Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

La vérité à la place des ombres
France, Paris, 1679
MS M.21 fol. 50r

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At the top is a plaque with the inscription, IMMOLABIT EUM VNIVERSA MULTITUDO. The scene is shown as a painting on a tapestry. Within an interior, the lamb is laid upon a tripodal table with cabriole legs, each terminating in a deer foot. Blood streams from a gash in the lamb’s throat made by the father of the family who stands over it, knife in hand. The blood is caught on a platter by a kneeling youth while a girl stands behind with a basket of bitter herbs. Beside her, on the right is an open fireplace with a fire. On the other side the mother kneels with clasped hands before a bunch of bitter herbs on a cloth on the table. A youth stands behind her. On the far side, a wide doorway opens on a street where Israelites are sprinkling blood on their lintels. A quatrain is at the bottom. The frame consists of burnished and dull gold bands.