The Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy

Attributed to Jean Le Noir French

On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 13

In a reminder of the fragility of life, three elegant men on horseback unexpectedly encounter their own images in death. The original owner of this book, the sister of the Holy Roman Emperor, was reared at the court of France in anticipation of becoming its queen. Instead, Bonne of Luxembourg died in 1349 of the Plague, a pandemic that ravaged rich and poor alike. Panic and conspiracy theories ensued, and Jewish communities in the Rhineland were falsely accused of poisoning the water supply and put to death.

The Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy, Attributed to Jean Le Noir (French, active 1331–75)  , and Workshop, Tempera, grisaille, ink, and gold on vellum, French

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321v-322r: The Three Living and the Three Dead