Te Limbourg Brothers

Te Limbourg Brothers
Reections on the Origins and the Legacy of
Tree Illuminators from Nijmegen
Edited by
Rob Dckers
Pieter Roelofs
LEIDEN BOSTON
:oo,
Cover illustration: Te Limbourg Brothers, January from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/
:11o (Chantilly, Muse Cond, MS o, f. iv.) [Photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern].
Originally published as Volume 8, Nos. :- (:oo8) of Brills journal Qurendo.
Tis book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Te Limbourg brothers : reections on the origins and the legacy of three illuminators from
Nijmegen / edited by Rob Dckers, Pieter Roelofs.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN ,;8-,o-o-1;1:-, (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Limbourg, Herman de, ca. 18-
ca. 11oCongresses. :. Limbourg, Pol de, ca. 18-ca. 11oCongresses. . Limbourg,
Jean de, ca. 18-ca. 11oCongresses. . Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medi-
evalNetherlandsCongresses. . Illumination of books and manuscripts, DutchEx-
hibitions. I. Dckers, Rob. II. Roelofs, Pieter. III. Title: Reections on the origins and the
legacy of three illuminators from Nijmegen.
ND1;o.LoL; :oo,
;.o;o,::dc::
:oo,oo8o
ISBN ,;8 ,o o 1;1: ,
Copyright :oo, by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Te Netherlands.
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iiixrio ix rui xiruiiiaxos
Contents
Introduction: Te Homecoming of the Limbourg Brothers ..........
Rob Dckers and Pieter Roelofs
Some Portraits by Johan Maelwael, Painter of the Dukes of
Burgundy .................................................................................
Victor M. Schmidt
Te Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duke of Berry Manuscript and
the Question of the Artists Hands ..........................................
Margaret Lawson
Likeness, Loyalty, and the Life of the Court Artist: Portraiture in
the Calendar Scenes of the Trs Riches Heures ............................
Stephen Perkinson
A Pilgrims Additions. Traces of Pilgrimage in the Belles Heures of
Jean de Berry ............................................................................
Hanneke van Asperen
Was kann man aus den Belles Heures ber die Limburgs lernen? ....
Eberhard Knig
Guelders-France. Another Connection around ....................
Herman T. Colenbrander
A Close Encounter? Te Limbourg Brothers and Illumination
in the Northern Netherlands in the First Half of the
Fifteenth Cent ury .....................................................................
Rob Dckers
Te Master of Guillebert de Mets, Philip the Good, and the
Breviary of John the Fearless .....................................................
Gregory T. Clark
Notes on Cont ributors .................................................................
Name Index (compiled by Roderick Pelser) ......................................
Introduction:
Te Homecoming of the Limbourg Brothers
Born in Nijmegen, sometime between 18 and 1,o, Herman, Paul, and
Jean de Limbourg left for France around 1oo, where they were to develop an
outstanding reputation at the prestigious court of Philip the Bold, duke of
Burgundy and later that of Jean, duc de Berry. Nevertheless the brothers would
maintain close links with their native city throughout their lives, following the
example of their uncle Johan Maelwael court painter of Queen Isabelle of
France and the duke of Burgundy. Te Limbourgs returned from Paris and
Bourges to Nijmegen and to their family on several occasions, the nal visit
occuring in 11, less than a year before their untimely death. Although Her-
man, Paul and Jean de Limbourg were barely thirty years old when they sud-
denly died in 11o, they already had a formidable career behind them. Now,
almost six hundred years after their creation, the colourful and highly rened
miniatures in the Belles Heures and Trs Riches Heures du Duc de Berry still
speak vividly to our imagination (illus. 1).
From August :oth through November :oth, :oo, Museum Het Valkhof in
Nijmegen presented the exhibition Te Limbourg Brothers. Nijmegen Masters
at the French Court (-). Te exhibition, inaugurated by Her Majesty
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, was a unique cultural event in Nijmegen
(illus. :). Never before had such a presentation been mounted, focussing upon
the three Nijmegen brothers and their art. Tis was also the rst time that
original miniatures from four manuscripts by the Limbourg brothers were
shown in the Netherlands. Te exhibition proved the current popularity with
a wide audience of the medieval period in general, and book illumination in
particular. Within twelve weeks the museum had welcomed over ,:,ooo visi-
tors, which made this the best visited exhibition on manuscript painting in the
Netherlands to date.
Te exhibition formed an excellent opportunity to invite prominent schol-
ars to share their views on the art of the Limbourg brothers, during a two-day
conference held in Nijmegen on November 1; and 18, :oo. Tis publica-
tion presents in written form the conference papers delivered by some of the
: ion oucxiis axo iiirii ioiiois
:. Her Majesty Queen Beatrix examining one of the exhibits.
1. An impression of the crowds visiting the exhibition.
ixriooucriox ,
leading scholars in the eld.
1
In that respect, the volume acts as an addendum
to the catalogue.
Te realization of the exhibition, the catalogue and the conference owed a
great deal to wide-ranging and intensive international collaboration: some o
museums, libraries, private collectors, churches and monasteries in Europe and
the United States made a total of around 1o masterpieces available for this
special presentation. We also would like to acknowledge the contribution of
the following institutions without which this project could never have been
realized. We gratefully thank the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Aairs and Edu-
cation, Culture and Science for the substantial support they have oered to this
project in the context of the Netherlands Culture Fund, as well as the following
institutions: M.A.O.C. Countess van Bylandt Foundation, K.F. Hein Fund,
Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History, Radboud University Nijmegen
and the Limburg Brothers Foundation.
Finally we thank the contributors to the conference for sharing their views,
as well as the editorial board of Qurendo, especially Koert van der Horst, and
Hendrik van Leusen of Brill Publishers Leiden, for having oered the oppor-
tunity to rst publish these conference papers as a special and richly illustrated
double issue of Qurendo.

Rob Dckers
Pieter R oelofs
1 Te contribution by Dr Patricia Stirnemann has not been included here, since the results of
her study have already been published elsewhere; cf. Patricia Stirnemann, Combien de copistes
et dartistes ont contribu aux Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry? in: La cration artistique en
France autour de , ed. . Taburet-Delahaye (Paris :ooo), pp. o-8o.
Some Portraits by Johan Maelwael, Painter of the
Dukes of Burgundy
Victor M. Schmidt
University of Groningen, Netherlands
Te splendid exhibition on the Limbourg brothers, held in Museum Het Valkhof
in Nijmegen in :oo, not only provided a welcome occasion to reconsider their
manuscript illuminations but also provided an opportunity to pay attention to the
work of their uncle, Jean Malouel (or Johan Maelwael, to call him by his Dutch
name), who was the painter of the Valois dukes of Burgundy in Dijon from 1,o
until his death in 11. In his catalogue essay, Pieter Roelofs did a ne job by
surveying what is actually known about the painter and his oeuvre.
1
He and Rob
Dckers gave me the opportunity to discuss in a catalogue entry a drawing in
Copenhagen showing the Derision of Christ and its relation to the well-known
Martyrdom of St Denis from Champmol, now in the Louvre (inv. M.I. o;), which
I suggest should be attributed to Maelwael as well.
:
Te problems surrounding
the altarpiece in the Louvre are manifold, and require a more extensive discus-
sion elsewhere. In this contribution, I want to consider some portraits of the
dukes of Burgundy that may, or may not, have been painted by Maelwael.
According to an ingenious hypothesis put forward by Millard Meiss and
Colin Eisler in 1,oo, a half-length portrait of John the Fearless in prayer, lost
but known through an eighteenth-century drawing (illus. 1), originally formed
a diptych with the Virgin and Child with Angels in Berlin, which is generally
attributed to Johan Maelwael and shown as such in the exhibition in Nijmegen.

1 P. Roelofs, Johan Maelwael, court painter in Guelders and Burgundy, in: Te Limbourg
brothers. Nijmegen masters at the French court, -, ed. R. Dckers and P. Roelofs (Gent
:oo), pp. -.
: Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, Kobberstiksammlung, inv. GB :,;1. V.M.
Schmidt, in: Dckers and Roelofs, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 1:-, cat. n. 1::.
Berlin, Gemldegalerie, inv. no. 8;.1. See M. Meiss & C. Eisler, A new French primitive,
in: Burlington Magazine, 1o: (1,oo), pp. :-o, in part. pp. :,-o; Dckers and Roelofs, op.
cit. (n. 1), pp. ;-8, cat. no. 8,. I will discuss this picture in a forthcoming essay in: Invention:
Northern Renaissance studies in honor of Molly Faries, ed. J. Chapuis (Turnhout :oo8).
o vicroi x. scuxior
For the early history of the devotional diptych, see V.M. Schmidt, Diptychs and supplicants.
i. Eighteenth-century drawing after a lost portrait of John the Fearless, duke of Bur-
gundy (original after 11,). Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, Collection de
Bourgogne, XX, f. o8.
Te similar (but not identical) drapery in front of the duke is also seen in the
Berlin picture. Moreover, the Childs gesture towards the left seems to imply
the presence of a pendant piece to that side. If this hypothesis is correct, we
would have a spectacular early instance of a half-length devotional diptych.

soxi ioiriairs n\ ;ouax xaiiwaii ;
However, some objections can easily be raised. It is not known whether the
portrait was on panel or on canvas, as the Berlin Madonna. Te text on the
portrait, not identied by Meiss and Eisler, runs Domine Jesu accipe spiri-
tum meum, et ne statuas illis hoc peccatum (Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,
and do not hold this sin against them). Te text is taken from the Commu-
nion in the Mass for the feast of St Stephen (:o December), and varies the
words spoken by the protomartyr during his lapidation, commending his
spirit to Christ and asking forgiveness for his murderers (Acts ;, 8-,).

In
the portrait of John the Fearless, the text makes only sense after the murder
of the duke at Montmoreau in 11,.
o
In fact, a portrait of the duke in Chan-
tilly (illus. :) based on the same model as the drawing suppresses the prayer
and adds 11,, Jean, duc de Bo(ur)g(og)ne fuc [sic] occis Mo(n)tereau.
;

Tis would exclude Johan Maelwael as the painter of the original, as he was
already dead by 11. In itself this does not need to be a problem, as it is
conceivable that the portrait was added to the Berlin Madonna on a later
occasion. More important, however, is the fact that the drawing, like the
portrait in Chantilly, presents the duke as turned to the left instead of to
the right but the inscription in readable form, so that one has to assume the
unlikely situation that the draftsman, or his immediate source, had mirrored
the original composition, and then ipped back the inscription. As a conse-
quence, the original portrait of John the Fearless cannot have been intended
as the companion piece of the Berlin Madonna.
Although Maelwael cannot be considered as the painter of the portrait of
John the Fearless on which the drawing and the painted copy in Chantilly are
based, it is logical to assume that he, as the court painter, executed portraits of
the duke. In fact, in 11 (modern style) Maelwael received a payment for a
portrait of John the Fearless to be dispatched to King Joo I of Portugal; this
portrait is lost.
8
Tere was another portrait of the duke, next to that of his
Precedents and contexts of fteenth-century devotional diptychs, in: Essays in context. Unfolding
the diptych, ed. J. Hand & R. Spronk (Cambridge, MA :ooo), pp. 1-1.
Only Georg Troescher bothered to look at the text, but he could only partially decipher it:
G. Troescher, Burgundische Malerei. Malerei und Malwerke um 1400 in Burgund, dem Berry mit
der Auvergne und Savoyen mit ihren Quellen und Ausstrahlungen (Berlin 1,oo), p. 8o, n. ,8.
o For the murder, see R. Vaughan, John the Fearless. Te growth of the Burgundian state (Lon-
don 1,oo), pp. :o-8o.
; 11,, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, was murdered at Montereau. Chantilly,
Muse Cond, inv. no. 1. See M. Comblen-Sonkes, Les muses de lInstitut de France (Les prim-
itifs amands, 1. Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas mridionaux au quienzime sicle,
1; Brussels 1,8;), pp. :-1, no. 1:.
8 R. Prochno, Die Kartause von Champmol. Grablege der burgundischen Herzge 1364-1477
(Berlin :oo:), p. :o,.
vicroi x. scuxior
:. Copy of a lost portrait of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy (original after 11,).
Chantilly, Muse Cond.
soxi ioiriairs n\ ;ouax xaiiwaii ,
father, in the cancel of the Chartreuse of Champmol. Tis portrait, too, is lost
but it is known from a copy in alabaster from around 1oo, now in the Muse
des Beaux-Arts in Dijon.
,
Like the lost portrait of 11,, it shows the duke in
prayer. Precisely for that reason, the original may have been painted after the
murder of John the Fearless as well.
Tere is, however, a portrait of the duke that with good reasons can be
considered a work of Maelwael. Te portrait, known from a copy datable to
the end of the 1th century (Muse du Louvre, inv. M.I. 81), shows the duke
in strict prole turned to the left, while holding with a precious gesture a ring
in his right hand (illus. ). Hlne Adhmar rightly connected the stone in the
ring with a balas ruby which had to be given to every new duke of Burgundy
when he took possession of the duchy during an ocial ceremony in the
abbey church of St. Bnigne in Dijon.
1o
Te inventory of the goods and chat-
tels of John the Fearless dated 18 July 1:o mentions a ring as the rst and
most important item, describing it in clear fashion: Premierement: ung trs
bon et riche annel, fait tout dun balay trs n et net, lequel feu MS le duc
Philippe, cui Dieu pardoint, ordonna par son testament estre mis ou doy des
ducs de Bourgoingne ses successeurs, quand ils prendroient la possession,
saint Bnigne de Dijon, de la duchi de Bourgogne, pesant . . . XLIII karaz.
11

Te balas ruby is probably the same as the beau balay de Flandres which
gures in the testament of Philip the Bold drawn up on 1 September 18o.
He left the balas ruby, together with a little ruby once in the possession of his
father-in-law, Louis de Male, count of Flanders, to his wife Marguerite, with
the stipulation that they were to be given to their oldest son, i.e. John the Fear-
less, and to his successors who will be counts of Flanders.
1:
If this identication
is correct, we have to assume that the balas ruby was mounted on a ring, and
given a Burgundian rather than a specically Flemish signicance lateron.
, Prochno, op. cit. (n. 8), pp. 8 and , ill. 1.
1o H. Adhmar, Le muse national du Louvre, Paris, vol. 1 (Les primitifs amands, 1. Corpus
de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas mridionaux au quinzime sicle, ; Brussels 1,o:), pp. ;-8.
I accept Mme Adhmars connection between the ring in the portrait and the precious stones in
the possession of the dukes, but I do not think that all of her identications of the stones in the
documents she quotes (ibid., pp. ,-1o) are correct.
11 L. de Laborde, Les ducs de Bourgogne. tudes sur les lettres, les arts et lindustrie pendant le
XV
e
sicle. Seconde partie, vol. : (Paris 181), p. :o1, no. ::o.
1: Pareillement, demoureront Madame compaigne, le beau balay de Flandres et un petit
ruby qui fut mon seigneur mon pre, le conte de Flandres, que Dieu pardoinne, nomm le ruby
du conte, lequel ruby elle connoist bien, et vueil quaprez mon decez et le sien, lesdits balay et ruby
demourent nostre ainsn ls et ses successeurs qui seront contes de Flandres. See Bernard and
Henri Prost, Inventaires mobiliers et extraits des comptes des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de Valois
(1363-1477), II. Philippe le Hardi, 1378-1390 (Paris 1,o8-1), p. ::, no. 1o,.
:c vicroi x. scuxior
. Late fteenth-century copy of a lost portrait of John the Fearless, duke of Bur-
gundy (original by Johan Maelwael). Paris, Muse du Louvre.
Tus, the ring held by John in his portrait very likely refers to the taking pos-
session of the duchy in 1o, and also oers an approximate date of the execu-
tion of the original. Te attribution of this original to Maelwael, which was
recently defended again by Philippe Lorentz, seems obvious, because also under
John the Fearless Maelwael remained the prime ducal painter in Dijon.
1
Typologically, the portrait represents an important development from the
format of the only known French independent portrait from the fourteenth-
century, that of king John the Good in the Louvre, datable to a period shortly
before his access to the throne in 1o.
1
Te dukes portait is half-length,
whereas that of the king is en buste. In both cases, the sitters are represented
in strict prole, which may seem obvious, as a fair number of early painted
1 Ph. Lorentz, Les peintres de Philippe le Hardi et de Jean sans Peur Dijon, in: Lart la
cour de Bourgogne. Le mcnat de Philippe le Hardi et de Jean sans Peur (1364-1419) (Paris :oo),
pp. ,-,,, in part. p. ,8. In her entry for the portrait in the same catalogue (p. , no. :), Sophie
Jugie rejects the attribution of the original to Maelwael.
1 Muse du Louvre, inv. no. RF :,o. See Ch. Sterling, La peinture mdivale Paris, 1300-
1500, vol. 1 (Paris 1,8;), pp. 1o-,, no. :1.
soxi ioiriairs n\ ;ouax xaiiwaii ::
portraits are represented in the same fashion. However, when such prole heads
appear as pictorial elements in other contexts, such as manuscript illumina-
tions, they are quite conspicuous in respect to other gures, which are usually
rendered in a three-quarter prole. I suspect that many a prole head of an
important contemporary gure in manuscript illuminations eventually goes
back to a painted portrait, be it a portrait on panel or one on paper, such as the
splendid portrait of Louis II dAnjou in the Bibliothque nationale de France,
now attributed to Barthlemy dEyck.
1
A case in point is the well-known
image of Jean de Berry in the calendar page of January in the Trs Riches Heures
(illus. ). It has all the characteristics of a portrait pasted in: the dukes head
appears in strict prole, it is considerably larger than that of the other gures in
the scene, and the way the arms are joined to the bust is slightly awkward.
Interestingly, in the Gaignires Collection of the Bibliothque nationale de
France there is a drawing of a half-length portrait of the duke in prole but
with a dierent position of the arms. Whether or not the original should be
attributed to the Limbourg brothers, as Meiss suggests, the drawing does seem
to reect a contemporary portrait of the duke.
1o

