Leaf from a Book of Hours: Calendar Page for May (recto)
Unknown Artist
c. 1510
Medium
ink, tempera and liquid gold on vellum
Dimensions
18.1 × 12.9 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
Accession Number
2011.65.a
About this artwork
This calendar page from a book of hours shows the month of May with an illumination of the labor of the month, falconry, the popular medieval sport of hunting with a trained bird of prey. A couple rides through the forest, a falcon on the man’s outstretched arm. May is also associated with fertility rites, and the next scene shows the amorous couple on a break from the hunt. Below are saint days honored in May. May 5th’s inclusion of Saint Audoennus, who was popular in Rouen, helps indicate that...