The Magnificent Hourglass of the Duke of Berry is the best-known and perhaps the best-preserved example of the French Gothic design of manuscripts, being the best example of the late phase of the development of Gothic. This is a book of hours - a collection of prayers uttered during the canonical hours. It was commissioned by the Duke J. Berry miniaturists to the brothers Paul, Jean and Erman Limburg between 1410 and 1411.
When in 1416 three artists and their sponsor died, possibly due to the plague, the manuscript remained unfinished. It was later refined in the 1440s by an anonymous artist who, as many art historians believe, bore the name Barthelemy d'Eik (or van Eyck). In the years 1485-1489, the hour book was brought into its current state by the artist Jean Colomb on behalf of the Duke of Savoy. The book, acquired by the Duke of Omalsky in 1856, is currently kept at the Condé Museum, Chantilly, France. “The magnificent duchess of the Duke of Berry,” depicting the seasons in the context of medieval life, is a very beautiful and iconic work of art.
Background
Known around the world as the Limburg brothers, Paul, Jean and Herman Limburg were highly skilled miniature artists who worked in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Together they created one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the late Gothic period. The brothers were from Nijmegen, now part of the Netherlands. They came from a creative family - their father was a sculptor, and their maternal uncle was a famous artist who worked for Philip the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy.
From the mid-1400s to the mid-1800s, the brothers ’heritage was lost in the depths of centuries, until in 1856 the devoted bibliophile, the Duke of Omsk, acquired one of their works - in fact, the same watch book (Très Riches Heures). This purchase, and then the publication of the manuscript-watch book, sparked a surge of interest in the personality of its creators. Although the exact birth years of the brothers are unknown, it is believed that all three died as a result of the plague that hit Europe in 1416. All of them were probably under 30 years old.
During their relatively short life, they managed to create a number of complex and wonderful works. The artistic activities of these brothers (at least Jean and German) began when they became students of the Parisian jeweler at a young age. The training typical of artisans in the Middle Ages usually lasted about seven years.
However, these were turbulent times, and only two years later the boys were sent home, when in 1399 an epidemic of plague broke out in Paris. On their way home to Nijmegen, they were captured in Brussels, where a conflict occurred during this period. Jean and German were held in prison, a ransom was required for them. Since their newly widowed mother did not have the necessary funds to pay the ransom, the boys were detained for approximately six months. In the end, Philip the Bold, the duke of Burgundy, the patron saint of their uncle Jean, paid half the ransom.
Artists and jewelers from their hometown paid the other half. Some scholars believe that after the liberation, young people went to Italy. After his release, Philip the Bold instructed the three brothers to create a miniature bible over a four-year period. Scientists suggest that it was the so-called Moralize Bible (Moralized Bible), which is currently stored in the National Library of France.
When Philip the Bold died in 1404, the future was unclear for both the brothers and their uncle, but in the end, Philippe's brother - Jean de France, the Duke of Berry (or Berry) - took over the upbringing of the teenagers. They created for him the “Beautiful Clock of Jean de France”, or “The Luxurious Watch of the Duke of Berry”. The history of the Limburg brothers is inextricably linked with the rich and powerful Duke Berry - the main patron of art and an energetic collector, as well as with the manuscripts that they created for him.
The Book of Hours
Belles Heures (“Book of watches”) is a very popular monograph in the late Middle Ages. This, in fact, is a prayer book (with prayers and readings for each period of the day), and it contains the “Mother of God Clock” (a set of psalms with lessons and prayers), a calendar, a standard series of readings from the Gospels, penitential psalms and hymns (or some of them variations). These were miniature works of art created for personal use, and, as a rule, they contained many intricate allusions, carefully inscribed in parchment.
The watch book was intended for personal, religious use - it was not an official liturgical volume. As a rule, these books were rather miniature.
End of work
The Limburg brothers finished work on the Belles Heures ("The Beautiful Hourly Book") around 1409 - this was their only completed work. The Duke of Berry in 1411 or 1412 ordered another book for worship, which became "The Wealth of the Times of the Duke of Berry" - probably the most famous example of Gothic illumination.
Although the two manuscripts (Belles Heures and Trés Riches Heures) were created in a fairly short amount of time, the stylistic differences are obvious, and it seems that at least one of the brothers (probably Paul, since he was the eldest), spent some time in Italy, studying Renaissance masters such as Pietro Lorenzetti.
Be that as it may, the style of the watchword changes from page to page - especially in the image of landscapes. This makes him one of the best examples of art from the Gothic Renaissance.
Description
The manuscript, consisting of 206 sheets of parchment of very good quality, 30 cm (12 in) high and 21.5 cm (8.5 in) wide, contains 66 large miniatures and 65 small ones. The design of the book, which is very complex, has undergone many changes and changes. Many artists have contributed to the miniatures, calligraphy, initials and patterns of the watch book, but determining the exact number of edits and changes remains a matter of debate.
Confession
After three centuries of obscurity, the “Grand Hourglass of the Duke of Berry” was widely recognized at the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, despite the fact that the Conde Museum was practically not exhibited publicly. His miniatures helped form a somewhat idealized image of the Middle Ages in the collective representation of European society. These miniatures depict peasants performing agricultural work, as well as aristocrats in casual clothes against a background of wonderful medieval architecture.
Further popularity
The "Golden Age" of the monograph in Europe took place in the period 1350-1480; The “Book of Hours” became popular in France around the year 1400. At this time, many major French artists took up the coverage of manuscripts. All this was not in vain. Their legacy lives on to this day.
