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Pilate Washes His Hands — The Limbourg Brothers
Prints up to 11×14 in

Pilate Washes His Hands

Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416)
Date 1405–1408/9
Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters
Subject The Book of Hours
Season Lent
Master 3,532 px
License PD/CC0
Attribution The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters · 54.1.1a, b

The original, as its museum records it

Artist Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416)
Date 1405–1408/9
Medium Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum
Dimensions 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm)
Holding The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters · 54.1.1a, b

Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.

The file this print is made from

Source DP298284.jpg
Master 3,532 px on the long edge
Rights PD/CC0 — the photograph as well as the painting

Sizes

sheet 8×10 in · image 7.3×10 in · archival margin · 353 dpi
sheet 11×14 in · image 10.2×14 in · archival margin · 252 dpi

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View in the gallery

About this painting

Pilate washes his hands, and the Met's commentary gives the gesture its meaning: he is absolving himself of the condemnation of Christ.

Now look to the right. The large figure in pink, the Met notes, appears to derive from an earlier artistic model, and he never quite fits the room. His sleeve and Pilate's blue garment meet in a space the painter could not settle, and his place against Pilate's throne stays ambiguous. A borrowed figure crowds the judge at the very moment the judge claims to stand apart, and the blue robe cannot get clear of him.

Sources: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art of Illumination, 'Pilate Washes his Hands, Folio 138r', Belles Heures, 54.1.1, read 2026-09-24 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art of Illumination, 'Hours of the Passion' (2010), read 2026-09-24 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection, The Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 54.1.1a, b, object record, read 2026-09-24

And Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: I am innocent of the blood of this just man. Look you to it.

Matthew 27:24 · Douay-Rheims

Pray with this every day  ›

Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 3,532 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.