Calendar: May (Celebrating May Day Near the Town of Riom in the Auvergne) 1416

Editor: Here we have "Calendar: May," a page from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, made around 1416 by the Limbourg brothers. It's painted with gouache, and the first thing I notice is how it juxtaposes earthly celebration with these celestial symbols above. What do you see in this piece, particularly regarding those visual connections? Curator: This image pulses with layered meaning. Note how the procession celebrates May Day – a fertility rite. But observe, also, how the zodiacal wheel isn't merely decorative. It links earthly festivity with the cosmic order. The sun chariot driving through the heavens echoes the forward motion of the courtly procession, doesn't it? It suggests a divinely ordained rhythm to life, a kind of celestial mirroring. Editor: So, the artist is implying that the ruling class is connected to the cosmos? Curator: Precisely. Look at the attire, the opulence – they're visually asserting power, which, in turn, finds legitimacy within the cosmic architecture presented above. The Zodiac symbols literally crown the ruling class and remind them of their allegiances. How do you interpret the overall effect of merging the sacred with the political? Editor: It makes the ruling class seem almost… inevitable, I guess. As if their power is written in the stars. The Limbourg brothers have given May Day, already full of established traditional rituals, even further visual language of symbolic meaning. Curator: Yes! The piece invites a visual literacy. By decoding these symbolic connections, we grasp how images serve to construct, and legitimize, narratives of power that resonate across both earth and sky. Editor: This has offered an incredible approach to how the artwork builds complex visual relationships between the imagery of people and the zodiac! Thanks.