Leaf from a Book of Hours: Office of the Dead: Angel Chasing a Devil (recto) and Two Devils (verso)
c. 1460
Medium
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Dimensions
19.7 × 14.3 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
Accession Number
2005.206
Tags
About this artwork
The elaborate floral and foliated borders of this leaf, decorating the top, bottom, and sides of both recto and verso, contain four separate elements: blue and gold acanthus leaves, gold-leaf ivy vines, sprays of flowers or fruit, and a grotesque. Here the margin prominently includes an illuminated roundel with an angel chasing a devil with a lance. As a time-saving device, illuminators in the 1450s and later would often paint identical borders on both sides of a leaf. The motifs would be drawn ...
About the Artist
Coëtivy Master (French)
Georges Hugnet (1906–1974) was a multifaceted French artist, poet, writer, and critic whose innovative collages and graphic works bridged Dada and Surrealism. Born in Paris on July 11, 1906, he spent much of his early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, returning to France around 1913. His early life and artistic training remain sparsely documented, with no records of formal art school attendanc...