June — Haymaking Before the Sainte-Chapelle
The Limbourg Brothers (Herman, Paul & Jean de Limbourg); later folios completed by Jean Colombe, c. 1412–1416
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 23% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buyWomen rake and men scythe a hayfield on the Île de la Cité, while across the Seine the unmistakable silhouette of the Palais de la Cité rises, its spires including the Sainte-Chapelle, Louis IX's reliquary chapel for the Crown of Thorns. It is one of the calendar's most topographically exact scenes — a real, identifiable corner of medieval Paris, rendered with a cartographer's eye alongside a genre painter's feel for gesture and effort. The zodiac lunette turns from Gemini to Cancer. This folio is often cited as an early landmark of European urban landscape painting: the city itself, not just its rulers, worthy of the illuminator's full attention.
- Maker
- The Limbourg Brothers (Herman, Paul & Jean de Limbourg); later folios completed by Jean Colombe
- Date
- c. 1412–1416
- Medium of the original
- Illuminated manuscript
- Original held by
- Musée Condé, Chantilly
- Credit
- Musée Condé, Chantilly · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00911
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 8 x 12 in | 145 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 21% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 12 x 18 in | 97 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 72 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 58 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 48 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 29 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,167 x 1,884 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 62, lights 204 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0.1% vivid
- Sharpness
- 3.49
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
The Scriptorium
Knotwork, spiral, and the beast that becomes a letter.
All 35 pieces from The Scriptorium