Tere are two instances of portraits of John the Fearless in illuminated
manuscripts which likewise seem to be adaptations of an existing portrait:
the duke is shown in prole and with exactly the same precious gesture of the
hand as in the original supposedly painted by Maelwael. Particularly the pre-
sentation miniature by the Mazarine Master on f. ::o of the Livre des mer-
veilles (illus. ) demonstrates that the gure of the duke, here represented in
mirror image, must have been based on the painted portrait, because the
adaptation to the new context is not quite successful: the duke is holding his
ring, although at the same time he is accepting a large book oered to him by
Jean Hayton.
1;
1 F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits peintures en France, - (Paris 1,,),
no. 1:; see also M. Meiss, French painting in the time of Jean de Berry. Te late fourteenth century
and the patronage of the duke (London, etc. 1,o;), p. ;o and ill. o; M. Meiss, Te Limbourgs
and their contemporaries (New York 1,;), pp. ::, ::8, :oo-;, and ill. 88o.
1o Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, Cabinet des Estampes, Collection Gaignires, Oa
1 Rs., f. 1. See Meiss, op. cit. (n. 1: 1,o;), pp. ;-;, 8o, and ill. ,o; Meiss, op. cit. (n. 1:
1,;), p. ::, and ill. oo.
1; For the manuscript (Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS fr. :81o), see most
recently M.-T. Gousset, in: Lart la cour de Bourgogne, op. cit. (n. 1), p. 11,, no. ;. Te
other portrait of John the Fearless with the same precious gesture, is included in the presentation
miniature in a manuscript of Pierre Salmons Dialogues from 1o, (Paris, Bibliothque nationale
de France, MS fr. ::;,, f. 1). For the manuscript, see most recently I. Villela-Petit, in: Paris
1400. Les arts sous Charles VI (Paris :oo), pp. 1:o-, no. 1; for a colour reproduction of the
miniature, see Lart la cour de Bourgogne, op. cit., (n. 1), p. .
:: vicroi x. scuxior
. Limbourg Brothers, January: New Year reception of Jean, duke of Berry. Trs Riches
Heures. Chantilly, Muse Cond, MS o, f. :.
Supposing that both the attribution of the portrait of John the Fearless to
Maelwael and the political meaning of the ring are correct, there is every rea-
son to discuss a portrait of Johns father, Philip the Bold, in the context of
Maelwaels oeuvre as well. Te late copy in Dijon, which is usually repro-
duced, is inaccurate.
18
Both an alabaster copy from around 1oo in the same
18 Dijon, Muse des Beaux-Arts, inv. no. ,;;. See M. Comblen-Sonkes, Le Muse des
Beaux-Arts de Dijon, vol. 1 (Les primitifs amands, 1. Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas
mridionaux au quinzime sicle, 1; Brussels 1,8o), pp. :-; (with bibliography); Prochno,
soxi ioiriairs n\ ;ouax xaiiwaii :,
. Mazarine Master, Jean Hayton oers his book to John the Fearless, duke of
Burgundy. Livre des merveilles. Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS fr. :81o,
f. ::o.
museum and an eighteenth-century engraving (illus. 6) show the duke hold-
ing a large jewel in his right hand, in a conspicuous gesture similar to that in
the portrait of his son.
1,
Te similarity is indeed striking and cannot be coin-
cidental. Te duke is wearing the collar of the Order of the Broom-Pod (Ordre
de la Cosse de Gent). Tis was not a real order of knighthood but rather a
honoric pseudo-order, awarded by the dukes nephew, king Charles VI of
France.
:o
Te costly pendant, however, does not belong to the insignia of the
op. cit. (n. 8), pp. ;,-8; S. Jugie, in: Lart la cour de Bourgogne, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. -,
no. 1 (with bibliography).
1, Prochno, op. cit. (n. 8), pp. 8-, and , ill. o.
:o For some notes on this order, see DA.J.D. Boulton, Te Knights of the Crown. Te Monar-
chical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325-1520 (Woodbridge 1,8;), pp. :8
and o, and D. Gordon, Making & meaning. Te Wilton diptych (London 1,,), p. 1;
L. Hablot, Lordre de la Cosse de gent de Charles VI: mise en scne dune devise royale, in:
Revue franaise dhraldique et de sillographie, o,-;o (:ooo) [:oo], pp. 11-8.
: vicroi x. scuxior
o. Copy of a lost portrait of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy (original by Johan
Maelwael). From: Dom Bernard de Montfaucon, Thrsor des antiquitez de la Couronne
de France (The Hague 1;).
soxi ioiriairs n\ ;ouax xaiiwaii :,
order nor of any other order, for that matter.
:1
Te alabaster relief and the
engraving clearly show the pendant to be a jewel with a large precious stone.
It may represent the large ruby (gros ruby) Philip the Bold had acquired in
1,; for no less than 1,ooo francs. Tis ruby, too, was to be preserved in
St. Bnigne in Dijon and to be given to every new duke of Burgundy.
::
If this
is indeed correct, it would mean that the portrait was painted between 1,;,
when the ruby was acquired, and 1o, the year Philip died. Again, this time
span coincides exactly with the activities of Maelwael as court painter.
Both portraits have been referred to Maelwael in the past, but in more
recent times the arguments for doing so have been too easily dismissed. I want
to emphasize again that both portraits are clearly similar in format and ico-
nography. Te iconography is political, and related to Dijon as the capital of
the duchy of Burgundy. What can be more obvious than to attribute these
portraits to the ducal painter resident in Dijon, Johan Maelwael?
One problem I could not solve is: what happened to the large ruby acquired
in 1,;? It does not seem to gure among the possessions of John the Fearless
inventoried in 1:o. Did it perhaps nd another destination after Philip the
Bolds death? A large balas ruby called the balas ruby of Flanders is mentioned
in an inventory of Charles the Bold drawn up after his death in 1;;, but it is
unlikely that the same stone is meant, since the administrators responsible for
such inventories must have been able to distinguish a ruby from a balas ruby.
:
Although the iconography of the portrait of Philip the Bold links it to
Dijon, the portrait, like that of his son, must have been known in Paris as
well. A reection of it is to be seen in a well-known miniature by the Bedford
:1 Comblen-Sonkes, op. cit. (n. 18), p. suggests a connection between the pendant and
the Order of the Passion of Christ, a chevalric order created by the duke in 1o.
:: Te wording of the payment is as follows: A Anthoine Gentil, marchant, demourant
Gennes, auquel a est pai et bailli et delivr du commande et ordonnance de mondit seigneur
la somme de XV
M
frans a leuy deue pour la vendue et delivrance dun gros ruby, que icelle mon-
seigneur st prenre et achetter de lui ledit pois lequel ruby icell monseigneur apres son trespas a
entencion dicellui faire mettre en leglise de Saint Benigne en sa ville de Dijon pour le baillier au
duc de Bourgoigne que apres lui succedera et aussi ensuivant chacun duc semblablement en
prenre la saisine et possession de ladite duchi de Bourgoigne. See Prochno, op. cit. (n. 8),
p. :o. Te connection between the ruby in the portrait and the investiture of the dukes of
Burgundy is also suggested by J.C. Smith, Te Chartreuse de Champmol in 18o: the earliest
visitors account, in: Gazette des beaux-arts, 1oo (1,8), pp. 1-o, in part. p. .
: Item, ung autre fermillet dor, en faceon destos, deux fusilz dor au dessus, garny dun gros
dyamant pointu fasses, dun gros balay appell le balay de Flandres, une grosse perle ronde
pendant embas, et deux autres longues perles en faceon de poires, pendant aux costs. See De
Laborde, op. cit. (n. 11), p. 111, no. :,;:.
:o vicroi x. scuxior
: Roger S. Wieck, Bibliophilic jealousy and the manuscript patronage of Jean, duc de
Berry, in: Dckers and Roelofs, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 1:1-, in part. p. 1:. Cf. also Marcel
Tomas, Te Grandes Heures of Jean, duke of Berry, Bibliothque nationale, Paris (New York 1,;1),
pp. 1o-;.
: Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS lat. 18o1, f. ;:, reproduced in Meiss, op. cit.
(n. 1: 1,o;), illus. 1o; formerly Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale e Universitaria, MS E.V. ,, p. ;,.
:o Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timore, sed accepistis spiritum adoptio-
nis liorum, in quo clamamus: Abba, Pater (For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall
back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba!
Father!). See now Roger S. Wieck, Te o ce of the Holy Spirit in royal French books of hours,
in: Von Kunst und Temperament: Festschrift f r Eberhard Knig, ed. C. Zhl and M. Hofmann
(Turnhout :oo;), pp. :81-8.
Master (illus. ;) in the Grandes Heures of Jean de Berry, nished in 1o,
(Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS lat. ,1,, f. ,o). Te miniature
is often said to depict St Peter receiving Jean de Berry and others into Para-
dise, but as Roger Wieck recently pointed out it rather represents St Peter
admitting the converts into church.
:
It illustrates the sext of the Oce of the
Holy Spirit, which explains why St Peter is shown illuminated by the Holy
Spirit. Te same subject is represented in the Petites Heures and the Savoy
Hours.
:
Te picture cycle illustrating the Oce of the Holy Spirit in these
manuscripts needs closer study than can be oered here, but a major source
may be the capitula or chapters from the oce itself. Tat of Sext is taken
from the Epistle to the Romans 8:1, which mentions the Spirit of adoption
as sons, which could have suggested an image of the converted nding a new
home in the Church.
:o
In the background of the miniature in the Grandes
Heures Philip the Bold appears clearly recognizable in strict prole, wearing
the same hat as in Maelwaels portrait. However, it is Jean de Berry, likewise
shown in strict prole, and not the duke of Burgundy who is holding a pen-
dant before his breast. I suspect that the miniature painter, rather than copy-
ing a portrait of Jean de Berry with a pendant, transferred the gesture from
Philip the Bolds portrait to the duke of Berry. Te stone is blue and may
therefore represent a sapphire. Unfortunately I have been unable to nd an
item in the dukes inventories as published by Jules Guirey that matches the
representation. Nevertheless, the circumstance that copies of Philips portrait,
as well as that of his son, circulated in Parisian illuminators workshops sug-
gests that they were quite well known. If they were, they must have been
publicly accessible, and that would tie in with their political iconography.
In this contribution, I tried to shed some light on three portraits of the rst
two Valois dukes of Burgundy, the originals of which are irretrievably lost. It
soxi ioiriairs n\ ;ouax xaiiwaii :;
;. Bedford Master, St Peter admitting the converts into church. Grandes Heures of
Jean, duke of Berry. Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS lat. ,1,, f. ,o.
may perhaps seem strange to spend so much eort on copies. Yet it should be
pointed out that the originals represented the incunabula of the genre; more-
over, the sitters belonged to the most powerful rulers of their time. Consider-
ing two of the portraits in the context of Maelwaels oeuvre helps to dene not
only his contribution to the genre, but also the extent of his oeuvre, which has
met a fate that is inversely proportional to that of his famous nephews.
Te Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duke of Berry
Manuscript and the Question of the Artists Hands
Margaret Lawson*
Te Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sherman Fairchild Center for Works on Paper
and Photograph Conservation, New York, USA
Introduction
1
Te extraordinarily beautiful book of hours, Te Belles Heures of Jean de France,
Duke of Berry, c. 1o-8 by the Limbourg Brothers: Herman, Paul, and Jean
* Te Belles Heures by Millard Meiss and Elizabeth Beatson, George Braziller, New York, 1,;
has served as an important primary source for the conservators on Te Belles Heures manuscript
during the examination and treatment. Meiss and Beatson attributions to the three dierent
Limbourg brothers were included in our written documentation although they were not always
personally understood. Undertaking digital infrared photography provided us with the opportu-
nity to study the drawing hands without the distraction of color and gilding. Looking at Meiss
months later, it is heartening to see that our results used similar words to describe the existence
of the unique characteristics of three dierent hands or styles. We appear to have arrived at the
same place in some ways, a starting point. Further investigation may eventually lead to more
condent individual attributions. Tis study is submitted with tremendous gratitude and admi-
ration to Meiss and Beatson for their work.
I would like to express my appreciation to Alison Gilchrest for digital infrared photography,
Dr. Silvia Centeno for scientic analysis, and Marjorie Shelley and Te Sherman Fairchild Cen-
ter for Works on Paper and Photograph Conservation, with special thanks to Mary Jo Carson,
Ann Baldwin, Valerie Faivre, Rachel Mustalish, and Akiko Yamazaki-Kleps for their expertise,
assistance and support. Photographs are by the author, except for the digital infrared photogra-
phy, which was done by Alison Gilchrest. Copyright for all of these images remains with the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1 Te original paper shared ndings made following the publication of the Limbourg exhibi-
tion catalogue. It focused on three areas: the experience of recreating Te Annunciation to the
Shepherds folio from the Belles Heures using historically appropriate methods and materials: the
question of the artists hands, and areas for future investigation including unresolved issues with
scribal inscriptions and materials. One year later, providing a corrected Table of the Breakdown
of the Quires in Te Belles Heures, to replace the problematic version in the exhibition catalog
seems most important. As Rob Dckers presented material on making a reconstruction in the
Limbourg Brothers Documentary, (best presented in visual format), the rst section of the talk
:c xaicaiir iawsox
from Nijmegen, Guelders was commissioned by the Duke of Berry (1o-
11o), one of the greatest collectors of all time. Belonging to the Department
of Medieval Art and the Cloisters at Te Metropolitan Museum of Art, it is
one of the great treasures of the western world. What can be said about the
working hands of the artists who created Te Belles Heures of Jean de France,
Duke of Berry manuscript? Absolute answers as to who drew and or painted
on the reconstruction was eliminated. I would simply urge people who are drawn to medieval
materials and techniques to study treatises and try a reconstruction themselves as a most reward-
ing process. See also Te Limbourg Brothers: Nijmegen Masters at the French Court, -, ed.
Rob Dckers and Pieter Roelofs (Gent :oo), pp. 1,-o; William D.Wixom & Margaret Law-
son, Picturing the Apocalypse: Illustrated Leaves from a Medieval Spanish Manuscript, in: Te
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Winter :oo:, pp. ;-o. For information on Medieval
techniques and materials. For a 1th century treatise read Cennino dAndrea Cennini, Te Crafs-
mans Handbook, Il Libro dellArte, transl. by Daniel V. Tompson, Jr. (New York 1,oo). Con-
sult bibliographies for additional treatises. For material supplies, consult Kremer Pigmente,
Aichstetten, Germany and New York, NY. From: http://www.kremer-pigmente.de/englisch/
home.htm. Finally, Scribal inscriptions found in the spine-fold and discussed in the third part of
the talk have been found to relate to the text and rubrics.
Te structure of the manuscript.
Te Belles Heures of Jean of France, Duke of Berry
Pol, Jean and Herman de Limbourg, Paris or Bourges, c. 1o-8/,
Te Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Te Cloisters Collection, 1,
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ::
miniatures or parts of paintings in the Belles Heures cannot be known, but it
became apparent that there were three recognizable styles or artists hands in
the miniatures when digital infra-red photographs were reviewed during the
process of examination, documentation and conservation of the manuscript.
Tis preliminary investigation provides examples of the three hands or styles
recognized in digital infra-red photographs, oers examples of magnied paint-
ing details to support stylistic observations, and describes problems and ques-
tions related to the making and interpretation of the Belles Heures miniatures.
Closer study of the digital infra-red photographs suggested that although there
were three individual styles, more than one style or hand might be evident on a
page and it was sometimes impossible to distinguish one from another. Te
painting techniques in the Belles Heures required more study beyond existing
examination and scientic analysis of materials performed to understand the
relationship between the underdrawing and the nished miniatures.
:
Tis investigation utilizes microscopy for careful visual observations of all
the miniatures, and the documentation tools of digital infra-red photography

and photomicrography,

as a means to study the techniques and evidence of

styles used by the Limbourg Brothers in the Belles Heures.
Medieval workshops thrived on the contributions of many artists, from
scribes to gilders to illuminators, to painters. With design layout in place, one
painter could nish the painting, or the task could be shared. For that matter, a
more gifted artist could collaborate in a layout when a specic skill was required.
In close cooperative eorts, unique contributions can come from all parties
involved. Evidence of individual participation may be discernable. Te young
Limbourg Brothers, close in age, were reaching new artistic achievements in the
areas of perspective, landscape painting and gural composition. While com-
bined creative eorts sometimes surpass the unique in the individual and result
in a completely new style or approach, the tools here may enable some observa-
tions to be made. For all of us who remain cautious in dening the Limbourg
brothers styles, perhaps one day ngerprints or individual qualities of the three
brothers can be more closely determined with more advanced techniques.


: Dckers and Roelofs, op. cit. (n.1), pp. 1,-o.
Infra-red is the region of the electromagnetic spectrum, longer than visible light and shorter
than microwave. Infra-red photography allows one to see below the paint lm.
Photomicrography, a photograph of a magnied image, in this case the photograph is taken
through the microscope to record details as they are observed with the microscope.
Such as computer enhanced analyzed fractal geometry utilizing the Mandelbrot equation
which enables the study of complex pattern characteristics, see also Richard P. Taylor, Order in
Pollocks Chaos, in: Scientic American, December :oo:, pp. 11o-:1.
:: xaicaiir iawsox
Underdrawing and Te Hands
In many miniatures, underdrawing can be seen below the existing paint layer
without magnication (illus. 1-:). Small areas of loss and unpainted designs
indicate that layout methods are not consistent as examples of both metalpoint
and dilute ink pen lines can be seen.
o
To study the underdrawing, miniature
paintings were documented using digital infra-red photography in the range
of ;o-1ooo nm. Te ash with a fraction of a second exposure was preferable
to the heat of tungsten lamps often used for infra-red reectography.
;
Infrared
images permit one to see beneath the paint layer. Information in infrared
images is not always clear, obvious, or easy to understand. Dilute or organic
o Examples of underdrawing were submitted to in-situ X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy and
Raman spectroscopy for non-destructive analysis but the materials were below the detection
limit of both techniques under the experimental conditions used, most likely due to the minute
amounts present in available sites for study, Dr Silvia Centeno.
; Digital infra-red photographs by Alison Gilchrest using a Kodak DCSooIR camera and
strobe ash, taken in the range of ;o-1ooo nm.
1. Folio 11v., photomicrograph of upper right gures head. Te detail reveals under-
drawing in the folds of the sleeve and the face. (Note: this and all photomicrographs
are with lowest power on the microscope, at ca. ;x.)
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir :,
inks may not be visible; carbonaceous material as a component in painting
materials may be mistaken for underdrawing and or may obscure underdraw-
ing below. Te digital infrared photographs showed the existence of fairly
complete underdrawing for gures in some illuminations but very sketchy
indications in others. Layout methods are not consistent.
An unexpected advantage of examining the infrared images was the absence
of the strong unifying aspect provided by the brilliant medieval palette. Te
three dierent styles or hands of the artists were noticed when looking
through the infrared photographs to see if there were design changes in under-
drawing.
Painting
All the miniatures were carefully studied under the microscope. To aid in
evaluating the artists hands as shown by their individual painting methods,
photomicrographs of painting details were taken using lowest magnication

