Leaf from a Book of Hours: Initial D: Massacre of the Innocents (1 of 2 Excised Leaves)

c. 1300–1330

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Northeastern France or Flanders

Medium

ink, tempera and gold on vellum

Measurements

Each leaf: 13 x 9.7 cm (5 1/8 x 3 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection 1999.126

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This page was part of the prayers for compline or the night prayer said at the end of the day before retiring, usually around 7 p.m.

Description

Books of Hours were Christian devotional books with texts, prayers and psalms for Christian devotion which were written primarily for laymen. They were popular in circles of the rich, educated nobility. Just like this leaf, which was probably made in France at the beginning of the 14th century, the pages of the Books of Hours often show elaborate decoration to invite the reader to take a closer look. After the great plague, individual piety flourished and the Book of Hours also experienced its heyday, especially in France and Flanders.