Book of Hours

Gilles Hardouyn

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

When printed books first began to supplant manuscripts, their makers strove to make the product look like books written by hand. In this book of hours, woodcut printed illustrations were "illuminated" with color, like coloring books that were filled in with hand painting. This book was made by the brothers Gilles and Germain Hardouyn, who were registered in Paris as both printers and illuminators.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art