Jean Colombe, workshop of
(Bourges, active c. 1460-65, d. between 1493 and 1498)

Pietà (155 x 105 mm.)
France, Bourges, c. 1480
Set between two columns painted in liquid gold, the Virgin Mary cradles Christ’s body after his deposition from the Cross. Two angels support a trompe l’oeil banderole, on which an initial with the camaïeu d’or painting of a woman introduces the text of the “Obsecro te” (I beseech thee, O Holy Lady Mary), a prayer to the Virgin customarily included in Books of Hours. Extraordinary is the minutely detailed townscape that forms the backdrop of the miniature; this is surely the town of Bourges as it was in the fifteenth century with its Cathedral, and Gothic houses and palaces.
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