:. Folio 1o, photomicrograph of robe, center area. The underdrawing delineation
can be seen in the curving lines of the garment and the right side of the staff.
: xaicaiir iawsox
for clarity in depth of eld. Tis project has begun with about oo digital
images including details from every quire, documenting a variety of heads,
gures, hands, and landscape features. Small -1/: o cm. images proved
ideal for direct comparison of painted images and painting techniques. It
might have been simpler to begin with a small specic category like angels,
trees, or depictions of Christ, but the initial plan was to obtain an overview to
study in conjunction with digital infrared photographs. Te project has
evolved as a work in progress and is by nature, a very subjective study. Tis
paper reports on observations made on the hands as expressed in both under-
drawing layout and painting techniques in the Belles Heures.
Following are a selection of both digital infrared photographs of miniatures
and photomicrographs of painted details that demonstrate the characteristics for
the proposed styles or hands. Te rst folio described in each group is the one
that epitomizes the style. Additional selections seem to conrm the results.
Te Drawing Hand
In the underdrawing for f. 11v., Christ Nailed to the Cross, the artists hand
can be characterized as being in constant motion (illus. ). Te line keeps
moving and adjusting, dening, and rening. Tere is a struggle to position
the gure in the mid-front. Te composition is complicated. Tere is great
attention to detail: drapery folds are sketched, there are wrinkles in leggings,
as well as textures, shading in the upper grass, and modulation of lights and
darks. Te detail of Christs crown, visible as underdrawing, shows as penti-
mento in the miniature, but was not painted. Tis brother can be said to have
a drawing hand. Each gure in this action scene, f. 1:r., Te Flagellation, is
captured in a unique pose (illus. ). Arms are extended in dierent directions
and clothing styles vary. Attention is given to distinctive details from dierent
kinds of garments, to dierent kinds of whips in hands, to a variety of hats and
turbans. Te gures ll the space from left to right. Te drama of action is
captured, but the scene feels static or frozen in time. Te information in the
digital infrared photograph for f. 1v., Death of Christ (illus. ), looks fuzzy
and rough or thin compared with other hands.
Close examination indicates the drawing hand artist uses ne linear,
engraving-like lines in painting as well as underdrawing. Te photomicro-
graph detail of f. 1v., Death of Christ, with Christs arm and head and part
of the cross, shows diagonal lines shading the sky (illus. o). Diagonal strokes
of esh tone and dark blue-gray on Christs arm and face gives three-dimen-
sionality to the outlined gure. Christs hair is dened with loose brown
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir :,
. Folio 11v., digital infrared photograph. Evidence of the drawing hand is supplied
by the numerous sketched lines found throughout for placement and a great attention
to the definition of details.
:o xaicaiir iawsox
. Folio 1:, digital infrared photograph. The scene portrays action with figures cap-
tured in static positions. This and attention to details suggest the drawing hand.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir :;
. Folio 1v., digital infrared photograph. The general sketchiness in layout indicates
the drawing hand.
: xaicaiir iawsox
o. Folio 1v., photomicrograph of Christs head. Accomplished in a linear manner
(like engraving) with the brush used more as a drawing tool rather than for painting,
this miniature suggests the work of a drawing hand.
linear strokes. Te entire image is created by lines above a dull gray-blue
toned background. A detail from f. 1;8v., Martyrdom of Eleven Tousand Vir-
gins, provides dierent information (illus. ;). Te metal helmet and sword are
painted with a blue outline. Te interior is lled in with a lighter wash of the
same with rough parallel lines to shade the armor elements, characteristic of
the drawing hand. Te garment of the ghter, not including descriptive detail
is lled with a thin eld of light green. Color for this artist is not used to create
forms; it is used for accent delineation.
In the small miniature f. oor., Davids Enemies Destroyed, the armor is again
outlined with blue (illus. 8). Pink above the fallen gure is modeled with ver-
tical red strokes and yellow parts are modeled with tan lines. Outlines of the
armor are the strongest element. Within the armor, modeling continues with
parallel strokes and some crosshatching of the outline color. Te exposed chest
of the dead knight has slightly curved parallel brown lines over the blue base
to provide form to the gure. Grass is modeled with darker green diagonal
strokes over lighter green. Modeling is primarily linear. Faces, in the drawing
hand with the more physically violent actions of the scenes, are often angry,
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir :,
scowling or expressing uglier emotions, such as the gure from f. 11v., Christ
Mocked (see illus. 1). Te lips are bright red lines. Te color acts as an accent
to delineate the lower face. With the same red, smaller ne red almost scrib-
bled lines shade the lower cheeks.
Te Painterly Hand
Te approach of the artist in f. 1,v., Te Lamentation, is more sculptural than
linear (illus. ,). Figures are soft, rounded, glowing, buttery more like the
fresco painting of Giotto or Fra Angelico. Details are limited. Layout lines and
contrast appear soft and there is a sense of light, mass and gentleness. Tis
approach can be described as a painterly hand. Te white mass of gures in
f. ,;r., Entering the Grande Chartreuse (illus. 1o), seems sensitively carved. Te
group has a marble-like weight and substance. Tere is a whispered quiet to
the composition. Te infrared does not show rough sketchiness, or distraction
of details. Even the landscape from foreground green grass to the darker green
background hills is smooth in transition and without details. Te sense of
;. Folio 1;8v., photomicrograph detail of center figure. The color is not used to create
forms but to accent delineation of the armor, a characteristic of the drawing hand.
,c xaicaiir iawsox
movement is quiet, hushed, reserved. Te gures have weight and mass as does
the castle in f. ;r., End of the Plague (illus. 11). Although there are two separate
groups of gures, as in 8r, they are connected by the castle in the background
and the extended arm from the left. Te only linear detail added in the paint-
ing is straps on the legs of the left gure. Te centered angel in the extension
above adds lightness to the weight of the composition with the castle and
gures below. A variety of uid, facile brushstrokes result in a luminous hand-
ling of the garment for the gure in the foreground, f. ;r., End of the Plague
(illus. 1:). Te painterly hand speaks with the paint and paintbrush and
solidly renders surface, form and light.
Gestures can be gentle, bearings of gures is solid, and painterly eects
can range from imaginative as in the image of heads burning, (illus. 1) f. 1or.,
St. Catherine Confounding the Doctors to the lightness of air as seen in (illus. 1)
8. Folio oo, photomicrograph detail of lower left. The definition of all parts is strongly
linear and modeling is linear indicating the drawing hand.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,:
,. Folio 1,v., digital infrared photograph. A more serene sculptural modeling with
few details suggests the painterly hand.
,: xaicaiir iawsox
1o. Folio ,;r., digital infrared photograph. The sense of volume, weight and substance
achieved in sculptural modeling with drawing relate to the painterly hand.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,,
11. Folio ;, digital infrared photograph. There is a softness, roundness, and sense of
volume to the complex figural groupings that feels characteristic of the painterly
hand.
, xaicaiir iawsox
1. Folio 1o, photomicrograph detail of heads burning lower left. The simplicity of
the unusual subject matter demonstrates the high level of creative brushwork displayed
by the painterly hand.
1:. Folio ;, photomicrograph detail of mid-bottom figure. The fluid brushstrokes
rendering form with a glow of light are associated with the painterly hand.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,,
1. Folio :, photomicrograph detail of distant landscape left of center. The fresh,
light-filled, almost watercolor loose brushstrokes show off the painterly hand.
f. :r., Te Annunciation to the Shepherds. Te painterly hand has apparent
ease and total control of the paint and paintbrush. Subjects are enhanced with
glowing color and light and the landscape background view is fresh and light
lled. Faces can look monumentally simple. Heads are shown at many dierent
angles, for example (illus. 1) in f. ;v., Procession of Flagellants, the head is
tipped back. Te painterly hand artist has an awareness and capability of
using foreshortening. Hands are drawn with facility. A gesture repeated several
times is the crossed arms, with hands that are graceful and protective, from
f. o with the Virgin, to St. Catherine, f. 18v., to Christ in St. John Baptizing
Christ, f. :11v. Other examples of hands show strength of a grip or grasping
arm, or the limpness of death, or consolation.
Te Elegant Hand
In f. 18v., Saint Jeromes Dream, the digital infrared image shows that forms
are exaggerated and lines are lyrical (illus. 1o). In the underdrawing, the wings
of the angels are rearranged, creating more movement. Gods seat is drawn,
but not painted, and most striking the gures are elongated. Te body of
,o xaicaiir iawsox
1. Folio ;v., photomicrograph detail of figures head, second from right. The
unusual stance with foreshortening in the position of the head and facile rich painting
strokes distinguish the painterly hand.
Jerome, dreaming at the bottom, seems to keep extending. God the Father
has a very long torso and the bent gure in the upper left has an awkward
mass. Tere is a slight tension where the shapes touch the border edges, yet the
overall result is rened and elegant. Te miniature is composed of separate
elements but within each part there is a feeling of movement. Separate com-
ponents or disconnected elements in f. 18,v., Te Sick at St. Jeromes Funeral,
(illus. 1;), exhibit a circular movement within themselves. Figures seem to be
pulled or growing out of the landscape; they elongate and extend. Tere is an
elegant line to drapery, and a general feeling of an organic rhythm and motion
even in the background. Elegant, curving lines describe the gures and the
landscape in f. 1,r., St. Pauls Soul transported by Angels (illus. 18). Te angels
and mountains create a pattern of repetition. In the sparseness, there is almost a
musicality to the lines. Even the shape of the boat creates a circular ow. As in
other examples of the elegant hand there are separate components in the
composition and movement within elements. Te diagonals in the composi-
tion keep the eye moving.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,;
1o. Folio 18v., digital infrared photograph. The design changes of the wings upper
left creates a less static arrangement. The elongated figures, and a sense of circular
movement within the individual groupings, are characteristic of the elegant hand.
, xaicaiir iawsox
1;. Folio 18,v., digital infrared photograph. A stirred sense of motion is felt within
parts of the drawing. There are separate units within the composition, and some fig-
ures to the right seem to be elongated. These qualities are associated with the elegant
hand.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,,
18. Folio 1,, digital infrared photograph. The repetition of shapes and lines, sepa-
rate elements within the composition, and the elongated cloaked figure speak of the
elegant hand.
c xaicaiir iawsox
In the small miniature, f. 1or., St. Christopher and the Christ Child,
St. Christophers garment is dened by changing and moving curvilinear lines.
Only the Christ Child seems solid and centered on the Saints back. All other
parts have a circular ow or feel of motion. As in the underdrawing, an elegant
moving line is also incorporated in the painting technique. In the detail of the
St. Jeromes robe, f. 18v. St. Jeromes Dream (illus. 1,), the modeling lines are
not straight but owing and rened. Gradual transitions of warm to cool
tones of under color are employed below the long graceful warm brown lines.
Tese delineating brown modeling lines are not parallel but curve gently. Arms
and shoulders do not always seem to t due to exaggeration of parts of gures.
Sometimes the shoulders are extremely narrow as for God on f. 18v. Some-
times one or both sides may feel overly large as for the small miniature, f. 1or.,
St Christopher and the Christ Child (see illus. :). A detail of St Christophers
draped shawl shows underdrawing below the surface and graceful movements
to the lines that wrap the gure. Interestingly, the rose color is applied with a
variety of brushstrokes: some painterly lighter strokes, more gently curved
darker lines and some close vertical darker pink lines below the arm, but the
resulting feeling is one of movement. Exaggerated parts of gures make for
1,. Folio 18v., photomicrograph detail of St Jeromes garment mid-bottom. The
graceful curvilinear longer lines and the gentle small strokes that softly model the form,
create a fluid sense of movement over the area, evidence of the elegant hand.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir :
:o. Folio o8v., photomicrograph detail mid-left. The way the arm comes out of the
body is awkward and the figure seems elongated in the miniature. These are character-
istics of the elegant hand.
pleasing lines and movement but proportions sometimes feel clumsy as for
example in another small miniature, f. o8v., David Rebuked by the Prophet
Nathan (illus. :o). Both arms feel awkward; the raised arm looks as if it origi-
nates below the shoulder, and the other arm seems short.
Fourth Group: Others
Te examples provided generally suggest a particular hand, but an attempt to
sort all the infrared images by styles failed. Te result was three small groups
where images generally t the described styles and a large undecided and
conicted fourth group of miniatures best characterized by mixed messages,
uncertainties and or doubts. Te problem was that even if one style was recog-
nized, the miniatures often combined qualities or shared something that also
suggested or made it dicult to dierentiate one hand from another hand.
What provokes doubt or confusion about the artists hands? With repeated
review the sense is that combinations of stylistic elements do exist within min-
iatures. Perhaps the artists were evolving so quickly, that they were adapting
: xaicaiir iawsox
the skills and sensitivities of each other. Teir talents and spirits were melding.
Working together for about three years on this manuscript, they were all
reaching new levels of achievement. Te brothers appear to have been posi-
tively challenged by working for their patron, the Duke of Berry. Most likely
they were also exposed to the nest artists and craftsmen of the time, and saw
their work, providing more sources of inspiration.
Questions, Considerations and Observations
An example of how the cooperative eorts might easily be incorporated can be
seen in f. ;r., Institution of the Great Litany, (most like the painterly hand),
that suggests a fresco-like format in that it is composed of separate units simi-
lar to giornate that could each be addressed as autonomous units. Tere is a
large rounded group in the foreground that could be one giornata. Te gures
at the right edge could be another unit, and the triangular group of smaller
heads that ts between these two another. Te left arch and gures inside
could form another. Focusing on individual elements within other composi-
tions one begins to see how dierent hands could quietly contribute to a single
composition. As simple as having dierent hands add heads or a gure or two
at the edge, or the background, one creates a greater feeling of unity in the
prayer-book. Te quality of the paintings and design elements in the minia-
tures exhibits a wide range of skill or nesse. Many factors contribute to the
nal appearance of the miniature in addition to the artists hands.
One must ask many questions. What if anything is the relationship between
the underdrawing and the painting? Is it possible that one artist might have
done the underdrawing, or parts of it and another the painting? Was it one
artist for a miniature, or quire, or subject matter, or did they often combine
eorts on a page? Supposing there was a model book or pre-existing design
they were following and drawings were copied from this what then about
the hands? Would the Limbourg brothers lose some individual character in
depicting the layout of another hand? Tis study focuses on the Belles Heures.
To do a complete study, comparisons should also be made with the earlier
Bible Moralise
8
to study the quality of underdrawing, development in skills,
and to track previously used layouts for evolution in Te Belles Heures. Simi-
larly, one needs to look to the later, more completely evolved extremely ne
work, Te Trs Riches Heures.
,
Indeed many gures and compositional ele-
ments in the Belles Heures, are recognizable in Te Trs Riches Heures.
8 Ms Fr. 1oo in the collection of the Bibliothque nationale de France, Paris.
, Ms o in the collection of the Muse Cond, Chantilly.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,
Due to the characteristics of the parchment support, the quality of the work
from the same hand might appear dierent depending on the side of the skin
being used. Painting on the esh, (smooth side of the skin), (illus. :1) tends
to look more creamy smooth or enamel-like. Miniscule details are possible
with a ne brush and perfectly ground pigment on the slick surface of the esh
side support. Paintings on the nap or hair side (illus. ::) have a velvety matte
surface. Te texture of the skin makes it dicult to apply a smooth glaze
or delicate details overall, or to read too much detail. Limitations in linear
description or modeling in no way diminish the quality or aesthetic achieve-
ments of the paintings on the hair side. Te texture of the skin often requires
a thicker application of paint, creating an added three-dimensional character
to the surface of the paintings that is rich, and warm.
In contemplating the issue of skin side, additional observations are worth not-
ing. Some of the skins may be split skins. Also, a downside to the exquisiteness
:1. Folio 1,v., photomicrograph detail of upper right figure. Painting on the flesh or
smooth side of the skin yields an enamel-like surface to the miniature. Very crisp fine
line detail work is possible.
xaicaiir iawsox
of the painted details on the esh side is that there are often more signicant
losses perhaps because the particulate paint lm has less opportunity to
bond securely or to be held or embedded in the smooth parchment bers
(illus. :). Losses in signicant areas like the face and eyes frustrate the com-
parison of styles and interference of text from the nap side is sometimes more
noticeable. Other contributing variants include action and composition, the
state of the pigment mixtures and tools at the moment they were being uti-
lized, and the amount of time allocated for the particular miniature. From
trying to make a reconstruction of a miniature, it was learned that there is a
ne balance between the wetness of the paint and its ow, the amount of
binder, and the preliminary paint layer below that determine how eectively a
brush stroke is applied over a previous layer. A few paintings appear to have
been done under duress, hastily, yet others were worked through with such
total involvement, tremendous aection and determination as to nish the
painting in the most sublime manner possible. How details are depicted is
another variable. Te cloth fabric color and ber content for religious orders,
womens clothing, the kings clothes, armor, all vary in construction, detail and
::. Folio 1,, photomicrograph detail of upper left figure. Painting on the textured
matte side results in a velvety matte appearance. The surface has a pleasing three
dimensional quality but does not accept fine crisp brushwork easily.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,
:. Folio :o,, photomicrograph detail showing flaked losses to paint layer on the
flesh side. Due to the slick surface, the pigment particle attachment to the parchment
support is less secure.
description and are depicted dierently. Similarly, facial expressions, skin
tonality, dead bodies vs. young ladies, old men, angry or gentle, vary in how
they are indicated. It requires close study to determine if it is dierent hands
that shade or model material or skin in dierent ways or if it is the subject
matter that elicits the dierent approach. Color selection and sensitivity might
depend partially on the scenery, background, and characters involved, but also
on the individual hand. Te choice of pigment and techniques for painting a
face and various parts in manuscripts come out of tradition, but these artists
were going beyond traditional ways to new levels.
One of the rst observations made looking at the photomicrograph details
was that f. o, Te Annunciation, looked very porcelain-like and dierent.
Unique to this painting, both Gabriel and the Virgin have ultramarine blue
eyes. From photomicrograph details, St Genevieve is the only other blue-eyed
gure found in the manuscript. All the other Virgins and all other gures
appear to have brown eyes. Te abundant use of the extremely valuable pig-
ment ultramarine for the eyes as well as the border, the modeling of Gabriels
garment, and the Virgins robe on f. o is in keeping with the great importance
o xaicaiir iawsox
given to the event and the page. Te original format would have made it the
rst page in the prayer-book. Te blue eyes retain a harmony in the design.
Tereafter, gures could be depicted with brown eyes, which might be a
money saving decision, but brown pigment was already on the paintbrush to
delineate details of the face, nose and eyebrows and gural outlines. Painting
brown eyes would be a natural continuation in the use of the brush and a
harmonizing feature to the design in the folios that followed.
Te more that infrared images, photomicrographs and miniature paintings
are studied, the more complicated the information becomes. Looking care-
fully, it is possible to see that smaller contributions are probably made consis-
tently within the framework of the individual folios. Yet the recognizable
spirits remain of the individual artists whispered throughout. F. ,r., Diocrs
expounding the Scriptures, provides an example where the hand appears to
change character in the midst of painting (illus. :). Te magenta-rose cloth
draping down from the shoulder and arm is well dened, modeled from light
:. Folio ,, photomicrograph detail of second figure from lower right edge. The
garment shows different painting techniques within the pink robe: linear hard edge
modeling upper section, loose, soft, less defined below, and blue with fine darker lines
upper left.
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ;
:. Folio 1;, photomicrograph detail upper right, hard faced king (may be due to
skin side).
to dark and strongly outlined. In the seated area below, the brushstrokes
change abruptly and become soft and much less dening. Tis could be a
logical solution to conveying the dierence in how the fabric appears, or it
could be a shared area to paint. Tere are also examples where gures and faces
are not consistent. For example, in the Catherine Cycle, f. 1;r (illus. :), the
King has a specic, hardened and disgruntled look, and 18r the King has a
softer, kinder, more generalized quality (illus. :o). Under study is the thought
that contributions may have come from all the brothers on this quire with
quiet variations in faces, hands, modeling and the forms of gures and back-
grounds, but it is not simple.
Also interesting are the very specic faces in f. ::v., Te Duke on a Journey,
(illus. :;) with the gure in green that looks at the king but also seems to catch
the viewers eye. Te circular movement in the composition with the horses
speaks of the elegant hand, and the massive, solid castles suggest the paint-
erly hand.
xaicaiir iawsox
:;. Folio ::v., photomicrograph detail of faces upper right edge where one almost
seems to question us.
:o. Folio 18, photomicrograph detail, softer faced king (may be due to skin side).
rui BELLES HEURES OF JEAN DE FRANCE, DUKE OF BERRY xaxusciiir ,
Conclusion
Obviously there are many unanswered questions. Tis is a preliminary
inquiry. Te issue of hands is extremely complex but the details are fasci-
nating. Further research is necessary and perhaps more scientic analysis,
possibly by methods that we are not yet familiar with at this time. Perhaps
we are not meant to know, but asking questions and making observations
are important.
Most likely, the investigation process will be ongoing and challenging.
Results will need rening over the years to come as scholars and laymen alike
continue to both be made curious and astonished by the extraordinary work
and breathtaking beauty of this treasured book of hours. One idea that has
surfaced constantly during this project is that perhaps the individual ego of
today is not as positive, but potentially counterproductive. We are by nature
limited in how much one can accomplish. When skilled eorts are positively
combined in a project, how much more is possible! Collaboration might be a
better method of addressing these problems. Te collaborative eorts of the
Limbourg Brothers achieved something far greater than any one was capable
of accomplishing on their own. Te message in their work is clear. Join
together, accept unique gifts in each person, and combine the best ideas (from
the head, heart and hand) with the best in others. Te gift to the world is far
greater. When the journey is over, it does not really matter which brother did
what at that time, but that they achieved amazing brilliance together that
endures for all the ages.
Likeness, Loyalty, and the Life of the Court Artist:
Portraiture in the Calendar Scenes of the
Trs Riches Heures
Stephen Perkinson
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, USA
Introduction: Portraiture in the Trs Riches Heures
Painted by the Limbourg Brothers between ::: and ::o, the calendar minia-
tures of the Trs Riches Heures of duke Jean de Berry have entranced both art
historians and the broader public with their seeming ability to provide a trans-
parent window onto daily life in the late Middle Ages.
:
Recent scholarship has,
of course, gently reminded us that these miniatures depict daily life as seen
from a particular point of view that of their aristocratic patron, Jean de
Berry.
:
Nonetheless, it is easy to be captivated by these meticulously rendered
images. Te calendar sequence is extraordinary in its format and scale. Whereas
the calendars of earlier Books of Hours were either unillustrated or decorated
with diminutive images, the Trs Riches Heures devotes entire folios to scenes
for each month. But the calendar images are also exceptional in their degree of
personalization. A year before he acquired the manuscript in :8o, the Duke
dAumale had already recognized the face of Jean de Berry himself in the midst
of the banquet, the traditional scene for January (illus. :).

