- Period
- Late Gothic
- Date
- c. 1465
- Collection
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object no.
- 2011.63
Leaf from a Book of Hours: St. Barbara (2 of 2 Excised Leaves)
Master of Jacques de Luxembourg, c. 1465
Cleveland Museum of Art · The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection · Public domain
- Maker
- Master of Jacques de Luxembourg
- Date
- c. 1465
- Medium
- ink, tempera and gold on vellum
- Dimensions
- Leaf: 23.7 x 18.6 cm (9 5/16 x 7 5/16 in.)
- Period
- Late Gothic
The record
Why it matters
Saint Barbara was popular in France, known for being imprisoned in a tower by her father and living as a hermit. In piety, she asked builders to construct her three windows to symbolize the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Her father, enraged by her conversion to Christianity, killed her, after which he was struck by lightning from heaven. She was seen as a protector from sudden death, a common medieval concern, and the patron saint of architects and builders. The text on this leaf is in French, as opposed to Latin.