The Birth of St John the Baptist and the Baptism of Christ
Les Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame de Jean de Berry
c. 1420
Illumination on parchment
Palazzo Madama, Turin
The illumination of the page (93 v.) depicts the Birth of St John the Baptist and the Baptism of Christ. The former shows St Elizabeth in her lying-in room after the birth of St John the Baptist. Beyond Elizabeth fully furnished room, which includes attendants, a child, and a couple of household pets, are two smaller rooms; in the first, well-windowed one St Zacharias is seated writing his son's name in a book (Like 1:57-63), and in the second there is a woman seen from the rear - she may be washing up.
The Turin Les Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame de Jean de Berry, whose illustrations scholars once attributed to Jan van Eyck, combines superb landscapes, accurate, spatially correct interiors, and ornamental borders familiar from the work of Jean Pucelle.
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