Subsequent scholars
have unanimously followed his identication, and for good reason. Te gures
features its blunt nose and paunchy cheeks resemble those ascribed to the
1 Chantilly, Muse Cond, MS o, . 1v.-1:v.
: J.J.G. Alexander, Labeur and Paresse: Ideological Representations of Medieval Peasant
Labor, in: Art Bulletin ;: (1,,o), pp. -:; M. Camille, Te Trs Riches Heures: An Illumi-
nated Manuscript in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, in: Critical Inquiry 1; (1,,o),
pp. ;:-1o;; ibid., For Our Devotion and Pleasure: Te Sexual Objects of Jean, Duc de Berry,
in Art History : (:oo1), pp. 1o,-,.
Te Duke dAumale, Chantilly: Le cabinet des livres: manuscrits, vol. 1 (Paris 1,oo), p. oo;
quoted in translation by R. Cazelles, Illuminations of Heaven and Earth: Te Glories of the Trs
Riches Heures du duc de Berry (New York 1,88), p. :1.
,: sriiuix iiixixsox
duke in other images (for instance, in a miniature that the Limbourgs painted
in around ::: for insertion into his Petites Heures, illus. :).

But the dukes

identity is also veried by the fact that he sits beneath a canopy emblazoned
with his coat of arms and with a pair of animals that he adopted as his sym-
bols: the bear and the swan. Te same beasts also cavort atop the golden salt
cellar in front of the duke.
1. Te Limbourg Brothers, January, from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/:-11o (Chan-
tilly, Muse Cond, MS o, fol. 1v.) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern]
Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS lat. 18o1; Te Limbourg Brothers: Nijmegen
Masters at the French Court, 1,vv-1,1, ed. R. Dckers & P. Roelofs (Gent :oo), cat. no. 1o.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ,,
: . Te Limbourg Brothers, Te Duke of Berry departing on pilgrimage, from the Petites
Heures de Jean de Berry, c. 11: (Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS lat.
181o, f. :88v.) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern])
Jean de Berry is not the only gure to receive distinctive facial features in
January, however. Te bodies in the crowd pressing toward the Duke display
a vast range of facial structures and hairstyles. Teir diversity has prompted
several scholars to consider the possibility that there are additional portraits of
individuals embedded within this particular scene; in recent years, these
attempts to identify portraits have broadened their scope to include the gures
, sriiuix iiixixsox
appearing in the three other calendar scenes with aristocratic subjects, those
for April, May, and August (illus. , , and ). Perhaps signicantly, these
four miniatures are all painted on two bifolios of the rst gathering in the
manuscript, and all four have been attributed to the same artist. Millard
Meiss boldly identied that artist as Jean de Limbourg, the brother to whom
he ascribed illuminations displaying a predilection for shallow, almost pla-
nar spatial settings and a lyrical, linear elegance.

Taking a more cautious

approach, Raymond Cazelles identied the painter of these scenes simply as
Limbourg B.
o
Te eort to identify additional portraits began in earnest with Paul Dur-
rieus groundbreaking :,o monograph on the manuscript. Durrieu noted
with approval that the Duke dAumale had perceived the gure of Jean de
Berry in the January scene; reiterating that conlusion, he described the image
as a portrait pris sur le vif and vouched for its absolute resemblance. But
Durrieu was also particularly drawn to the gure of a man wearing a oppy
gray cap who appears in the crowd to the left of the Duke. He identied the
man as one of the Limbourgs, most likely Paul who was already understood to
have been the artistic leader of the three brothers. Finally, he identied the
prelate seen approaching the Duke as Martin Gouge, an individual closely
connected to the duke who held both episcopal and political oces.
;
Scholars
soon extended the scope of proposed portrait identications in the January
image. By the time of a :,o, monograph by Raymond Cazelles and Jean Lon-
gnon, scholars largely took it for granted that many of the gures in the min-
iature were intended as portraits that would have been recognizable to their
original audience. Cazelles and Lognon, for instance, accepted most of Dur-
rieus identications, and added their own, suggesting that the partially
obscured gure with the blue head-covering behind the supposed Paul could
be his wife, Gillette de Mercier, and that another gure guzzling from a hanap
might be another of the brothers, either Jean or Herman.
8
A few years later, Meiss was more cautious in his approach to the scene,
noting with skepticism Durrieus proposed identication of Paul and conclud-
ing that [n]one of the gures around the Duke has been convincingly
M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: Te Limbourgs and their Contempo-
raries, vol. 1 (New York 1,;), pp. 1,o-:.
o Cazelles, op. cit (n. ), pp. ::o-1.
; P. Durrieu, Les Trs Riches Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry (Paris 1,o), pp. 11-:.
8 R. Cazelles & J. Longnon, Te Trs Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry (New York 1,o,),
commentary for Pl. :.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ,,
. Te Limbourg Brothers, April, from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/:-11o (Chan-
tilly, Muse Cond, MS o, f. v.) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern]
,o sriiuix iiixixsox
. Te Limbourg Brothers, May, from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/:-11o (Chantilly,
Muse Cond, MS o, f. v.) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern]
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ,;
. Te Limbourg Brothers, August, from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/:-11o (Chan-
tilly, Muse Cond, MS o, f. 8v.) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern]
, sriiuix iiixixsox
identied.
,
But Meisss circumspect attitude towards the identication of
gures in the January scene sets him apart from many other scholars who have
investigated the book. Durrieu himself wrote of the seductive temptation to
identify further portraits amidst the faces in the calendar pages, but in the end
he regretfully concluded that any such identications would be a pure hypoth-
esis.
:c
Nevertheless, subsequent generations of art historians were far less hesi-
tant to oer their hypothetical identications. Tey have been particularly
quick to discern portraits in the scenes for April, May, and August. More
specically, several scholars have proposed that some of these scenes served as
visual records of important events in the life of the Duke. For instance, Cazelles
and Lognon proposed that April (illus. ) represented the betrothal of the Dukes
eleven-year old granddaughter, Bonne dArmagnac, to Charles dOrlans; Meiss
treated this identication as plausible but not proved.
::
Cazelles and Lognon
also tentatively identied the mounted gure seen from behind in a long blue
robe in May (illus. ) as the Duke himself taking part in a May Day celebra-
tion. Other scholars were still less cautious in their approach, and a few years
later even Meiss would speak approvingly of the often advanced proposal that
the scene depicts a procession involving the Dukes daughter Marie and her
third husband, Jean de Bourbon.
::
In :,8:, this impulse towards identication reached something of a high
water mark with the publication of Saint-Jean Bourdins Analyses des Trs Riches
Heures du Duc de Berry: Identications des personages gurant dans le calen-
drier.
:,
Evidently a self-published work, Bourdins book was printed by the
Viard of Dourdan, a regional French printer known primarily for their attrac-
tive editions of books treating wood-working techniques. Despite the rather
thin scholarly credentials of this book, several subsequent scholars have been
willing to entertain its authors proposed identications of portraits in the
calendar scenes.
:
Bourdins book oers the most comprehensive and most
tenuous set of identications of gures in January, April, May, and August;
, Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), p. 1,o.
1o Durrieu, op. cit. (n. ;), p. 1,. Durrieu himself began to succumb to the seduction,
ruminating briey but inconclusively on the possibility that some of the gures in the May scene
were members of the immediate royal family; ibid. pp. 11-:.
11 Cazelles & Longnon, op. cit. (n. 8), commentary for Pl. ; Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), p. 1,1.
1: Ibid.
1 S.-J. Bourdin, Analyses des Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry: identication des personnages
gurant dans le calendrier (Dourdan 1,8:).
1 E.g., Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), p. :o.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ,,
he believed that nearly every gure in the four scenes was intended as a recog-
nizable portrait of members of the dukes family. If these images do indeed
represent particular relations of the Duke, they would not be the only late
medieval images to include multiple generations of aristocratic families
depicted while engaged in courtly leisure activities. Several scholars have noted
that images such as the Louvre shing party drawing seem to include images
of specic individuals in such settings (illus. o).
:,
But the calendar scenes
would nevertheless have been the earliest such images, and it would be at least
a generation before other images included as many members of a family as
Bourdin perceived in the Trs Riches Heures.
:o
o. Te Fishing Party, late 1oth-century copy of an original of c. 1o (Paris, Muse du
Louvre; Photo: Runion des Muses Nationaux / Art Resource, NY)
1 On that image, see Art from the Court of Burgundy, 1,,-1,1, (Cleveland :oo), cat.
no. :;; L. Ninane, Un portrait de famille des ducs de Bavire, comte de Hollande, Zlande et
Hainaut, in: Bulletin des Muses royaux de Beaux-Arts de Belgique 1- (1,8-1,88), pp. o-;.
1o Te Louvre drawing is believed to reproduce a lost original of c. 1o; see Art from the
Court of Burgundy, op. cit. (n. 1), cat. no. :;. Te earliest record of such an image in this case,
a tapestry depicting Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy (d. 11,) and Duchess Margaret of
Bavaria appears in the c. 1:o Burgundian ducal inventory; see L. Campbell, Renaissance
Portraits: European Portrait-Painting in the :,th, :,th and :th Centuries (New Haven 1,,o),
p. ;.
oc sriiuix iiixixsox
Of course, the presence of one or more realistic portraits in the calendar pages
of the Trs Riches Heures demands historical explanation. But thus far, few
scholars have thought carefully about this issue. When art historians confront
portraits, they tend to obsess over questions of identication, trying to pin
down the identities of individuals represented by the work. In doing so, they
often neglect the matter of how and why an image might represent a particular
person, as Georges Didi-Huberman has noted with regard to studies of Italian
Renaissance images.
:;
To date, scholarship on the calendar scenes has oered
two possible reasons why the Limbourgs may have inserted portraits in the
scenes; at times, scholars argue explicitly in favor of these explanations, but
just as often, one of the explanations is simply implicit in the historical
account. Te rst explanation holds that the calendar of the Trs Riches Heures
constitutes what Bourdin termed a family album for the duke something
akin to a modern collection of wedding photographs.
:
Tis ts in with the
tendency of some observers to view the duke as a warm-hearted and enlight-
ened patron, whose tender feelings for his ospring mirrored our own cultures
ideals of familial bonds and parental devotion.
1,
A second explanation, favored
by Panofsky and others, instead sees the portraits as the byproducts of the ris-
ing tide of naturalism in the early fteenth century.
:o
Tis account is arguably
less anachronistic than the overtly sentimental causes advanced by the rst
explanation. But it still fails to be fully satisfactory, as it, in eect, defers the
issue to be explained. By assuming that naturalism is a self-evidently superior
form of art-making, this account of the portraits in the Trs Riches Heures
conforms to a teleological account of art history that has recently, and rightly,
come under criticism.
Tis essay outlines an alternative explanation for the appearance in the Trs
Riches Heures of one or more naturalistic portraits. In particular, it points to
1; G. Didi-Huberman, Te Portrait, the Individual, and the Singular: Remarks on the Leg-
acy of Aby Warburg, in: L. Syson, Te Image of the Individual: Portraits in the Renaissance (Lon-
don 1,,8), pp. 1o-8.
18 Bourdin, op. cit. (n. 1), p. 11. Similarly, Cazelles and Longnon explicitly described that
possibility that the scenes depict key events in the dukes life and members of his family as a
major part of the charm of these miniatures; Cazelles & Longnon, op. cit. (n. 8), commentary
for Pl. .
1, E.g., Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), passim, and Bourdin, op. cit. (n. 1), passim. For critiques of
these tendencies, see by L.M.J. Delaiss, review of M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean
de Berry: Te Late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke, in: Art Bulletin : (1,;o),
pp. :oo-1:; Camille, op. cit. (n. :: 1,,o); id., (n. :: :oo1).
:o For the most succinct statement of this interpretation, see E. Panofsky, Early Netherlandish
Painting: Its Origin and Character (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1,), p. o.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr o:
ways in which the Limbourg Brothers may have been encouraged by their
courtly environment to personalize this manuscript in this particular way. In
order to do so, it focuses on ways that naturalistic portraiture formed part of
a broader visual language that facilitated the representation of individuals in
the late Middle Ages. In addition to naturalistic portraits, that language
included what Michel Pastoureau has termed para-heraldic signs.
:1
As Pas-
toureau and others have noted, the late fourteenth century witnessed an
eorescence of emblems, liveries, and devices. Tis essay discusses the
broader context of those signs, exploring how they were used, the places they
appeared, and the motivations of their makers. It concludes by pointing to
ways in which that evidence can inform our understanding of the calendar
scenes in the Trs Riches Heures.
Te Architectural Portraits
Scholars debate the extent to which the faces in the calendar scenes were
intended to be recognizable, but they are certain that other features in those
pages were meant to be identiable to their courtly audience: the buildings
that populate the scenes. Castles dominate the horizons of nine of the twelve
calendar images. Te buildings meticulous detail and and the distinctiveness
of their architectural features suggest that the artists who painted them
intended for viewers to recognize them as specic buildings. Following on
those visual cues, Erwin Panofksy described them as architectural portraits.
::

Art historians consistently agree on the identities of seven of these: the Ch-
teau of Lusignan for March, the Palais de la Cit in Paris for June, the Chteau
du Clain in Poitiers for July, the Chteau of Etampes in August (illus. ), the
Louvre in Paris for September, and the Chteau of Vincennes outside Paris in
December.
:
Most scholars identify the small castle seen in April as the Chteau
of Dourdan (illus. ), although in his most recent study of the piece Cazelles
was less certain, suggesting that it might instead depict the Chteau of
Pierrefonds.
:
Finally, considerable uncertainty surrounds the identity of the
:1 M. Pastoureau, Leervescence emblmatique et les origines hraldiques du portrait au XIV
e

sicle, in: Bulletin de la Socit nationale des Antiquaires de France 1,8 (1,8;), pp. 1o8-1.
:: Panofsky, op. cit. (n. :o), p. o.
: For these identications, see Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), pp. ::, , and 8.
: For this identication, see Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), p. :o, and, most recently, P. Stirnemann
et al., Les Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry et lenluminure en France au dbut du XV
e
sicle
(Chantilly :oo), p. o; cf. Cazelles, op. cit. (n.), p. :o.
o: sriiuix iiixixsox
: G. Papertiant, Les Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry, in Revue des Arts : (1,:),
p. :.
:o E. Morand, La Ville de Riom et la fte de Mai dans les Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry,
in: Bulletin de lAcadmie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Clermont-Ferrand, (1,), pp. -o1.
:; Bourdin, op. cit. (n. 1), p. :,; Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), p. o. Meiss explicitly rejected
Morands thesis, and supported that of Papertiant; Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), pp. :o-. His prefer-
ence has been widely followed, most recently by Stirnemann et al., op. cit. (n. :), p. .
:8 Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), p. 1;1.
:, Ibid., p. 188.
o Ibid., p. ::.
1 Ibid., p. ::.
: Alexander, op. cit. (n. :), p. 1.
Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), pp. ::-.
rooftops visible over the tops of the trees in May (illus. ). In 1,:, G. Paper-
tiant proposed that the roofs were those of Paris.
:
Two years later, Edmond
Morand asserted that the skyline matched that of the town of Riom.
:o
Bour-
din accepted Morands claim, and Cazelless most recent work is agnostic on
the question, but most other scholars have followed Papertiant, accepting that
the scene is meant to be understood as unfolding just outside of Paris.
:;
Two
other distinctive structures appear elsewhere in the Trs Riches Heures. Te
Chteau of Mehun-sur-Yevre serves as the setting for the Temptation of Christ
illustrating the Mass for the rst Sunday in Lent.
:8
Te abbey at Mont Saint-
Michel rises from its tidal at while St. Michael battles a dragon in the sky above
in the miniature marking the opening of the Mass for that saints feast day.
:,
Nearly all of those sites were associated in some manner with Jean de Berry.
Te chteaux at Lusignan, Dourdan, Poitiers, and Etampes were owned
directly by the duke (although in late 111 and early 11: Dourdan and
Etampes were held by partisans of Berrys rivals, the dukes of Burgundy and
Guyenne).
o
Mehun-sur-Yevre was owned by the Duke until 11, when he
oered it as a gift to Louis de Guyenne, the dauphin.
1
Te sites in and around
Paris the Palais de la Cit, the Louvre, and the Chteau of Vincennes were
of course owned by the Dukes royal nephew, Charles VI; if May depicts Paris,
its architecture, too, would have carried predominantly royal connotations to
viewers in the period. However, as Jonathan Alexander has pointed out, even
though the structures of June (the Palais de la Cit) and October (the Louvre)
were the kings possessions, the miniatures present them from roughly the
vantage point of Jean de Berrys principal Parisian residence, the Htel de
Nesle on the Left Bank.
:
Te Chteau of Vincennes also had a personal rele-
vance to the Duke, in that he was born within its walls in 1o.

Of the
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr o,
chteaux, Septembers Saumur has the most distant ducal connection; it was
owned by his nephew, Duke Louis II of Anjou.

Te link between the Duke

and Mont St-Michel is also indistinct. Te monument was a popular pilgrim-
age site, and was renowned as a symbol of French resistance against the Eng-
lish, but Berry was hardly alone in his interest in the site, and it appears in a
handful of other luxurious Books of Hours of the period.

