In the Garden of Paradise

The size of a single book page, the world-famous “Little Garden of Paradise” (c. 1410–20) in the Städel Museum presents, alongside the Virgin and Child and six saints, a wealth of true-to-life depictions of flora and fauna as well as contemporary dress and everyday objects. Unrivalled in the quality and quantity of its exacting renderings of nature, the volume situates this enigmatic painting within the European art of its time, bringing together highlights by Pisanello, the Master of Flémalle, Jan van Eyck and other leading artists of the age. All these works are united by the groundbreaking interplay of art and reality in Europe around 1400.