Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
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The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry or simply the Très Riches Heures, The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, is a very richly decorated Book of Hours (containing prayers to be said by the lay faithful at each of the canonical hours of the day) commissioned by Jean, Duc de Berry in about 1410. It is probably the most important illuminated manuscript of the 15th century, "le roi des manuscrits enluminés" ("the king of illuminated manuscripts"). The Très Riches Heures consists of 416 pages, of which about half are full page illustrations that are among the high points of International Gothic painting in spite of their small size. There are 300 enriched capital letters.
It was natural for a book of hours to contain a calendar, but the illustrations of months in the Très Riches Heures (see the accompanying illustration showing one of the pages for "January") are exceptional and innovative in their scope, subjects, composition, and artistic and technical execution. Most of them show one of the duke's castles in the background, and are filled with details of the delights and labors of the year, from the Duke's court to his peasants, a counterpart to the prayers of the hours. Each illustration is surmounted with its appropriate hemisphere showing a solar chariot, the signs and degrees of the zodiac, and numbering the days of the month and the martyrological letters for the ecclesiastic lunar calendar.
It was illuminated (painted) sometime between 1412 and 1416 by the Limbourg brothers for their patron. The writing, illuminated capitals, border decorations, and gilding was most likely executed by other specialists who remain mostly unknown. The Limbourg brothers left the book unfinished at their (and the Duc's) death in 1416. The royal art lover (and amateur painter) René d'Anjou had an unidentified artist (probably Barthélemy van Eyck) work on the book in the 1440s, and Charles I, Duc de Savoie commissioned Jean Colombe to finish the paintings between 1485 and 1489.
The book is currently held by the Musée Condé, Chantilly (Ms. 65).
[edit] External links
- Chateau Chantilly
- Commentary on the Calendar scenes
- Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
- Illustrations from the Très Riches Heures