Complicating matters, recent scholarship has called into question the Lim-
bourgs authorship of several of the calendar pages that display architectural
portraits. In 1,;, Luciano Bellosi suggested that a mid fteenth-century
painter was responsible for much if not all of several scenes: March, June, Sep-
tember, October, and December.
o
While specialists continue to debate the
identity of the artist in question, many perceptive scholars have agreed with
his proposition.
;
If, as some have suggested, this later artist was indeed entirely
responsible for the decision to represent the Palais de la Cit, the Louvre, and
the chteaux of Saumur and Vincennes, it would solve the problem presented
by those monuments tenuous ducal connections. As Catherine Reynolds has
recently noted, all of the possibly added buildings were aliated with King
Charles VII, and evidence suggests that he or a member of his immediate circle
may have owned the Trs Riches Heures in the late 1os and early 1os.
8
But
whether the mid fteenth-century painter executed illuminations that were
entirely of his own design or completed images sketched out on the page by
the Limbourgs, no one has questioned the attribution to the Limbourgs of the
four courtly scenes that concern us January, April, May, and August. Further-
more, the identication of Etampes in the August page is particularly compel-
ling, as its distinctive poly-lobed donjon has survived to the present day.
,
Tis
allows us to say that in at least one case the Limbourgs incorporated references
Ibid.
Ibid., pp. 188 and ::.
o L. Bellosi, I Limbourg precursori di Van Eyck? Nuove osservationi sui Mesi di Chan-
tilly, in: Prospettiva, 1 (1,;) pp. :-.
; E. Knig, Le peintre de lOctobre des Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry, in: Le dossier
de larchologie, 1o (1,;o) pp. ,o-1:; Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), pp. ::, , o, o and 8; Stirne-
mann et al., op. cit. (n. :), pp. 8o-1.
8 For the most recent discussion of the dating of these additions, see C. Reynolds, Te
Trs Riches Heures, the Bedford Workshop, and Barthlmy dEyck, in: Te Burlington Maga-
zine, 1; (:oo), pp. :o-. Lusignan represents a case in which the castle would have been
appropriate for either Jean de Berry or a later patron in the circle of Charles VII, as it became the
latters property in 11;; see Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), p. ::.
, See Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), vol. :, illus. ;o:.
o sriiuix iiixixsox
to a specic building that was aliated with the Duke into one of the calendar
scenes; they may have done so in several instances.
While scholars have devoted a great deal of attention to the identication
of the buildings, they have spent less time considering why the Limbourgs
would have included recognizable buildings in the calendar scenes. For Panof-
sky, the architectural portraits provided a means of inserting the Limbourgs
into an art historical narrative in which leading artists strive to achieve a per-
fect degree of sharp-eyed observant naturalism.
o
For Meiss, too, these true
architectural portraits were evidence of a broad-based impulse towards artistic
naturalism. It is not surprising, he wrote, that they appear around the same
time as portraits of persons.
1
Meiss also remarked upon another possible
source of pleasure for the Duke in viewing these pictures, noting that the
Duke only rarely left Paris after 11:, and suggesting that the sight of his
castles scattered throughout the calendar pages might therefore have aroused
nostalgia in him.
:
More recently, Jonathan Alexander has pointed to a less
emotive rationale for the decision to include references to the buildings, writ-
ing that their appearance in the scenes had the eect of repeatedly calling
attention to his [the Dukes] enormous landed wealth and the military power
necessary to protect it . . ..

While Alexanders arguments avoid the teleologi-

cal view of history implicit in the earlier accounts, it still does not fully answer
the question of why someone the artists, a court advisor, or the Duke him-
self would have made the decision to include these references to particular
monuments in the calendar pages. To answer that question, we need to exam-
ine the architectural portraits within the broader network of references to the
identity of the Duke and, perhaps, his immediate circle in the calendar
scenes.
Filling the Family Album: Proposed Identications of Figures in April,
May, and August
As we have seen, the scholarly search for portraits in the Trs Riches Heures
quickly expanded beyond the January page to include three other scenes
involving courtly pursuits. Many scholars have suggested that April (illus. )
o Panofsky, op. cit. (n. :o), p. o.
1 Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), p. :oo.
: Ibid., p. :o1.
Alexander, op. cit. (n. :), p. o.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr o,
shows the betrothal of one of Jean de Berrys ospring. Cazelles, Longnon and
Meiss all identied the couple as the dukes eleven-year-old granddaughter,
Bonne, and Charles of Orlans, who were engaged in 11o.

For Bourdin
and, most recently, Patricia Stirnemann, the scene depicts the engagement of
the dukes daughter, Marie, with Jean de Bourbon, an event that took place in
the year 1oo.

Numerous scholars have suggested that the next image, the scene for May
(illus. ), features the same couple that Bourdin and Stirnemann perceived in
April: the dukes daughter, Marie, and Jean de Bourbon.
o
Cazelles and Log-
non also suggested that one of the equestrian gures is a royal prince, as his
tricolor red, white and black livery was associated with Charles VI.
;
Meiss
buttressed the identication of Marie and Jean de Bourbon as the principal
gures by stating that the bosses on the horses harnesses resemble a motif
worn by members of the retinue of Jean de Bourbons father, Louis (II) de
Bourbon as a symbol of their loyalty to him (as we will see, however, there are
problems with this claim).
8
Furthermore, Laurent Hablot recently pointed
out that the gold badges worn by the heralds are similar to the device of the
Order of the cu dOr founded by Louis de Bourbon in 1o;.
,
Beginning with Bourdins work of 1,8:, scholars turned their attention
to discerning portraits embedded in the August scene (illus. ). Bourdins
identications are often implausible (for instance, he oered the rather odd
suggestion that the gure alone on the white horse is duke Jean de Berry
himself, despite the fact that that gure is seen riding sidesaddle and wearing a
womans clothes).
o
Two years later, Cazelles more plausibly suggested that the
gure on the white horse could be the dukes granddaughter Bonne dArmagnac.
Stirnemann, on the other hand, pointed to similarities between the costume of
the solitary woman in August and that worn by male gures in April and May,
Cazelles & Longnon, op. cit. (n. 8), commentary for Pl. o; Meiss, op. cit. (n.), pp. 1,1-:.
Bourdin, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 18-:1; Stirnemann et al., op. cit. (n.:), pp. o-.
o Morand, op. cit. (n. :o); Morand was followed by F. Lehoux, Jean de France, duc de Berri:
Sa vie, son action politique, 1340-1416, vols. (Paris, 1,oo-8), vol. :, p. , n.1 and, most
recently, Stirnemann et al., op. cit. (n. :), p. .
; Bourdin pursued a dierent direction, identifying the key gures as Jean de Berrys grand-
daughter Bonne and her betrothed Charles dOrlans; see Bourdin, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. :,-8.
8 Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), pp. 1,1-:.
, L. Hablot, La ceinture ESPERENCE et les devises des ducs de Bourbon, in: ESPER-
ENCE: le mcnat religiuex des princes de Bourbon au XV
e
sicle, ed. F. Perrot (Souvigny :oo1),
pp. ,1-1o, esp. p. ,o; Stirnemann et al., op. cit. (n. :), p. .
o Bourdin, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. ,-.
oo sriiuix iiixixsox
both of whom she had tentatively identied as Jean de Bourbon. Tis would in
turn suggest that the solitary woman of August was the dukes daughter, Marie,
now married and wearing clothes similar to her husbands.
1
Of the various attempts to identify the gures in these four scenes, the most
compelling are those that, like Stirnemanns, pay close attention to details of
costume, particularly as they pertain to the broad language of heraldry, devices,
and liveries that plays so central a role in late medieval fashion. But on this
score, the results of our eorts thus far remain problematic. For example,
Meiss supported his contention that the harness bosses of April are a Bourbon
motif by pointing to similarities between the items visible in the Trs Riches
Heures and jewelry worn by members of Louis de Bourbons entourage in the
Hommages of the Count of Clermont of c. 1;o. But to illustrate the compari-
son, Meiss reproduced a black and white eighteenth-century engraved copy of
fourteenth-century manuscript (illus. ;). When one compares the bosses in
the April scene to the jewelry in the full color seventeenth-century version, the
contention that the images depict identical badges is less convincing (illus. 8).
:

Tere, it becomes evident that the jewelry consisted of light colored circular
objects pearls, perhaps set against a blue or red disk; it also becomes clear
that the number of circular elements varied widely, with some of the pieces
appearing to feature ten or more of them.
Tere are problems with other purportedly heraldic elements in these scenes
as well. Te word vie, perceived by Stirnemann on the harness of the gure
at the left, is not known to have been part of a device favored by any of the
individuals in question.

Te cu dOr that Hablot noticed in the April

scene is not known to have been used as a Bourbon emblem after the 1;os,
with the c. 1;o Hommages manuscript being the latest instance in which they
appear.

Te word associated with the motif, Allen, also seems to have fallen
1 Stirnemann et al., op. cit. (n. :), p. .
: Cf. C. Sterling, La peinture mdivale Paris, 1,vv-1,vv, vol. 1 (Paris 1,8;), illus. 1:.
Stirnemann et al., op. cit. (n. :), p. ; Hablot, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ,;.
Hablot, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ,-o; Hablot also notes the badges appearance in the Trs
Riches Heures, seeing this as a sign that it remained in use, but he cites no further late examples
of it. DArcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton, who appears to have been unaware of the date of the
Hommages manuscript, reports that he found no concrete evidence after c. 1;o; DA.J.D. Boul-
ton, Te Knights of the Crown: Te Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe,
1,:,-1,:v (Woodbridge 1,8;), pp. :;1-. It should be noted that the badges seen in the Hom-
mages manuscript lack the circular frames witnessed in the Trs Riches Heures; cf. Sterling, op. cit.
(n. :).
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr o;
;. Detail from Montfaucons Monumens de la monarchie franoise (1;:,-), appear-
ing in M. Meiss, French Painting Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: Te Limbourgs
and their Contemporaries (New York 1,;), vol. :, g. ;;,.
into disuse before the fteenth century, appearing on the ducal seal as late as
1,.

Finally, the supposedly royal tricolor livery on the central gure was
not worn after 1,o, when it was replaced with a four color scheme that also
included green.
o
In short, the identities of these gures if indeed they were meant to be
recognized as particular people remain exasperatingly equivocal today. But in
fact, our frustration stems largely from the very nature of the late medieval
system of signs of personal identity. Tat system employed a wide array of signs
to denote the identity of an individual. Some of these were relatively accessible
to a broad cross-section of late medieval society for instance, the color codes
employed in liveries were at times echoed by ordinary townsfolk who wished to
Hablot, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ,o.
o See the table in Paris 1,vv: Les arts sous Charles VI, ed. E. Taburet-Delahaye et al. (Paris
:oo), pp. ;8-, .
o sriiuix iiixixsox
demonstrate their loyalty to a lord.
;
But other parts of the system were more
opaque, even to contemporary audiences. Tis obscurity was intentional. For
example, in order to decipher the full meaning of the single word or fragmen-
tary phrase that formed part of a device, a courtier had to be intimately familiar
with details of his or her lords public and private personae. Signs like these thus
served as a test of iconographic knowledge, allowing members of a court to
gauge each others degree of access to their lords identity.
; For an excellent, lucid discussion of the use of devices, see L. Hablot, Les signes de
lentente: Le role des devises et des ordres dans les relations diplomatiques entre les ducs de
Bourgogne et les princes trangers de 18o 1;;, in: Revue du Nord, 8 (:oo:), pp. 1,-1.
8. Charles V Receiving the Homage of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, from the Homages of
the Count of Clermont, c. 1;o (Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, Est. Oa. 1:,
f. 8) [Photo: Bibliothque nationale de France]
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr o,
Among these signs of personal identity were some that worked by referring in
some way to the physical body of the person they represented. Scholars have
been particularly fascinated by naturalistic portraits, in which artists represented
the bodies of specic people by mimetically depicting their facial features.
8
But
it was even more common for representations of individuals to rely on what we
have been calling the para-heraldic language. Te viewers of late medieval art
the artists themselves, their patrons, and their immediate social circles were
intensely aware of the importance of emblems, orders, devices, and liveries,
whose symbolic messages served to articulate and reinforce political allegiances
and social hierarchies.
,
One example of this is found in the frontispiece that
Christine de Pizan attached to a collection of her own works which she probably
presented to the French queen Isabelle of Bavaria in January of 11 (illus. ,).
oo

As Sandra Hindman has demonstrated, the scene is saturated with para-heraldic
information, all of which reinforces the viewers ability to identify the woman
receiving the book as the queen. Even the clothing worn by the queens hand-
maidens precisely matches garments described in the records of the queens
household from the period.
o1
Tis image is of course not a record of the actual
moment in which Christine gave the book to the Queen; after all, it was exe-
cuted before the presentation that it depicts. In that sense, it is a proleptic image.
It did not depict a real event, but rather Christines desires.
8 Underlying this scholarly interest is the fact that naturalistic portraiture is often taken as a
visual symptom of the Renaissance, with the result that portraits are often pointed to with
nationalistic pride as proof of a particular nations priority in launching the Renaissance; see S.
Perkinson, From Curious to Canonical: Jehan Roy de France and the Origins of the French
School, in Art Bulletin, 8; (:oo), pp. o;-:. It should be noted that medieval artists and
patrons also learned to represent an individuals body without recourse to visual mimesis. For
instance, in the period around the year 1oo, it was quite common for wealthy patrons to com-
mission votive images fashioned from expensive material precious metals or even wax to be
placed before altars. Tese votive images represented their subjects by sharing one of their bodily
attributes: their weight. Te duke and duchess of Burgundy, for example, made several such gifts
in the late fourteenth century, even including votive images in the weight of favorite hunting
dogs; see E. Picard, La Dvotion de Philippe le Hardi et de Marguerite de Flandre, in: Memoires
de la Commission des antiquites du department de la Cote-dOr, 1: (1,1o-1), pp. -o.
, See Pastoureau, op. cit. (n. :1); Hablot, op. cit. (n. ;).
oo London, British Library, Harley MS 1, f. 1r.; see Paris 1,vv, op. cit. (n.o), cat. no. ,
and J. Laidlaw, Te Date of the Queens Manuscript (London, British Library, Harley MS
1) online at http://www.pizan.lib.ed.ac.uk/harley1date.pdf.
o1 S. Hindman, Te Iconography of Queen Isabeau de Bavire (c. 11o-11): An Essay in
Method, in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1o: (1,8), pp. 1o:-1o.
;c sriiuix iiixixsox
Likeness and the Courtly Gift
It is not surprising that presentation scenes charged with the hopes, dreams,
and needs of their makers were replete with references of the identity of the
individuals who received such books. Te inclusion of such references oered
the individual presenting the book a means of improving the likelihood that
his or her eorts in creating it would be remembered by its recipient; this, in
turn, increased the chances that the recipient would reward the presenter in
the future. Furthermore, such scenes could encourage future audiences to see
the book as proof of a close bond of loyalty between the presenter and the
recipient, between courtier and sovereign. Te desire to manifest and memo-
rialize such relationships was undoubtedly powerful when the book was com-
missioned, but it was an even more pressing concern in cases of books given as
gifts. From the time of the groundbreaking studies of Marcel Mauss and Bron-
islaw Malinowski, scholars have recognized that gift-giving implicates both
,. Christine de Pizan presenting her book to Queen Isabelle, from the Collected Works of
Christine de Pizan, c. 11 (London, British Library, MS Harley 1, f. ) [Photo:
British Library]
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ;:
donor and recipient in a relationship of mutual obligation.
o:
When a donor is
of a lower social status than the recipient, the gift serves as an expression of
loyalty and subservience to the superior gure; at the same time, the donor
generally expects both tangible and intangible benets in return, ranging from
objects of value to protection and security.
Two impressive recent studies by Brigitte Buettner and Jan Hirschbiegel
have highlighted the extent to which gift giving was central to late medieval
material culture.
o
Both focus on the trennes exchanges that took place
around the New Year, but many of their basic conclusions are applicable to the
broader gift economy. By the early fteenth century, ritualistic gift exchanges
of this sort were the focus of elaborate ceremonies in which political alliances
and social status were performed before a courtly audience. No visual records
of the trennes exist, but as Buettner notes they may have been choreographed
in ways similar to presentation scenes appearing in manuscripts of the period
(illus. , and 1o).
o
Te objects at the center of such gift exchanges were unfailingly constructed
of costly materials, including parchment, metalwork, carved gemstones, and
even relics, all of which were combined in striking, and often startling, ways.
Buettner notes that in the Livre des Trois Vertus (1o), Christine de Pizan pro-
vides a succinct discussion of courtly gifts that can help us in understanding the
strategies that underlay the fabrication of these items.
o
Christine uses several
terms to describe gifts that she feels are particularly meritorious. She speaks of
joyaux and belles choses that are worthy gifts to a high-ranking individual. She
also speaks of the need to reward a member of the lower classes (povre ou simple
personne) who oers gifts manifesting value ou bont ou beaut ou estranget.
oo

o: M. Mauss, Essai sur le don: Forme et raison de lchange dans les socits archaiques (Paris
1,:); B. Malinoswki, Argonauts of the Western Pacic: An Account of Native Enterprise and
Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (London 1,::).
o B. Buettner, Past Presents: New Years Gifts at the Valois Courts, ca. 1oo, in: Art Bulle-
tin, 8 (:oo1), pp. oo-.
o Indeed, recent scholarship has suggested that Harley 1 was in fact an trenne oered
by Christine to Queen Isabelle; see Paris 1,vv, op. cit. (n. o), cat. no. , and Laidlaw, op. cit.
(n. oo).
o Buettner, op. cit. (n. o), pp. oo-; J. Hirschbiegel, Etrennes. Untersuchungen zum
hschen Geschenkverkehr im sptmittelalterlichen Frankreich der Zeit Knig Karls VI. (1,v-1,::)
(Munich :oo).
oo Christine de Pizan, Le Livre des trois vertus, eds. C.C. Willard & E. Hicks (Paris 1,8,),
pp. ;8-,; Christine de Pizan, Te Treasure of the City of Ladies, trans. S. Lawson (rev. ed., New
York :oo), p. .
;: sriiuix iiixixsox
1o. Presentation of precious stones and jewels, from a manuscript of the Livre des propri-
ts des choses, Paris, c. 11o (Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS fr. ,11,
f. :v.) [Photo: Bibliothque nationale de France]
While the rst three of those terms have been retained by post-medieval dis-
courses of desire and commodity, the last of the four estranget, or else-
where in the text, chose estrange might strike a modern reader as unfamiliar.
It is perhaps best translated as marvelous or rare and likely refers to certain
ineable qualities that made the gift memorable: its unusual use of material,
for instance, or its clever invocations of courtly interests and conventions.
o;
Aside from their precious materials, objects given to powerful lords by their
underlings almost always had another feature in common: each generally dis-
played one or more sign of the identity of its intended recipient. Most fre-
quently these signs were para-heraldic in nature. For instance, the Duke of
o; One example of this is particularly telling for our purposes: the counterfeit book oered
by the Limbourgs to Jean de Berry as an trenne in 111; see Buettner, op. cit. (n. o), p. oo,
and J. Guirey, Inventaire de Jean, duc de Berry (1,vv-1,1), vol. 1 (Paris, 18,), no. ,. Tis
sense of the term is partially retained by modern usage in several languages. Te modern French
noun, tranger, or foreign, for instance, carrying a sense of the exoticism of the foreign that
links it to trange, or strange an English word itself etymologically derived from the Old
French estrange. Similarly, the modern Dutch word raar, etymologically akin to rare, means
strange. I am grateful to Rob Dckers and Pieter Roelofs for calling the latter example to my
attention.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ;,
Berry received rings of gold and gemstones carved with his coat of arms from
Louis of Anjou in 1o and from another lesser nobleman in 1o,.
o8
In 1o
the dukes widowed daughter-in-law, Anne de Bourbon, oered him a golden
container for fragrant oil in the shape of his family insignia, the eur-de-lys,
hanging on a delicate golden chain.
o,
Other times, the signs of identity were
more obscure. Te dukes daughter Marie gave him a jewel-encrusted perfume
container in the form of a bear in 1o,, for example, while her husband, Jean
de Bourbon, gave the duke a ring featuring a swan in 1o;.
;o
Tat same year,
Louis of Anjou oered the duke a ring with diamonds carved into the initials
E and V.
;1
Te French words for the bear and the swan may have been part
of a rebus for the name of the dukes mistress, perhaps a woman named Ursine,
or for one of his patron saints, St. Ursin.
;:
Likewise, scholars have alternately
proposed that the initials E and V stood in for a phrase that served as the
dukes motto, en vous, perhaps,
;
or as the rst and last letters of the name
Ursine.
;
Not surprisingly, all of those symbols appear throughout the Trs
Riches Heures (illus. 11 and 1:). For our purposes, their most notable appear-
ance occurs in the January scene (illus. 1), where they are inserted in a conve-
niently natural way into the very fabric of the image.
;
Courtly gifts created in the early years of the fteenth century began for the
rst time to use naturalistic portraiture as a sign of identity. In 1o, Queen
Isabelle gave her husband Charles VI the spectacular piece known as the
Goldene Rssl as an trenne (illus. 1).
;o
Art historians generally assume that
the topography of the enameled face of the kings image refers to the actual
features of the king himself (illus. 1). A handful of references to images in
the duke of Berrys inventories back up that assumption, proving that some
gifts were understood by their original audiences as incorporating naturalistic
portraits. For example, Jean de Berrys inventories tell us that in 1o8 his son in
o8 Guirey, op. cit. (n. oo), vol. 1, nos. 8; and ,.
o, Ibid., no. 1o.
;o Ibid., nos. o and 8,.
;1 Ibid., no. :.
;: Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), p. ;:; Guirey, op. cit. (n. oo), vol. 1, p. cxxx and vol. :, p. o.
; M. Tomas, Te Grandes Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, trans. V. Benedict & B. Eisler
(New York 1,;1), see esp. the notes to Pl. 1.
; Duke dAumale, op. cit. (n. ), p. o; Cazelles, op. cit. (n. ), p. o:.
; For attributions of these pages, see Meiss, op. cit. (n. ), pp. 1o-11.
;o For the Goldene Rssl, see Das goldene Rssl: ein Meisterwerk der Parisier Hofkunst um 1,vv,
ed. R. Baumstark et al. (Munich 1,,); Buettner, op. cit. (n. o), pp. oo-;.
; sriiuix iiixixsox
11. Te Limbourg Brothers, Te Annunciation, from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/:-
11o (Chantilly, Muse Cond, MS o, f. :o) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern]
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ;,
1:. Te Limbourg Brothers, Te Zodiacal Man, from the Trs Riches Heures, 111/:-
11o (Chantilly, Muse Cond, MS o, f. 1v.) [photo: Faksimile Verlag Luzern]
;o sriiuix iiixixsox
1. Te Goldene Rssl, Paris, c. 1o (Altting Abbey, Altting, Austria) [Photo:
Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY]
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ;;
1. Detail of Te Goldene Rssl, Paris, c. 1o (Altting Abbey, Altting, Austria)
[Photo: Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY]
; sriiuix iiixixsox
law, Jean de Bourbon, oered him a ring bearing gems shaped into the likeness
of the face of the duke.
;;
Likewise, in 11: the dukes grandson presented him
with a gold ring on which the face of the duke is counterfeited in a cameo.
;8

