
The Entombment (Stabat Mater Prayer), from a Book of Hours
Jean Colombe · c. 1480
- Medium
- Manuscript cutting in tempera and gold paint, with littera batarda inscriptions in gold, recto, and light black, verso, on parchment dyed black
- Original size
- 4.1 × 8.3 cm (1 5/8 × 3 5/16 in.)
- Currently held
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Movement
- Italian Renaissance
The black-dyed parchment alone signals that this is no ordinary devotional image — figures rendered in tempera and burnished gold emerge from darkness with an intensity that few manuscripts of the period could match. Jean Colombe was among the most accomplished illuminators working in late fifteenth-century France, based in Bourges and closely tied to the ducal courts of his era. His hand is distinguished by a rich palette, fluid drapery, and a gift for emotional restraint that keeps even grief-filled scenes like the Entombment dignified rather than theatrical. The littera batarda inscriptions — the flowing Gothic cursive that frames the image — are as considered as the painting itself, integrating text and image into a unified devotional object. Colombe's workshop is widely credited with completing the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry around 1485, one of the most celebrated illuminated manuscripts in existence, left unfinished after the deaths of the Limbourg Brothers some seven decades earlier. Our hand-painted oil reproduction translates Colombe's layered tempera and gold work into the warmth of oil on canvas, preserving the luminosity and emotional gravity of the original — a piece that once existed as a private act of devotion, now available to carry that same quiet weight into your home.
Hand-painted oil reproduction
Painted in real oil on stretched canvas by master copyists. Delivered unframed — ready to frame at home.
Choose a size
In Colombe's style.
Send us a photograph of your family, pet, or home — we'll paint it as a custom oil on stretched canvas in any style you like. From £220.

← Real customer commission · see the full gallery
Code WELCOME20 at checkout for 20% off your first commission.
Commission yours →