Jean, the Duke of Berry, was a French feudal lord, for whom an hour book was created. He spent his youth in the study of art and literature. After the duke’s death in 1416, his last inventory was taken at his estate, during which incomplete and unrelated collections of books were called “The Duke of Berry’s Great Hourglass” to distinguish the collection from 15 other books from the collection, including the so-called Belles Heures ( "Beautiful hours") and Petit Heures ("Small hours").
Place of stay
“The magnificent theologian of the Duke of Berry” has changed its owner many times since its inception. The meetings were, of course, in the Berry estate after the death of the Duke in 1416, but it is not clear what happened to him until 1485.
Discovery story
When a collector by the name of Aumale found the manuscript in Genoa, he was able to recognize it as the property of the Duke of Berry, possibly because he was familiar with the collection of sheets of other manuscripts from the collection of the Duke, published in 1834. He provided the German art historian Gustav Friedrich Vaagen with the opportunity to inspect the manuscripts in Orleans, and after that they talked about the book of divine throughout Europe. It was also exhibited in 1862 at the Paris Club of Fine Arts.
The identification of the found manuscript with the “Magnificent Theology of the Duke of Berry”, indicated in the inventory of 1416, was carried out by Leopold Victor Delisle from the National Library of France, which was reported to Aumale in 1881. Then an article was published about this in 1884 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts.
The manuscript took pride of place in a three-part article about all the documents of the Duke of Berry known then and was the only one illustrated, with four plates in heliogravure. The engraving “Praying for the Chalice” occupied a special place in the illustrations. In the “Hourly Book of the Duke of Berry” much attention was paid to events from the life of Christ.
Publication
A monograph with 65 plates of heliogravure was published by Paul Durriot in 1904, with the aim of participating in a major exhibition of Gothic art in the French capital. There it was presented in the form of 12 plates from the monograph of Durrio, since the conditions of the will of Aumale forbade the export of the watch book from Chantilly.
The book of watch became more and more famous and recognizable. His first color reproductions using the technique of photo-engraving appeared in 1940 in the French art quarterly publication Verve. Each issue of this luxury magazine cost three hundred francs. In January 1948, the very popular American photojournal Life published material with full-page reproductions of 12 calendar scenes, slightly larger than their actual size, but with very low quality.
Under the influence of American censors of the time, the magazine censored one of the images, retouching the genitalia of a peasant in the image of the month of February. This action was very blasphemous in terms of respect for the work of art, since the main themes of the “Magnificent Theologian of the Duke of Berry” are the seasons and medieval life, rather than erotic motifs.
The Conde Museum in the 1980s removed the book of hours from public display, replacing it with a full copy. The art historian Michael Camille claims that this decision completes the logic of the history of perception of this work, which became known exclusively through reproductions, the most famous of which were published in little-known magazines.
Another artist
In 1884, Leopold Delisle compared the manuscript with a description of objects in the inventory compiled after the death of the Duke of Berry.
The Folio 75 section of The Magnificent Watch of the Duke of Berry includes images of the Duke of Savoy Charles I and his wife. They married in 1485, but the duke died in 1489. The second artist who worked on the watch book was identified by Paul Durriou as Jean Colomb, to whom the Duke of Berry paid 25 gold for the image of the so-called "canonical clock" - a specific prayer book with a schedule. The sky-blue background of the “Duchy of the Duke of Berry” fascinated people of the 19th century, spoiled by modernist painting and weaned from classical art.
Shadow Master
The “Intermediate Artist,” who contributed to the work on the book, is called the Master of Shadows (since shadows are an element of his style), and is often identified as Barthelemy (Bartholomew) van Eyck. He was a famous Dutch miniaturist. His works were exhibited and gained popularity back in the 1420s. It is assumed that this intermediate artist worked on the manuscript somewhere between 1416 and 1485.
Evidence of the artistic style, as well as details of the costume, indicate that some of the miniatures were painted by him, and not by the Limburg brothers. Figures in miniatures for January, April, May and August are dressed in accordance with the style of 1420. The figures of October are dressed with an eye on the strict fashion that existed about the middle of the fifteenth century.
It is known that the watch books fell into the hands of King Charles VII after the death of the Duke of Berry, and it is assumed that the intermediary artist (Master of Shadows) is connected precisely with his court.
Material
The parchment used on all 206 sheets of the “Duchy of the Duke of Berry” is high-quality calf leather. All pages are full rectangles, their edges are not damaged and were cut from large skins. Folio height - 30 cm, width 21.5 cm, although its original size was larger, as evidenced by several incisions in miniatures. There are quite few natural defects on parchment, since the watch book has been stored very reliably. As you can easily see from the design of The Duke of Berry’s Hourly Book, the minerals added to the paint can be an excellent artistic tool.
Basic paints were diluted with water and thickened with gum arabic or tragacanth gum. In addition to white and black, about 20 more colors are used in the work. For detailed work, artists needed very small brushes and probably a lens.
Conclusion
Thanks to the Limburg brothers, the “Hours of the Duke of Berry” became one of the greatest works of late Gothic. Having created this masterpiece, the brothers immortalized not only their own names, but also the name of their patron - the duke. As the “Magnificent Theologian of the Duke of Berry” convincingly proves by his example, a genuine work of art is capable of glorifying not only the creators who created it, but also all people who had any relation to it.