While these precious objects are now lost, they must have resembled a ring of
about 11o that today is in the Louvre (illus. 1).
;,
It represents Jean de Ber-
rys nephew, Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy, with features and costume
identical to those found in other representations of him, like the one in Te
Book of Marvels, dated around 11: (illus. 1o).
8o
Te references to the Dukes
identity continue on the interior surface of the band, which displays a carpen-
ters plane, an object which he had adopted as his device.
At the same time, the evidence of archival sources demonstrates that natu-
ralistic portraiture was not automatically preferred over other methods of rep-
resentation. We have seen, for instance, that in 1o8 Jean de Bourbon oered
his father-in-law, the duke, a ring with a stone carved in the likeness of the
dukes face, while the next year his wife, the dukes daughter Marie, oered her
father a perfume container in the shape of a bear. Tis indicates that patrons
did not necessarily favor naturalistic portraiture over other, more symbolic
forms of representation. Tus whereas modern scholars tend to see the intro-
duction of naturalistic portraits into images as marking a sharp break with
previous traditions, early fteenth-century audiences saw naturalistic portrai-
ture as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, established representa-
tional systems.
Moreover, all of these examples call into question the degree to which patrons
can be credited with the willful introduction of their own physiognomic like-
nesses into imagery. In the case of gifts incorporating naturalistic portraits the
rings given to Jean de Berry and the Goldene Rssl given to Charles VI, for
instance the images represent their recipients, and not the person who com-
missioned them. Te social positions of the gift-givers were of course highly
;; Guirey, op. cit. (n . oo), vol. 1, no. ooo.
;8 Ibid., no. o11. Elsewhere Ive shown that the Old French term counterfeit contrefait
specically implies that the representation involved the replication of visible features; these rings
were therefore perceived by their original audiences as physiognomic likenesses. See S. Perkin-
son, Portraits and Counterfeits: Villard de Honnecourt and Tirteenth-Century Teories of
Representation, in: Excavating the Medieval Image: Manuscripts, Artists, Audiences Essays in
Honor of Sandra Hindman, ed. N.A. Rowe and D. Areford, eds. (Aldershot :oo), pp. 1-.
;, Paris 1,vv, op. cit. (n. o), no. oo; and Art from the Court of Burgundy, op. cit. (n. 1),
no. .
8o Paris, Bibliothque nationale, MS fr. :81o, f. ::or.; Art from the Court of Burgundy, op.
cit. (n. 1), no. ;.
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ;,
1. Ring with the prole of John the Fearless, France, early 1th century (Paris, Muse
du Louvre) [Photo: Runion des Muses Nationaux / Art Resource, NY]
c sriiuix iiixixsox
1o. Presentation of the book to John the Fearless, from the Book of Marvels, Paris, c. 11:
(Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS fr. :81o, f. ::o) [Photo: Bibliothque
nationale de France]
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr :
dependent upon public perceptions of their loyalty to, and intimacy with, the
gifts recipients. Tis was even the case when the donor was someone as seem-
ingly powerful as the queen. Queen Isabelle found herself torn between vari-
ous factions during her husbands periodic bouts of insanity, and charges of
indelity were leveled against her as a form of political pressure; the attacks on
her came to a head in the year 1o, at roughly the same time as she was
oering the Goldene Rssl to her husband.
81
Tese patrons keenly felt obligation to demonstrate intense loyalty may
well have driven them to include references to their lords faces in such gifts.
In other words, because of its ability to connote close access to, and strong
memories of, individual people, naturalistic portraiture may have been intro-
duced as a means of displaying the loyalty and devotion of courtiers to their
powerful overlords. Tis would include artists, who may have taken it upon
themselves to insert naturalistic references into the images they were charged
with producing, just as Jean de Bourbon would insert the features of his father-
in-law, the Duke, into an trenne.
Conclusion: estranget in the Trs Riches Heures
So what does all of this mean for the calendar pages of the Trs Riches Heures?
First and foremost, it means that it remains plausible that the gures in the
scenes were meant to be recognized as particular individuals. While this recog-
nition may have depended in part on the artists endowing the gures with
naturalistic portraits, such verism would have been unnecessary. In the case of
female gures, it may even have been undesirable. It is perhaps signicant that
the ruggedly individualized features of images of several male gures in the
scenes, particular those of Jean de Berry, contrast sharply with the more
blandly generic bodies of the women in the miniatures. Now that we recog-
nize that naturalistic portraiture was supplemental to, rather than required for,
the representation of individuals, an explanation of these womens elegantly
calligraphic bodies presents itself: their features may simply visualize the ideals
of courtly beauty, rather than representing the actual appearance of specic
individuals bodies.
Indeed, whether or not naturalistic portraiture is present in any of these
gures, the artists would likely have relied heavily on the use of para-heraldic
signs associated with the individuals in question to identify them. Te fact that
81 F. A utrand, Charles VI (Paris 1,8o), pp. 1-1 and passim.
: sriiuix iiixixsox
present-day scholars have diculty identifying those individuals may result
from the nature of that system of personal signs: it was designed to be fully
accessible only to members of the courts inner circle, of which we are quite
clearly not a part. None of this proves that these gures were intended to be
recognizable, however. Until conclusive proof emerges, we must remain open
to the possibility that they were simply generic scenes of courtly pleasures.
But we can be condent that the face of Jean de Berry in the January scene
was meant to be seen as a naturalistic, mimetic likeness. Tis is not to say that
it was unequivocally a portrait in the sense implied by early modern mem-
bers of that genre. Trough a combination of obsessive attention to detail
and the addition of textual inscriptions (e.g., the convention of adding a
legend bearing the words aetatis suae followed by the sitters age), those later
images insist on being understood as precise replicas of an individuals appear-
ance on a particular day. Jean de Berrys face in the January scene is instead an
instance of his personal iconography, in which corporeal likeness serves as an
adjunct to other signs of identity. Nevertheless, this particular iconographic
formation this combination of visual signs of identity and its invocation in
an exceptionally lavish sequence of calendar illustrations was unprecedented
at the time of its creation, and would undoubtedly have been remarked by the
Duke and others who examined the results of the Limbourgs labors. Tese
elaborate references to ducal identity can perhaps be understood in part as
forms of visual surplus inserted into the images by the Limbourgs. To adopt
the language of the courtly gift, those references to identity would be what
endowed the images with estranget as well as value, goodness, and beauty.
Such references allowed the Limbourgs to atter their patron by demonstrat-
ing their familiarity with the visual codes associated with him and, perhaps,
his family.
Tis in turn means that we might be wise to spend less time worrying
about which specic historical moment the calendar scenes represent, and
instead consider the events as, at most, generalizing, broad references to
important events in the Dukes life. If the Limbourgs really did seek to repre-
sent a past event like the engagement of the dukes daughter, Marie, in 1oo,
they would have undoubtedly been at least somewhat unfamiliar with the
details of that event. After all, at the time of the engagement in April of that
year, Herman and Jean were in prison miles away, and the brothers would not
enter the service of Jean de Berry until four or ve years after the event. Tey
may, however, have sought to endow the scenes with the aura of history by
deploying what was, by the time they had begun decorating the Trs Riches
Heures, an archaic set of heraldic devices. Tis could explain why the gures
iixixiss, io\air\, axo rui iiii oi rui couir airisr ,
8: Te Limbourgs would likely have seen at least a few of the old cu dOr emblems, as
Hablot notes that the gold shields were still visible as late as the eighteenth century in castles that
had been owned by Louis II de Bourbon; Hablot, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ,o.
8 Durrieu, op. cit. (n. ;), p. 1,.
in April appear to wear the outdated livery of Charles VI and the old cus
dor of Louis de Bourbon. Historians today believe that these symbols would
no longer have been actively employed by 1oo, but the Limbourgs may have
simply perceived them as old, without being fully cognizant of the dates of
their use.
8:
If we ever are able to identify the gures in these scenes convincingly, those
identications are likely to be the result of extensive archival research that
would allow us to match the costumes worn by the gures with clothing
known to have been owned by particular individuals. At the same time, given
the paucity of surviving records from this period, it remains entirely possible
that we will never be able to identify these gures with any degree of certainty.
It is also possible that the gures were never meant to be identied in the rst
place; as Durrieu wrote a century ago, each scene may be nothing more than
fantasy.
8
But again, we can be certain that at least one of these faces was
meant to resemble the appearance of a specic individual: that of Jean de
Berry himself. And we can also address the question of why it would have been
desirable for these particular artists to include those particular features in this
particular manuscript. Te answers to that question can be found in the con-
text of the lives led by these artists at the court, with its thirst for visual estr-
anget and its demand for the incessant demonstration of loyalty.
A Pilgrims Additions. Traces of Pilgrimage in the
Belles Heures of Jean de Berry
Hanneke van Asperen
Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Te names of Jean de Berry and the Limbourg brothers are inextricably bound
up with the Belles Heures. After all, both the commissioner and the makers left
their personal mark on the manuscript. Because the names of the talented
brothers and the bibliophile duke arouse everyones curiosity and admiration,
scholars pay less attention to the afterlife of the manuscript book of hours. Te
book must have been read and admired, after the duke passed away and the
book changed hands. Notably however, in the manuscript itself there are no
indications of its subsequent owners. Actually, very few traces of wear and tear
inform us of the way the manuscript was used after it left the residence of the
duke of Berry. Until the reader reaches f. ::. On this blank folio without any
text or miniature, there are two imprints of small pilgrims souvenirs.
Te blank page with the impressions of the badges is the starting point of
this contribution. From studying comparable imprints in books, it is possible
to deduce when the badges must have been sewn in. More fascinating than
the exact moment the badges were added to the book, is the question why.
What was the motivation? Did the owner at the time look at the contents of
the codex when he applied the badges or is their location arbitrary? In other
words, is there a direct relationship between the badges and the book? As a
comparison with a book of hours of duke Philip the Good of Burgundy will
show, the Belles Heures are not an isolated example of a devotional manuscript
with traces of pilgrimage souvenirs. Te owners rmly embedded the badges
(and so their pilgrimage) into their religious life. Te location of the badges
sheds some light on the reasons of the pilgrim to add the badges and conse-
quently on the way the book of hours and its pictures or picture cycles were
conceived.
o uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Te Scholarly Literature
Te imprints of the badges appear in the upper right hand corner of f. ::
(illus. :). Tis is a blank page without text or miniature, without lining or
marginal decoration. Te page is part of a bifolium, together with f. :,, added
to protect the pages containing the gospel lessons (. ::-:). Te imprints are
faint, they show very few details. Te oets just give an indication of the outer
edge and some of the protruding parts of the badges.
:
Te two medals must
have measured about : and ,: mm, but their imagery remains a mystery.
In an article in the Gatherings in honor of Dorothy Miner, John Plummer
already mentions the circular osets.
:
In his contribution, Plummer discusses
the missing miniature that once preceded the gospel of Saint John. When he
depicts the verso of f. :: to show the oset of the missing miniature, he tells us
1. Imprints of two pilgrims badges, f. :1r. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Te Cloisters Collection, acc.no. .1.1.
: At this point, I would like to thank Margaret Lawson who was kind enough to observe
. :c and :: in detail for any traces that the badges might have left. Unfortunately, the traces of
the oset material are too faint to establish what metal the badges were made of. Margaret Law-
son informed me that the parchment itself has oset pigments and dirt overall. Tis makes it
dicult to obtain an accurate measure of the parchment as a background reading.
: John Plummer, A blank page in the Belles Heures, in: Gatherings in honor of Dorothy E.
Miner, ed. Ursula E. McCracken (Baltimore :,;), p. :,;.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ;
to disregard the two dark rings in the upper left and the dark spots they encir-
cle, for these are stains showing through from the preceding page. For Plum-
mers research on the miniature of Saint John, a further identication of the
osets is not relevant.
It is not until recently that scholarly attention has turned towards these
traces of pilgrimage souvenirs. Since John Plummer described the folio in the
Belles Heures, some scholars have dedicated themselves to the custom of attach-
ing badges to manuscripts. Kurt Kster, for example, describes several manu-
scripts with badges and osets in two articles that were published in :,o, and
:,;, (seven manuscripts in total).
,
In :,,, Denis Bruna has added a few man-
uscripts and one incunable with badges and devotional pictures in them (nine
manuscripts).

Tese publications with the description of sixteen dierent

manuscripts are a perfect base for further study of badges and imprints.
Te books with badges are almost exclusively books of hours and some
prayer-books. Apparently, pilgrims liked adding their souvenirs to devotional
texts. Furthermore, almost all manuscripts are books of everyday use. Tey
show many traces of wear and tear. Finally, traces of badges in manuscripts are
not unique and, as was to be expected, many manuscripts with traces of badges
can be added to the rough inventory of Kster and Bruna.
,
Slowly, scholars are starting to recognize the imprints that adorn many
devotional books, as illustrated by the recent publications on the Belles Heures.
In the volume that accompanies the new facsimile of the Belles Heures (:cc),
Eberhard Knig mentions the imprints as well, identifying them as pilgrims
badges. Jean de Berry selbst wird das Buch eine gewisse Zeitlang als Gebet-
buch benutzt haben. Die aulligste Spur fromme Gebrauchs mag erklren,
warum ausgerechnet eine Bildervita der heiligen Katharina (. :,-:c) als
, Kurt Kster, Religise Medaillen und Wallfahrts-Devotionalien in der mischen Buchma-
lerei des :,. und frhen :o. Jhs. Zur Kenntnis gemalter und wirklicher Kollektionen in spt-
mittelalterlichen Gebetbchern, in: Buch und Welt. Gustav Hofmann zum . Geburtstag dargebracht,
eds. H. Striedl & J. Wieder (Wiesbaden :,o,), pp. ,,-,c and Kurt Kster, Kollektionen
metallener Wallfahrts-Devotionalien und kleiner Andachtsbilder eingenht in sptmittelalterliche
Gebetbuch-Handschriften, in: Erlesenes aus der Welt des Buches. Gedanke, Betrachtungen, For-
schungen, ed. Bertram Haller (Wiesbaden :,;,), pp. ;;-:,c.
Denis Bruna, Tmoins de dvotions dans les livres dheures a la n du Moyen Age, in:
Revue Mabillon, ,, t. ;c (:,,), pp. ::;-o:.
, See for example A.M. Koldeweij, Pelgrimsinsignes in het getijdenboek DOiselet, in:
Heilig en Profaan. Laatmiddeleeuwse Insignes uit de collectie H.J.E. van Beuningen, eds. H.J.E.
van Beuningen & A.M. Koldeweij (Cothen :,,,), pp. o-, and Brian W. Spencer, Medieval nds
from excavations in London, VII: Pilgrim souvenirs and secular badges (Southampton :,,), p. :c,
illus. :c.
uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Erkennungszeichen dienen konnte. Direkt im Anschlu daran erkennt man
auf fol. :: zwei runde Abdrucke; sie stammen oenbar von Abzeichen, wie sie
Pilger heimbrachten.
o
Knig did not just identify the impressions, he also
recognized their value in understanding the devotional usage of the book. His
suggestion that Jean de Berry himself might have added the pilgrimage souve-
nirs to the book, needs some further investigation. Te fact that the duke
commissioned the book does not necessarily imply that he was the only one to
ever use it. Yolande of Aragon and the owners after her could have taken up
the manuscript as well, even applying it for their devotions.
Te Practice to Attach Badges to Books
Te practice to add badges to devotional books only seems to have become
popular during the second half of the fteenth century. Te origins can be
connected with the development of a new type of badge: the punched medal.
From the twelfth century onwards, pilgrims badges for the most part were
cast. Te liquid metal, usually pewter, was poured into a mould of slate or
sandstone. During the fteenth-century, a new technique to make pilgrimage
souvenirs came into use besides the usual casting. An image was punched into
a wafer-thin sheet of metal with a die of iron leaving a negative imprint on the
back of the badge. Because the metal is so imsy, the badge is light, with a
tendency to break or tear. Tis technique was used mainly for badges of a cop-
per alloy or silver, more precious materials than pewter. Te silver badges could
even be gilded, for a more demanding clientele.
Te stamped badges diered fundamentally from their cast relatives. Tey
are usually very small, about :c-,c mm in diameter, and extremely light (they
generally weigh less than one gram). Te images were sometimes provided
with punched holes, so that the objects could be attached to a background
with needle and thread. Te dierent characteristics gave rise to new applica-
tions: the badges could be hung on a rosary or sewn onto the pages of a
manuscript. Te light badges were extremely suitable for an attachment to the
parchment, because they didnt tear the page.
Te technique was used for the production of clothing ornaments. During
the reign of Philip the Bold (:,:-:c) for example, courtiers wore trinkets
on their clothing that were stamped out of thin pieces of gold and silver. Te
technique of these ornaments corresponds to the stamped badges, even though
o Eberhard Knig, Die Belles Heures des Duc de Berry. Sternstunden der Buchkunst (Luzern
:cc), p. :,.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ,
the objects had another usage. For workers in precious metals, it was a small
step to translate this familiar technique to pilgrims badges that could be worn
on clothing as well. Te stamped souvenirs however were only produced on a
large scale from the second half of the fteenth century.
;
Most of the books
with (traces of ) badges, published by Kster and Bruna, date from the end of
the fteenth century or beginning of the sixteenth century. Te practice to
add pilgrimage souvenirs to devotional books apparently became popular dur-
ing the nal decades of the fteenth century, during the nal years of the reign
of duke Philip the Good of Burgundy (who died in :o;) and after. During
this period, stamped medals were available at every pilgrimage site, often as an
expensive(-looking) alternative for the pewter badges.
In dierent books of prayer that once belonged to Philip the Good, imprints
of badges show up.

