Loading

Leaf from a Book of Hours: Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man (Prefatory Miniature to the Office of the Virgin) (recto) and Text with Illustrated Border (verso) (1 of 3 Excised Leaves)

c. 1510

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Characteristic of the artist's hand, the bright orange-reds combine with deep blues, greens, and an abundance of gold wash in this leaf. He used fine parallel lines or crosshatching in gold to indicate the shading, highlights, and texture of draperies, suggesting some knowledge of printmaking, an art for which Rouen was also an important center. His figures have large, thickly outlined oval faces. This miniature also demonstrates the emerging fashion in both Rouen and Paris for highly involved, Italianate architectural frames: winged putti, swags, urns, garlands, scallop shells, pillasters, and masks. These elements could be assembled in different ways so that no two frames were identical. Rouen in the late 1400s and early 1500s was an established and important center for book production. Richly decorated library texts and books of hours, such as the present leaves, were made in Rouen for sale in the<em> cours des libraires</em>, next to the cathedral.

Show lessRead more
Download this artwork (provided by The Cleveland Museum of Art).
Learn more about this artwork.
  • Title: Leaf from a Book of Hours: Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man (Prefatory Miniature to the Office of the Virgin) (recto) and Text with Illustrated Border (verso) (1 of 3 Excised Leaves)
  • Date Created: c. 1510
  • Physical Dimensions: Each leaf: 17.9 x 12.8 cm (7 1/16 x 5 1/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Carlton R. Richmond, [Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 30 October 1981, lot 54], [Bruce Ferrini, Akron, OH, sold to Jeanne Miles Blackburn], Jeanne Miles Blackburn, Maitland, FL, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Manuscript
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2001.79
  • Medium: ink, tempera and liquid gold on vellum
  • Department: Medieval Art
  • Culture: France, Rouen, 16th century
  • Credit Line: The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
  • Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
  • Accession Number: 2001.79
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites