Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry is usually referred to as “le roi des manuscrits illumines” or “the King of the illuminated manuscripts”, is a classic example of a medieval book of hours. A book of hours is a prayer book used but laymen for private devotion, containing prayers or meditation appropriate to certain hours of the day, days of the week, months or seasons. They also often included other supplementary texts such as, calendars, prayers, psalms and masses for certain holy days. Because manuscripts were very expensive and treasured items, only the wealthy (nobles mostly) owned and used books of hours. I will be focusing on the calendar section, which was painted some time between 1412 and 1416 and is arguably the most beautiful part of the manuscript. The Tres Riches Heures was commissioned by Jean, Duc de Berry in 1413. It was painted by the Limbourg brothers who left it unfinished at their (and the Duc’s) death in 1416. The Duc Charles I de Savoie commissioned Jean Colombe to complete the painting of the manuscript between 1485 and 1489. The Limbourg brothers, Paul, Herman and Jean, came from Nimwegen in what is now Flanders but were generally referred to as G