In the Grandes Heures of Philip the Good (Brussels, Bib-

liothque Royale de Belgique, MS :: c,,-,; and Cambridge, Fitzwilliam
Museum, MS III-:,,), more than fourty-six metal badges once adorned the
pages.
,
Te book originally belonged to Philip the Bold, but the badges were
not attached to the parchment until after :c, when the memoriae were added
to the manuscript.
:c
Other badges accompany prayers that were written by
Jean Milot; these prayer texts were not added to the manuscript until :,:
(. ;r. and ;v.) providing a terminus post quem.
::
; Kurt Kster, Mittelalterliche Pilgerzeichen und Wallfahrtsdevotionalien, in: Rhein und
Maas. Kunst und Kultur - (Cologne :,;:), pp. :o-oc (p. :) and Brian W. Spencer, op.
cit. (n. ,), p. :c.
Brussels, Bibliothque Royale, MS :: c,,-,;, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam, MS III-:,, and
Vienna, sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS :cc. See Kster, art. cit. (n. ,: :,o,), Kster,
art. cit. (n. ,: :,;,) and Bruna, art. cit. (n. ), p. :o, no. I.
, On the badges in the Grandes Heures, see Kster, art. cit. (n. ,: :,;,), pp. ;-:c, and Bruna,
art. cit. (n. ), p. :o. Te manuscript in Cambridge contained :, badges, the book in Brussels ::.
:c Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS III-:,,, . ::o-;,. Alain Arnould & Jean Michel
Massing, Splendours of Flanders (Cambridge :,,,), p. :. On the complex history of the manu-
script hours, see Anne Hagiopan van Buren, Dreux Jehan and the Grandes Heures of Philip the
Bold, in: Als ich can, eds. Bert Cardon, Jan Van der Stock et al. (Paris :cc:), pp. :,;;-: and
Bernard Bousmanne, Cline Van Hoorebeeck & Alain Arnould, La Librairie des Ducs de Bour-
gogne. Manuscrits conservs la Bibliothque Royale de Belgique, vol. :: Textes liturgiques, asctiques,
thologiques, philosophiques et moraux (Turnhout :ccc), pp. :o-;:.
:: Claudine Lemaire identied the writer of the prayer to the Virgin on . ;v.-,cr. as Jean
Milot. Lemaire identied the writer of the four prayers against the temptation of the esh that
were added to the miniature of the Apocalyptic Virgin (f. ;r.), as Main B. Bousmanne, Hoore-
beeck, Arnould, op. cit. (n. :c), p. :o. According to Anne Hagiopan van Buren, Jean Milot
wrote the prayers against the temptations of the esh as well. Hagiopan van Buren, art.cit.
(n. :c), p. :,.
,c uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Te badges must have been attached to the parchment during the second
half of the fteenth century or shortly after, perhaps by Philip the Good him-
self who certainly had cause and opportunity to purchase the souvenirs. In
fact, Philip the Good was a passionate collector of pilgrimage souvenirs.
::

Philip the Good certainly used the book on a regular basis. In the commission
to Dreux Jean of :,:, the book is called les grandes heures cotidienne, para-
phrased the large hours for daily usage.
:,
Te omission of the book from the
list of objects in his library that was made up after his death, could mean that
the book was kept in the private chapel of the duke in Dijon that was left out
of this inventory.
:
Philip the Good had the means and the oppurtunity to add
the badges to the book. Because the owner of the book after the death of the
duke is uncertain, it is tempting to point to Philip as the pilgrim to collect the
badges. However, the badges could have been added after Philips death as
well. Te practice to attach the souvenirs to pages of a manuscript prayer book
remained in use until into the sixteenth century.
Te badges in the Belles Heures must have been added during the second
half of the fteenth century or the beginning of the sixteenth century as well,
when the mass production of the stamped badges and the practice to add
them to books were well established. Unfortunately, the identity of the owner
at the time remains a mystery. After the death of the duke in ::o, the manu-
script prayer book was sold. It remained within the hands of family. It was
purchased from the estate of the duke by Yolande of Aragon (:,,-:,) who
was a great-niece of Jean de Berry, and a niece by matrimonial bond.
:,
She wed
a nephew of the duke, Louis II of Anjou. Tey had several children, among
who Marie (:c-o,), the future wife of Charles VII who was crowned king of
France in ::,. Another one of their children was Ren of Anjou (:c-c),
who became known as Ren the Good, titular king of Naples, Jerusalem and
Aragon. Yolande died in :,. Te book could have been part of her library for
:: On the purchase of badges by Philip the Good, see Comte De Laborde, Les ducs de Bour-
gogne. tudes sur les Lettres, les Arts et lIndustrie pendant le XV
e
sicle et plus particulirement dans
les Pays-Bas et le Duch de Bourgogne, , vols. (Paris :,-,:) and De la Fons-Mlicoq, Documents
pour servir a lhistoire des mdailles, in: Revue de la Numismatique Belge, : (:o), pp. ;,-:.
:, Hagiopan van Buren, art. cit. (n. :c), p. :,:, n. : and Bousmanne, Hoorebeeck, Arnould,
op. cit. (n. :c), p. :;:.
: Bousmanne, Hoorebeeck, Arnould, op. cit. (n. :c), p. :;:.
:, Jean Lebourne, secretary and guardian of the estate, took the book into his custody when
Jean de Berry died. Te then estimated value was ;, livres tournois. Yolande bought it for ,cc
livres. Knig, op. cit. (n. o), p. :,, and Paul Durrieu, Les Belles Heures de Jean de France Duc
de Berry, in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, , pr. ,, tome ,, (:,co), pp. :o,-,: (p. :o;).
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ,:
some time. Whether the manuscript book stayed in the possession of her fam-
ily, perhaps one of her children, is uncertain.
Only in :c, the manuscript resurfaced as part of the collection of the
French noble family DAilly, perhaps owned according to the Metropolitan
Museum by the baron dAilly, when it was acquired by baron Edmond de
Rothschild.
:o
In all probability, the manuscript stayed within the hands of
French nobility after it left the residence of Yolande of Aragon.
Te Motivation of the Pilgrim
Te person to add the badges to a book had several reasons to do so. Of
course, the manuscript protected the fragile badge from loss and damage. Tis
way, the memory of the pilgrimage was preserved. Pilgrimage souvenirs were
tangible relics of a devotional journey and, as such, a suitable addition to a
book containing devotional texts for personal use.
Within the context of the book, the owner could vary the locations of the
badges, dependant on the available locations and the personal preferences of
the book owner. Te owner of the Belles Heures did not apply the badges to a
y leaf of the manuscript hours. Te prints appear on f. ::. Tese imprints are
osets of the front side of the badges. Sewing holes are missing and the char-
acteristics of the imprints also indicate that the badges must have been attached
to the preceding page. On f. :c however, no traces of badges are visible at all,
and no sewing-holes. Te page shows only a few slight dimples in the top
corner, not nearly enough to establish the presence of badges on that page.
Tis means, there must have been another support for the badges between
the current . :c and :: that is now missing. Te collation arms this
assumption. Presumably, f. : now a singleton was once part of a bifolium,
protecting the quire with the picture cycle of Saint Catherine, as the blank
bifolium around the gospel lessons.
:;
Apparently, the two badges were part of
the miniature cycle of Saint Catherine before they were removed together with
their original support.
:o Cristopher De Hamel, Te Rothschilds and their Collections of Illuminated Manuscripts
(London :cc,), p. :o. See also Lopold Delisle, Mlanges de palographie et bibliographie (Paris
:c), pp. :,-,, and Durrieu, op. cit. (n. :,), p. :o;.
:; For the collation, see Plummer, art. cit. (n. :), p. :, and the revised table of the break-
down of the quires in Te Belles Heures, illus. : in the contribution of Margaret Lawson to this
volume.
,: uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Te Image of Mary in the Grandes Heures
Te Grandes Heures, once in the possession of duke Philip the Good, provides
another example of badges that were added to an illumination. Te then
owner of this book of hours added dozens of badges to the manuscript. Te
pilgrim-owner carefully studied the contents of the book before sewing the
objects to the pages. For example, a badge of Saint Sebastian accompanies a
prayer to Saint Sebastian (f. ::ov.), a badge of Nicholas is set alongside a
memoria to that saint (f. :ov.), etc.
:
Five badges, undoubtedly with a depic-
tion of Mary, accompany prayers to the Virgin (f. ;r.). Apparently, the badges
provided the devotee with a suitable image when he recited the text at hand.
One time, the owner of the Grandes Heures selected a miniature as a suitable
location (illus. :).
Te miniature of the Virgin and Child, obviously trimmed along the sides,
probably used to be part of a larger manuscript or circulated as a single leaf
before it became part of the Grandes Heures. For the major part, the imprints
of the badges remain within the outlines of the page indicating the objects
were added after the miniature joined the Grandes Heures, probably in :,:
when the book was subdivided and rebound.
:,
Te objects partially even over-
lap the precious picture. Judging from the few readible imprints, the badges
did not (just) show images of Mary, they depict other saints, such as Adrian
who was venerated in Geraardsbergen.
:c
Te badges around the miniature
apparently comprised various gures of saints and relics.
Te answer to the question why the badges were added to the miniature of
Mary lies in the image itself. In the Grandes Heures, the Virgin is depicted on
the crescent. Tis imagery is derived from the Apocalypse (::::): And a great
sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under
her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Even though the gure is
not clothed with the sun, the image follows the general description of the
Bible verse. Te crescent below Mary is surrounded by angels and two of them
place the crown studded with stars on her head. Te illuminator combined the
iconographical theme of the Apocalyptic Virgin with that of the Virgo Lactans,
meaning the Virgin is suckling the Child that is lying in her arms.
: Kster, art. cit. (n. ,: :,;,), pp. ,o-:c,.
:, Te miniature of the Apocalyptic Virgin, even though it is obviously older than the prayers
that go with it, was added to the manuscript at the same time, around :,c. Hagiopan van
Buren, art. cit. (n. :c), p. :,.
:c Kster, art. cit. (n. ,: :,;,), pp. -,:.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ,,
:. Master of the Breviary of John the Fearless, miniature of the Apocalyptic Virgin,
Grandes Heures, f. 6v. Brussels, Bilbiothque Royale de Belgique, MS 11 o-;.
, uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Te miniature used to be attributed to the Limbourg brothers.
::
Today,
the illuminator from the surroundings of the brothers-illuminators is usually
referred to as the Master of the Breviary of John the Fearless.
::
Te former
confusion with the Limbourgs is not entirely surprising, since there are many
resemblances with Limbourg miniatures, especially with an illumination from
the Belles Heures (illus. ,). Similarities do not just appear in small details such
as the half-closed eyes, the drooping corners of the mouth and the intimate
relationship between mother and child; the Virgin is depicted in an almost
identical fashion. She is wearing a similar blue garment that partly covers her
wavy blond hair. Draperies and folds carefully cover up the fact that the lower
part of Marys body is missing. Te Virgin holds the child close to her chest
and even though she is not suckling it, the position of the child and that of her
hands is analogous. In both images, Seraphim the highest in the hierarchy of
angels are holding up a crown. Te six-winged angels in the Belles Heures
however are not crowning the Virgin, as they are in the Grandes Heures; they
crown God the father. Seraphim usually appear around the heavenly throne.
Te Master of the Breviary of John the Fearless probably copied the angelic
gures from the Limbourg illumination without adjusting their place in the
hierarchy to their changed duties.
Of course, there are many dierences between the miniatures of Mary, the
most eye-catching being the many gures that surround the Virgin and Child
in the Belles Heures. Mary is depicted in the company of saints and the Trinity.
God appears in the upper part of the miniature, with John the Apostle and
John the Baptist on both sides, and the dove of the Holy Spirit below, com-
pleting the Trinity. Below them is a multitude of saints. Te major part of the
gures is not even recognizable as they are partially obscured by the large aure-
oles. Immediately anking the Virgin are undoubtedly the Saints Paul and
Peter. Paul carries the sword, but Peter lacks his attribute. He is recognizable
because of his robe, bolding head, short grey beard and his position opposite
to Paul. In front of Mary looking up to her are popular female saints such as
Catherine, Dorothy, Margaret, Barbara and Apollonia with the pincers. All of
the gures face the Virgin and Child and some of them fold their hands in
prayer, as if the gures of the Virgin and Child are some sort of apparition.
:: Frderic Lyna, Un livre de prires inconnu de Philippe le Hardi (Bruxelles, MS ::c,,-,;),
in: Mlanges Hulin de Loo (Brussels, etc. :,,:), pp. :,-,, (pp. :,-,).
:: Hagiopan van Buren, art. cit. (n. :c), p. :,, Bousmanne, Hoorebeeck, Arnould, op. cit.
(n. :c), p. :;c and Millard Meiss, French painting in the time of Jean de Berry. Te Limbourgs and
their contemporaries (New York :,;), pp. :,o-;.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ,,
. Limbourg brothers, miniature of the Virgin surrounded by saints, Belles Heures,
f. :18r. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Te Cloisters Collection, acc.
no. .1.1.
,o uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Te spatial organization of the saints encircling Mary accentuates this idea of
a vision. On the side of the onlooker, the saints open up the circle to impart
the viewer to the vision of heaven.
Te Master of the Breviary of John the Fearless left the saints out of his ver-
sion of the miniature, for he was depicting a vision of the Apocalyptic Virgin,
rather than a vision of Paradise. Te saints were only added at a later stage
when the owner attached the badges to the book. In applying the badges, the
owner of the book changed the iconography of the image drasticly, partially
obscuring the angels around the crescent. He pictured Mary in the heavenly
realm surrounded by the community of saints, not unlike the miniature in the
Belles Heures. Perhaps, the owner actually knew the image from the book of
hours that once belonged to Jean de Berry. More likely, the owner knew com-
parable images of Mary in the company of saints.
With the badges, the owner added a personal note to the miniature of Mary.
After all, the saints that surround Mary in the Grandes Heures have a special
meaning to the owner of the manuscript. He probably visited a lot of the cult
sites and gave his oerings to the saints that are represented in the manuscript
prayer book through their images. Conceivably, the devotee hoped for a spe-
cial treatment from the saints whom he had shown his deference. In adding
the badges to the miniature of Mary, he did not just paint an arbitrary picture
of the heavenly realm; he created a desirable image of heaven where the saints
would be well-disposed towards him.
Te Picture Cycle of Saint Catherine in the Belles Heures
Te owner of the Belles Heures added similar stamped badges to his book of
hours, also to a miniature. Tere are several dierences. Te subject of the
illumination was not Mary, but Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Moreover,
the pilgrim-owner did not add the badges to one miniature in particular. Te
badges follow a cycle of miniatures depicting the life of the saint. Te reasons
to add badges to the Belles Heures were dierent.
In the manuscript as a whole, pilgrimage plays a special role. Te themes of
journey and pilgrimage recur several times. Some saints are depicted as pil-
grims, for example Saint Jerome visiting the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
(f. :,v.) and Saint James (f. :ocv.). In the latter miniature, the illuminator did
not just represent the apostle, like the miniatures of the other saints and angels.
Instead, he painted the interior of a chapel or church by placing the saint upon
an altar. In front of the altar, two pilgrims kneel down to venerate the statue
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ,;
of the apostle. In adding the pilgrims, the illuminator created a view of a pil-
grimage site of Saint James. Eberhard Knig recognized a pilgrim in one of the
four gures kneeling in front of the golden cross.
:,
Also the texts refer to trav-
els. Te nal text of the manuscript hours is a prayer to read before going on
a journey (f. ::,v.).
Te badges were once attached to a blank folio after the picture cycle of
Saint Catherine, more specically following the miniature with the translation
of her relics to Mount Sinai (illus. ). One reason for the owner to attach the
badges to this folio, could have been the connection of this image of Catherine
with pilgrimage. Te miniature does not just show the miraculous translation,
it also depicts the monastery where the relics were kept after their discovery. In
the foreground, a group of pilgrims approach with the intention to venerate
and touch the remains of the saint.
Te pilgrims and the monastery building formed part of the miniature
from the outset. Te text below the miniature does not mention the monas-
tery, but it relates of the oil that ows from Catherines body healing the sick.
Like the other captions in the miniature cycle, it was taken from the Golden
Legend.
:
Tis miraculous oil that was widely known, attracted many pilgrims
from all over the Christian world to the site of the relics of Saint Catherine
on Mount Sinai. Possibly, the Limbourgs added the monastery to illustrate
the passage on the miraculous oil. Perhaps, the brothers met the demands of
the duke when they added the building. As Millard Meiss already stated, the
French court felt a close connection to the convent.
:,
Charles VI donated a
precious chalice in ::: with the royal eurs-de-lis of France. Both Jean de
Berry and his brother Charles V kept amongst their relics some splinters of the
tomb of the saint. Jeans son-in-law Philip of Artois (:,,-,;) actually visited
the monastery of Saint Catherine in :,, after his emprisonment in Cairo.
:o
Te stamp of the dukes personality also shines through in other parts of
the manuscript, especially in places where the Limbourgs depicted existing sites
and buildings, such as the Grande Chartreuse in the Life of Bruno (illus. ,). Te
miniature shows the mother convent that was founded by the saint. Te duke
was an important benefactor of the carthusian monastery which is probably
:, Knig, op. cit. (n. o), p. ::.
: Jacobus de Voragine. Te Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, vol. II, ed. and transl. Wil-
liam Granger Ryan (Princeton, N.J. :,,:) p. ,,,.
:, Millard Meiss & Elizabeth H. Beatson, De Belles Heures van Jean, Duc de Berry (Utrecht,
etc. :,;,), p. :.
:o Knig, op. cit. (n. o), p. o: and Millard, Beatson, op. cit. (n. :,), no. :.
, uaxxixi vax asiiiix
. Limbourg brothers, miniature with the translation of Catherines body to Mount
Sinai, Belles Heures, f. :or. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Te Cloisters
Collection, acc.no. .1.1.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ ,,
. Limbourg brothers, miniature with the Grande Chartreuse, Belles Heures, f. ,;v.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Te Cloisters Collection, acc.no. .1.1.
:cc uaxxixi vax asiiiix
why it takes up such an important place in the picture cycle and why it is
depicted in such detail. Te monastery of Saint Catherine also had personal
meaning for Jean de Berry. Terefore, the building on Mount Sinai could have
been a special request of the duke as well.
Commissioned or not, the monastery of Saint Catherine was clearly recog-
nizable to the beholder. Te miniature shows some of the basic elements of the
monastery: the almost square groundplan and the thick walls with few win-
dows. In fteenth-century journals, pilgrims describe the closed exterior of the
cloister that is so impressive. Joos van Ghistele for example, who undertook a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land in :cs, pictures the exterior of the monastery
as a square place with high strong thick walls with only a couple of windows,
and it has only two doors that are not very big.
:;
Te Limbourg brothers did not just depict the building as it appeared to
contemporary pilgrims, they also depicted the characteristics of its surround-
ings with the bare and extremely steep mountains (illus. o). Te monastery,
says Anselm Adornes who visited the cult site in :;c-;:, is situated at the
foot of Mount Sinai amidst mountains at the extremity of a narrow plane; it
also nds itself surrounded on three sides by very large mountains.
:
In fact,
the mountains around the monastery are so steep, reports another pilgrim,
that if a person should stand in front of the building and look up, it would
seem like the mountains round it would fall on it.
:,
Te illuminators also depicted the pilgrimage route along dangerous pas-
sage ways. Journals describe this route, the only way to reach the cloister, relat-
ing how the pilgrims had to cross a narrow pass in the mountain, until they
reached a plane surrounded by the above-mentioned high mountains
where they would nally descry the monastery. Te pilgrims in the miniature
are just entering such a gorge on their long way to the cult site.
Te Limbourg brothers must have known and used drawings and other
models of the building and its surroundings when they painted the miniature.
Still, the image was never intended to be an actual portrait of the monastery
with a clear depiction of the dierent parts of the building. It does not show
every detail. Te edice is relatively small in comparison to the Grande Char-
treuse for example (illus. and ,). A large part of the building remains hidden
behind a large mountain in the foreground. Te Limbourgs rather depicted
the essence of the site. Tey accentuated the austere exterior and the desolated
:; Ambrosius Z eebout, Tvoyage van Mher Joos van Ghistele (Hilversum :,,), p. ::.
: Anselme Adornes, Itinraire dAnselme Adorno en Terre Sainte (-), eds. Jacques
Heers & Georgette de Groer (Paris :,;), p. ::,.
:, Malcolm L etts, Te pilgrimage of Arnold von Har knight (Wiesbaden :,o;), p. :c.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ :c:
o. Le portrait du Mont Sinai, print from the edition Les observations de plusieurs
singularitez, 1. From: Mahfouz Labib, Plerins et voyageurs au Mont Sina (Caire
1,o1), pl. VI.
atmosphere of the monastery that is described in contemporary pilgrims jour-
nals. Te miniature shows its desolateness and secludedness instead of its
splendor and grandeur. By keeping the monastery small and partially disguised
by the mountains, the Limbourg brothers stressed the inaccessabilty of the
building and the toughness of the pilgrimage route. Te object of the minia-
ture is not topographical accuracy, but the labour of pilgrimage.
Most of the time, scholars stress the novelty and the extravagance of the
elaborate picture cycles with minimal text in the Belles Heures. Undoubtedly,
the duke and later owners enjoyed their beauty. Tis doesnt alter the fact that
the cycle has a devotional value as well. Te picture cycle presents Catherine
as an exempla, a role model for a pious life. Te cycle gives the viewer the
opportunity to follow Catherines example and contemplate the virtues of the
saint by studying the events that leaded up to her death. Pilgrims who visited
the monastery on Mount Sinai usually came from the city of Alexandria where
they visited the locations where Catherine lived, where she was held prisoner,
tortured and eventually beheaded. When the pilgrims left for Mount Sinai
they actually followed the path that Catherine covered when the angels moved
:c: uaxxixi vax asiiiix
her body to Mount Sinai. Te devotee, looking at the picture cycle, could
contemplate the same events of Catherines Life and Passion leading up to the
translation of her relics.
In the miniature cycle, the physical pilgrimage and the contemplations of
the devotee are intertwined. Both ways lead to the same high point: Mount
Sinai. Te nal miniature gives the pious beholder the opportunity to join in
his mind the group of pilgrims moving towards the monastery with the relics,
in order to venerate Saint Catherine. Pilgrimage obviously plays an essential
role in the picture cycle. Te pilgrims in the last picture are not just another
life-like detail, that makes the work of the Limbourg brothers so pleasing.
By adding the pilgrims and the monastery, the illuminators accentuated the
theme of pilgrimage, linking the spiritual contemplations on the Life and Pas-
sion of Saint Catherine with the physical pilgrimage to Mount Sinai.
Badges of Saint Catherine
Te later owner elaborated on the element of pilgrimage by the addition of
badges. It is tempting to insinuate here that the pilgrims badges must have
originated from a cult site of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai even. Pilgrims
could buy souvenirs there. At rst, this were mainly small asks with healing
oil that came from the relics of Catherine, mentioned in the caption of the
miniature. Later, pilgrims could obtain pieces of silk that had been in contact
with the relics.
,c
Many travellers brought their own rosaries, jewelry, and
crosses with the same purpose, to touch the relics hoping that some of the
miraculous powers were transferred to the objects.
,:
Other sources mention
badges from the monastery of Saint Catherine. In Piers Ploughmans Vision for
example, a pilgrim is introduced wearing signes of Synay on his hat.
,:
Of course, Catherine was not just venerated on Mount Sinai. Her popular-
ity spread rapidly. In the eleventh century, a monk of Sinai brought a fragment
,c Adornes, op. cit. (n. :), p. ::;.
,: Adornes, op. cit. (n. :), p. ::; and Letts, op. cit. (n. :,), p. ::.
,: Charles Roach Smith, On pilgrims signes and leaden tokens, in: Journal of the British
Archaeological Association, : (:o), pp. :c:-:, Paul Perdrizet, De la Vronique et de Sainte Vro-
nique, in: Seminarium Kondakovianum (Recueil dEtudes. Archologie, histoire de lart, tudes
byzantines, ,; Prague :,,:), pp. :-:, (p. ,), and Robert W. Lightbown, Mediaeval European Jewel-
lery with a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria & Albert Museum (London :,,:), p. :,. Dee
Dyas read signes of Syse meaning Assisi. Dee Dyas, Pilgrimage in medieval English literature
(Cambridge :cc:), p. :,,.
riacis oi iiiciixaci ix rui BELLES HEURES oi ;iax oi niii\ :c,
of the relics to Rouen as a gift to the duke of Normandy.
,,
Te sanctuary there
eventually took the name of the saint: the convent of Sainte-Catherine-du-
Mont. Situated on a hill, the design undoubtedly referred to Mount Sinai.
Another famous pilgrimage site was Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois (near Tours).
Pilgrims came ocking in :,;, when a man was miraculously cured after being
paralyzed for seven years. Naturally, this incident gave rise to other marvels.
Te miracle book of the cult site describes over two hundred miraculous sto-
ries that happened at Fierbois through the intercession of Saint Catherine.
Te saint was often called upon for help during battle and invoked by pris-
oners, probably because of her most important attribute: the sword. Philip of
Artois went to Mount Sinai after his emprisonment in Cairo to thank Cather-
ine for his release. Philip the Bold (d. :c) visited Fierbois to thank Catherine
after his victory at the Flemish town of Westrozebeke in :,:. Like Mount
Sinai, Fierbois was popular with knights and other people of high social stand-
ing, as Saint Catherine was thought to be of a noble family. In :,c, Isabelle of
Portugal, duchess of Burgundy, ordered an expensive golden badge of Sainte-
Catherine-de-Fierbois, of twenty ve sols.
,
Also Ren of Anjou, Yolande of
Aragons son, visited Saint Catherine of Fierbois, probably more than once.
On :c July :,:, he bought a number of gold and silver badges from Jehan
Juliot, a goldsmith in Sainte-Catherine, at a price of ten livres.
,,
Ren bought
three large gold badges for himself, his wife and their daughter Yolande, six
small ones for his chamberlains, a silver burlette that is a small pendant
with the Life of Saint Catherine. On top of this, he bought two dozen large
silver badges to give the gentlemen and ladies of the household and four dozen
small ones to give to the ocers.
Te owner of the Belles Heures could have been one of the visitors of Fierbois,
so popular with the French nobility. However, pilgrimage sites of Catherine
were manifold. Even though a badge of Catherine from Mount Sinai, Sainte-
Catherine-du-Mont or Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois or some other cult of
Catherine would seem an appropriate addition to the manuscript, the images
in the Belles Heures are unrecognizable. Te badges cannot be attributed to a
specic pilgrimage site. Any badge would have been appropriate, because of
the association of the miniatures with pilgrims and pilgrimage.
,, Jacobus de Voragine, op. cit. (n. :), p. ,,,, Denis Bruna, Enseignes de plerinage et enseignes
profanes (Paris :,,o), pp. ::,- and Katherine J. Lewis, Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine
of Alexandria in Late Medieval England, in: Pilgrimage Explored, ed. J. Stopford (York :,,,)
pp. :o-.
, Comte De Laborde, op. cit. (n. ::), vol. ,: ,, p. ,,, no. o;,;.
,, Arnaud D Agnel, Comptes du roi Ren, vol. : (Paris :,:c), p. :o.
:c uaxxixi vax asiiiix
Traces of Devotion
In the Grandes Heures as in the Belles Heures, the owner chose a miniature to
add the badges to. In both cases, the miniatures are devotional images rather
than illustrations of a text, they were incentives for contemplation. Te mini-
ature of the Apocalyptic Virgin in the Grandes Heures is a single-leaf image.
Te smudges and discolorations left by touch indicate its value as an instru-
ment for contemplation. Te image does not just illustrate the text at hand.
On the contrary, the prayer texts were written to accompany the precious image
of the Virgin. Te miniature cycle in the Belles Heures on the other hand serves
as an incentive for the contemplative thoughts on the Life and Passion of Saint
Catherine. Here also, the text supports the image, not the other way around.
With the addition of the badges, the owners elaborated on the iconography
and accentuated elements of own choice to give the book a personal slant. In
the Grandes Heures, the devotee introduced a community of saints around the
image of the Madonna, creating a vision of Paradise. In the Belles Heures, the
owner-pilgrim elaborated and expanded on the element of pilgrimage that is
rmly embedded in the picture cycle of Saint Catherine. Te miniatures give
the devout reader the opportunity to follow in Catherines footsteps and con-
template the events of her life and death, not unlike a pilgrim visiting the sites
where Catherine lived and had died. Reecting the exemplary journey of the
pilgrims in the nal miniature, the owner of the Belles Heures added the mem-
ory of an individual pilgrimage, adding a private and individual chapter to the
book. In a way, the owner joined the travellers in the miniature of the Lim-
bourg brothers.
Many things remain uncertain about the whereabouts and users of the Belles
Heures (as well as the Grandes Heures for that matter) and many things are left
to guesswork: the identity of the person who added the badges (possibly a
member of a French noble family), the images on the badges (perhaps Cath-
erine), and, a related problem, the site of pilgrimage where the badges must
have originated (Mount Sinai, Sainte-Catherine-du-Mont, Fierbois or another
place even?). But even without an identication, the imprints are a ne exam-
ple of the devotional practice to attach badges to books of hours. Te owner
used the badges to give a personal twist to the images of the book, so that it
tted his pious intentions even better. Te imprints illustrate the purpose of
the book as an instrument of devotion rather than a precious object intended
solely for admiration.
Was kann man aus den Belles Heures ber die
Limburgs lernen?
:
Eberhard Knig
Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany
Nach der publikumswirksamen Ausstellung im Museum het Valkhof in Nim-
wegen :cc,
:
und den Publikationen vor allem der beiden vorausgehenden
Jahre,
,
liegen die Belles Heures vor uns so oen wie noch nie. Dabei war das
Buch, nachdem es vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg kaum einmal eingesehen wer-
den durfte und nicht einmal in Abbildungen verfgbar war,

