Book of Hours
In 1409, the Duc de Berry, possibly the wealthiest man in all of France, announced that he wanted the most handsome book of hours ever created. Since the duke was accustomed to getting what he wanted, nobody thought his announcement presumptuous. His favorite court artist, Pol Malouel de Limbourg set right to work.
A book of hours was a kind of illustrated calendar for the pious, containing devotions for every week of the year, religious texts, prayers to the Virgin, psalms of penitence, litanies of the saints, along with the signs of the zodiac and charts of the moon's phases. What the duke required, in addition to all of these, was a work of art which would celebrate the kind of life he had lived. De Limbourg gave him both in full measure, creating one of the world's most exquisite art treasures and glorifying the life of the Middle Ages at its most sophisticated peak.
The duke, however did not live long enough to see his precious book of hours completed. De Limbourg had finished ten and a half pages (all but November and half of September) when, in 1416 the duke died. His heirs, appalled at his extravagances, ordered the work stopped. In 1485, the Duc de Savoie, who had obtained the book, commissioned Jean Colombe to finish it. Colombe was also a superb artist and the Duc de Berry would have been quite content with the way he finished one of the richest records of a rich age.
The thumbnails below are links to larger image details from the calendar portion of the book. There is a short description with each detail.
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| January | February | March | April | May | June | ||||||
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| July | August | September | October | November | December |