Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child
c. 1409
Limbourg Brothers
Artist, Netherlandish, active 1406 - 1416
Artwork overview
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Medium
miniature on vellum
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
overall: 20.6 x 14.9 cm (8 1/8 x 5 7/8 in.)
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Accession Number
1946.21.10
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Catalogue Raisonné
NGA Miniatures 1975, no. 39
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Series Title
Leaf from a Book of Hours
Artwork history & notes
Exhibition History
1931
Mittelalterliche Miniaturen, J. Rosenthal, Munich, 1931, no. 20.
1947
The Art of France in Prints and Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947, no cat.
1949
Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, 1948, no. 78.
1953
Mediaeval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, Los Angeles County Museum, 1953-1954, no. 51., repro.
1955
Miniatures and Prints from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955, no cat.
1956
Masterpieces of Graphic Art from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956, no cat.
1957
Illuminated Manuscript Pages from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1957-1958, no cat.
1960
Manuscript Illuminations, XIIth-XVth Century from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1960-1961, no cat.
1962
The Saints in Prints and Illuminations from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 1962-1963.
The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD, 1962, no. 56, repro.
1963
Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the early XVIth centuries, University of California Art Gallery, Berkeley, 1963, no. 38, repro.
1965
Rosenwald Miniatures, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, no cat.
1971
A Selection of X-Xv Century Medieval Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art Rosenwald Collection, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, 1971, no. 32, repro.
1972
Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX, 1972.
1975
Medieval and Renaissance Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1975, no. 39, repro.
2005
The Limbourg Brothers: Nijmegen Masters at the French Court, 1400-1416, Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 2005, no. 106, repro.
2009
Heaven on Earth: Manuscript Illuminations from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2009, no cat.
2017
Johan Maelwael: Nijmegen-Paris-Dijon, Art Around 1400, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2017, no. 37, repro.
Bibliography
1975
National Gallery of Art. Medieval and Renaissance Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1975: no. 39.
2005
Dückers, Rob, Pieter Roelofs. The Limbourg Brothers: Nijmegen Masters at the French Court, 1400-1416. Antwerp, 2005:380, no. 106.
2025
De Bruijn Kops, David. "Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child: New Perspectives on a Miniature Attributed to the Van Lymborch Brothers," Maelwael Van Lymborch Studies, Vol. 3. Edited by Andre Stufken. Turnhout, 2025: 226-249.
Inscriptions
verso, in black letter Gothic calligraphy, the following suffrage: [1]
Martir xp[ist]ofore, pro salvatoris honore, fac / nos fore dignos deitatis amore promisso xp[ist]i / quiaquid petit obtinuisti: da famulo tuo. D. / tristi bona q:[ue] moriendo petisti cunctis solamê[n], / fermentis tolle gravamen iudicis examen / mirte sic omnibus amen, Ora pro nob[is] / beate xristofore, Ut digni efficiamur / promissionibus xristi, Oremus. / Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui / famulo tuo beato xristoforo mar / tiri tuo quod pre pecut ante martyrium / suum impetrare concessisti supplicanti / et dicenti ut inquocumq:[ue] loco posuerit / corpus meum aut ubi fuerint reliquie / mee, uel ubi memoria mea recitata fue / rint non ingrediatur ira, fames nec / ignis grando nec morbus ullus pecudu[m] / nec interitus populi: presta quesumus / ut familiam congregatam pecudes meri
[Martyr Christopher, for the Saviour's honour, make us to be worthy by the love of God, promised by Christ. whatever is asked you've obtained: give to your servant, Lord, good to the sorrowful: by dying you sought consolation for all, lift the burden of inner unrest, the trial of the Judge by death thus for all Amen. Pray for us, blessed Christopher, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, Let us pray. Almighty everlasting God who to your servant, the blessed Christopher, your martyr, what he requested before his martyrdom you granted to obtain, while supplicating and saying: that in whateve place he may have placed my body, or where my relics may have been, or where my memory has been revealed, may wrath, famine not enter, nor fire, nor hail, nor disease, nor avenging plague, nor destruction of the people: grant, we beseech you, that the congregated family may deserve...]
[1] Transcription and translation by David de Bruijn Kops with assitance from Anneke Hoekstra and Carmen Louwe, published in De Bruijn Kops, 2025, p. 241.
Wikidata ID
Q64593226