Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
[1] The miniatures of the Belles Heures are mostly painted by the Limbourg brothers; very few books of hours are as richly decorated as it.
During the time that the Duke of Berry lived, France was an unsettled country, ravaged by the Hundred Years War and the Black Death, and further disrupted by revolts and rebellions.
[2] Despite the unstable situation in France, the Duke of Berry, uncle of Charles VI, commissioned many works of art.
The Duke was renowned for his acquisition and commission of manuscripts and held one of the largest and most varied collections of his age.
[2] Furthermore, numerous times throughout the Belles Heures, the Duke of Berry’s heraldry, emblem, and motto appear on some of the pages and illustrations.
Rockefeller Jr. from Baron Maurice de Rothschild with the intention that it be given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The original red velvet covers with golden clasps have long disappeared, however the book remains in remarkable condition.
The illustrations appear as fresh as the artists “left them when they finished their task and cleaned their brushes five hundred and forty-odd years ago”.
In 2008 the book was unbound for photography for a facsimile edition, and investigation and conservation, which allowed for a period afterwards the exhibition together of numbers of pages.
An unusual aspect of this particular book of hours is that unlike others, each of the cycles consists of a series of miniatures which are uninterrupted by text.
“The shortest (the Legend of the Cross) contains three miniatures, the longest (the life of St. Jerome), twelve.”[1] The art in this book of hours although conforming to the time period, also holds a great deal of experimentation.
Attempts at creating forms in movement and in different positions often do not depict reality and though garments sometimes suggest the shape of bodies beneath them, they are often moving in an unrealistic manner.
Alternatively, there are many instances where the backgrounds remain unrealistic - those with gold fleur-de-lis and patterning that is reminiscent of a heavenly depiction.
Differences in the choice of backgrounds plays a role in the setting of the events depicted, but also shows an effort to move to a more lifelike realm in paintings.
Besides their experimentation in depth, bright colours, and dramatic movements, the illuminators of the Belle Heures were excellent story-tellers.
[1] Although an effective way to focus the viewer’s eye on to the illuminations, the simplicity in the borders can be possibly explained by a lack of formal training.
Also, the illumination is given a political aspect and confirms Jean's status by including a mace, a coronet, as well as the arm of an attendant pulling back the drapes.
[1] Her aristocratic beauty is depicted by the contemporary long hair, slender neck, sloped shoulders, and pale complexion.
Moses, the representation of the written word, fits well in the scene of St. Catherine studying for the reason that he received the ten commandments upon Mt.
In order to comprehend the immensity and number of subjects depicted and illuminated in the Belles Heures, one must look at the manuscript (or a facsimile thereof) itself.
