Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1).
Diocrès, Bruno, and the Carthusians
Entering the Grande Chartreuse, Folio 97r
With its pale tonalities of the succession of white robes, this is one of the most beautiful and unusual scenes in The Belles Heures. The Limbourgs achieved a convincing sense of movement in the procession of the monumental figures disappearing into a deep interior. The penultimate figure in white is still in the process of pulling on his voluminous robe. The figure in blue may be a novice.
