A miniature from a 15th century French illuminated manuscript shows six people in a garden. The manuscript, Songe du Vergier, is a treatise on the rules of succession to the throne of France by Evrart de Tremaugon who taught canon law at Clos Bruneau in France around 1373, in the time of King Charles V. According to Evrart, the king had appeared to him as he slept in the garden leaning on his right elbow (lower center). The king was accompanied by two queens, “spiritual power” on his right, and ‘secular power’ on his left, each with their own advocate, a clerk and a knight respectively.
The garden shows many of the characterisitics of the ideal garden throughout the Middle Ages. It consists of an enclosure created by interwoven trees and a meadow scattered with trees and flowers. Rabbits frolic in the landscape and a stream arises in the lower left corner. The form of the trees is especially interesting; the illumination was created by Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy who was previously known as Boqueteaux Master because of the conspicuous umbrella-shaped trees (boqueteaux, in French) he used in his landscapes. At the same time, this artist is known for his more naturalistic approach to nature such as the inclusion of animals in his works.