Leaves from Jacques Le Lieur, Poème sur la Passion

Physical Description

Description and Contents

MS 1-2006.1: parchment, 150 x 100 mm, 18 long lines ruled in red ink with 15 lines of text written in iron-gall ink on reverse

 

MS 355-1984: parchment pasted on paper, 153 x 100 mm

 

MS 1-2012.1: parchment pasted on paper, 154 x 101 mm

 

MS 1-2012.2: parchment pasted on paper, 152 x 104 mm

 

MS 1-2006.2: parchment pasted on paper, 155 x 103 mm

At the base of the cross, the Virgin Mary, accompanied by St John, kneels beside her son’s lifeless body. Relatives and friends, including Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who have lowered Christ down from the cross, join her in mourning. A jar of precious ointment for anointing the corpse, is depicted in the foreground at the feet of St Mary Magdalen. The group is shown in front of the Tau-cross on which Christ was crucified. The miniature is set within an architectural frame with trees and foliage forming an arch over the scene.