples in romance language written in French and not in Latin. St. Alexis is depicted here as a courtly person of the 1400s to bring him close to the reader.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.