LIMBOURG brothers
(b. 1370-80, Nijmegen, d. 1416, Nijmegen)

Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry

c. 1416
Manuscript (Ms. 65), 294 x 210 mm
Musée Condé, Chantilly

This remarkable image on folio 14v depicts a subtly graduated painting of Anatomical Man, the front and partial, mirrored back view of a nude youth standing with the seven planets in a mandorla, which in turn is framed by an almond-shaped border containing the signs of the zodiac.

The zodiac surrounding Anatomical Man is a notable mediaeval pictorial invention, and was fully developed in the 13th century. It represents the belief that man is a microcosm, and therefore the reflection of the macrocosm, of the order in the universe as a whole.




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