Leaf from a Book of Hours: Saint Barbara (6 of 6 Excised Leaves) (c. 1420–30): Art, History and Details

Leaf from a Book of Hours: Saint Barbara (6 of 6 Excised Leaves) (c. 1420–30) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Henri d'Orquevaulx (French); Workshop.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This leaf survives from what must have been an extraordinarily rich book of hours. The elaborate Passion cycle and Suffrages point to an important commission. Evidence within the calendar and texts suggests that Metz was probably the place of production. Situated on the Moselle River, Metz was the cultural and commercial capital of Lorraine during the 1400s, as well as the location of an important bishopric. It was thus the center of a growing book trade. The illuminations appear to come from the workshop of Henri d'Orquevaulx, a documented Metz manuscript painter. Compositionally, structurally, and stylistically, the miniatures suggest strong links to Netherlandish illumination. Details such as the tub, ewer, towel, and fireplace in the Nativity are typical of the northern love of crowded and unusual compositions, as well as domestic details. It is not known whether d'Orquevaulx came originally from the Netherlands or whether he simply worked or trained there at some point in his career.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf from a Book of Hours: Saint Barbara (6 of 6 Excised Leaves)
• Date: c. 1420–30
• Creator attribution: Henri d'Orquevaulx (French); Workshop
• Culture: France, Metz
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, silver, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Leaf: 16.1 x 12.4 cm (6 5/16 x 4 7/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 2011.57

A detail from the museum

Ranging from lavishly decorated by hand with gold leaf to printed on paper with no images, books of hours were customizable and could be highly personalized to an individual’s tastes, budget, and interests.

Collection credit

The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc. Printed Books and Manuscripts Including an Important Manuscript Map of Southeastern North America, 1721. 1978.
• Fliegel, Stephen N. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.