Today, in the Catholic Church, is the Feast of All Saints – not just cannonized ones. That said, I thought that a 15th c. illustration of Heaven, with its saints, might be in order. This is a image I found on Wiki Commons.

Today’s image comes from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry), a 15th c. Book of Hours. Books of Hours were essentially prayerbooks, used almost exclusively by those rich enough to afford to have one made (at least until the advent of printing) and therefore rich enough to have the leisure time to use them. They consisted of prayers to be said at different points during the day, as well as calendars of feast days / holy days, the office of the dead, and prayers to the owner’s patron saint(s). Les Très Riches Heures was commissioned around 1410, and consists of over 400 pages – of which more than a quarter contain large illuminated ‘miniatures’. It is an extrodinary glimpse of life in the 15th c. It now resides as Ms. 65 in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.

Today’s image is Folio 126r, depicting “Paradise”. Christ, enthroned with His queenly but deferential Mother, is surrounded by a multitude of saints that include a bishop (front center, in the decorated cope), a monk (next to the bishop, in a black habit), and a crusader (on the front right, in the red tabard with the white cross). At the bottom are a host of angels, some with instruments.

Paradise, Folio 126r, from "Les Tres Riches Heures de du Duc de Berry", 15th c.

Click on the image to download it full-sized.

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: 1410, 15th century, angels, Book of Hours, Christ, Christian, color, daily public domain, DPD, free, graphics, Heaven, illumination, image, medieval, painting, Paradise, public domain, Renaissance, saints, Virgin Mary, Wiki Commons, Wikipedia