vor allem durch

die ausgezeichnete Publikation von Jean Porcher aus dem Jahre :,,, schon gut
bekannt.
,
Gefeiert wurde mit ihr, dass das Werk nicht durch die deutschen
Besatzer zerstrt war, und vielleicht auch verschleiert, dass das Manuskript die
gesamte schlimme Zeit ber in der Pariser Nationalbibliothek gelegen haben
mag.
o
Porchers originalgroe Reproduktionen halfen Frankreich und Europa
: Mein Beitrag wird hier nicht in der Fassung gedruckt, die ich beim Kolloquium vorgetragen
habe; gerade die Begegnung mit den beiden Machern der Nimwegener Ausstellung hat
Reexionen in Gang gebracht, die zugleich zeigen, wie wir doch auch in der Lage sind, Dinge in
neuem Licht zu sehen. Fr Anregungen und Hilfe sei Laura Schmidt gedankt.
: De Gebroeders Van Limburg. Nijmeegse Meesters aan het Franse Hof :,oo-:,:, hrsg. von Rob
Dckers & Pieter Roelofs (Ausst. Nimwegen, Museum het Valkhof, :. August-:c. November
:cc,; Nimwegen :cc,).
, Siehe zuletzt: Eberhard Knig, Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. Acc.No.,,.:.:. Metropolitan
Museum of Art. Te Cloisters Collection, New York (Begleitband zur Faksimile-Edition; Luzern
:cc,); sowie ders., Die Belles Heures des Duc de Berry (Stuttgart :cc).
Christopher de Hamel, Te Rothschilds and Teir Collections of Illuminated Manuscripts
(London :cc,), S. ,., berichtet, dass Millard Meiss im Jahre :,,o bei den Pariser Rothschilds
gleichsam heraus geworfen wurde, als er nach Besichtigung der Handschriftenbestnde um Pho-
toerlaubnis bat.
, Jean P orcher, Les Belles Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry (Paris :,,,).
o Das vermutet zumindest Christopher de Hamel, op. cit (Anm. ), S. ,,. Die deutschen
Besatzer sollen bei der Beschlagnahme von Kunstgtern den nationalen franzsischen Institutio-
nen (so auch dem Louvre) jeweils einen Bruchteil der Beute berlassen haben (was nach dem
Kriege nicht in jedem Fall oen gelegt wurde).
:co iniiuaio xoxic
zugleich, den bevorstehenden Export in die Vereinigten Staaten besser zu ver-
schmerzen, wo das New Yorker Metropolitan Musem mit dem Geld der Rok-
kefeller den Schatz erwarb.
Der vollstndigen Wiedergabe in Schwarzwei folgte das mit ordentlichen
Farbabbildungen versehene Teilfaksimile, das Millard Meiss mit Elisabeth
Beatson :,;, kommentiert hat und in dem John Plummer eine technische
Analyse des Kodex beisteuerte, die beeindruckt, weil der Band doch recht eng
gebunden war und deshalb die Kollationierung erschwerte.
;
Das Original war
in New York nie leicht zu studieren, von den wechselnden Doppelseiten abge-
sehen, die Besucher in einer Vitrine zu Gesicht bekamen. Die Cloisters an der
Nordspitze von Manhattan sind schlielich keine Bibliothek; und schon das
Buch aus der Vitrine zu holen, war nie einfach. So bot die Ausbreitung von
zehn Doppelblttern in Nimwegen auch fr die meisten Kenner der Materie
eine seltene Chance, Malereien der Belles Heures zu sehen.

Da es hier darum gehen soll, was man aus dem Stundenbuch in New York
ber die Limburgs lernen kann, ist nur kurz auf die grundlegenden Einwnde
einzugehen, die Herman Colenbrander seit :,, wiederholt und nun auch in
seiner umfangreichen Dissertation vorgebracht hat.
,
Die Belles Heures spielen
nmlich bei ihm kaum eine Rolle, weil er sich in seinem Kampf gegen die
Zuweisung der Trs Riches Heures an die historisch verbrgten Brder Lim-
burg aus Nimwegen auf das Manuskript in Chantilly konzentriert. Unter
; Millard Meiss & Elisabeth H. Beatson, Te Belles Heures de Jean Duc de Berry in the Cloisters
New York (New York :,;); siehe auch ders., Te Limbourgs and Teir Contemporaries, French
Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry, Bd. , (New York, etc. :,;).
Zuvor hatte man sich im Jahr :cc bei den franzsischen Ausstellungen zur Kunst um :cc
bereits einige Bltter anschauen knnen: Paris :,oo. Les arts sous Charles VI, hrsg. von Elisabeth
Taburet-Delahaye mit Franois Avril (Ausst. Paris, Louvre, ::. Mrz-::. Juli :cc), Nr. :; Lart
la cour de Bourgogne. Le mcnat de Philippe le Hardi et de Jean sans Peur (:,,-:,:)), hrsg. von
Stephen N. Fliegel & Sophie Jugie (Ausst. Dijon, Muse des Beaux-Arts, :. Mai-:,. September
:cc; Cleveland, Museum of Art, :. Oktober :cc-,. Januar :cc,), Nr. ::; siehe auch Eberhard
Knig, Frankreich feiert das Mittelalter, in: Kunstchronik, :cc,, S. -:c,.
, Herman T. Colenbrander, Op zoek naar de Gebroeders Limburg. De Trs Riches Heures in
het Muse Cond in Chantilly, Het Wapenboek Gelre in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I in Brus-
sel en Jan Maelwael en zijn neefes Polequin, Jehannequin en Herman van Limburg (Amsterdam
:cco; Proefschrift, Amsterdam); siehe zuvor ders., Te Limbourg Brothers, the Miniaturists of
the Trs Riches Heures du Duc de Berry?, in: Masters and Miniatures, Proceedings of the Congress
in Medieval Manuscript Illumination in the Northern Netherlands, Utrecht :o-:, December :)),
hrsg. von Koert van der Horst & Johann Chr. Klamt, Doornspijk :,,:, S. :c,-:o, und bei weite-
ren Gelegenheiten. Fr die berlassung der Proefschrift und von Sonderdrucken seiner Arbeiten
sei Herrn Colenbrander hier herzlich gedankt.
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: :c;
dem Vorbehalt von Colembranders Forschungen msste man dennoch so
lange von den so genannten Limburgs oder von den Meistern von Chantilly
ms. , sprechen, bis die Angelegenheit geklrt ist. Gegen ihre geldrische
Herkunft fhrt der hollndische Kollege den hohen Anteil des Italienischen
im uvre jener Maler, die man allgemein als die Limburgs akzeptiert, ins
Feld. Gerade die groe Kunst aber war in jener Zeit erstaunlich international
ausgerichtet, sprechen wir doch sogar weltweit von der Internationalen Gotik
um :,oo.
:c
Spitzndig knnte es immerhin heien: Was kann man aus den
Belles Heures ber die Meister der Trs Riches Heures lernen? Die aber htten,
wenn sie aus Italien stammten, erstaunlich viel Nrdliches in ihre Kunst auf-
genommen.
Der Randschmuck zwischen Norden und Sden
Zunchst einmal sollte nachgeholt werden, was in meinen Publikationen zur
Faksimilierung ebenso wie im Katalog zur Nimwegener Ausstellung versumt
wurde: Allen Farber wre zu nennen gewesen, weil er sich wie kein anderer
mit den Dornblattranken auseinandersetzte. Dieser amerikanische Kollege
hat Verknpfungen mit anderen Handschriften aufzeigen knnen und damit
der Einordnung der Belles Heures ein solideres Fundament gegeben.
::
Ihm
gelang es, Hnde innerhalb des Randschmucks zu scheiden; im Ergebnis aber
hat Farber nur noch bessere Grnde fr die schon vorher allgemein akzep-
tierte Datierung um :c beigesteuert.
::
ber die Frage, wie sich die Limburgs als Bildermaler, also historieurs, zu
den enlumineurs des New Yorker Kodex verhalten, msste weiter nachgedacht
:c In meiner sicher nicht glcklichen Rezension der Nimwegener Ausstellung, die den Orga-
nisatoren wohl doch nicht gerecht wird, spielt dieser Aspekt im Zusammenspiel der Meinungen
von Colenbrander und Victor M. Schmidt eine gewisse Rolle, cf. Eberhard Knig Die Belles
Heures des Herzogs von Berry, Probleme und Kontroversen. Aus Anla der Ausstellung De
Gebroeders Van Limburg. Nijmeegse Meesters aan het Franse Hof (:cc-::o), Nijmegen:
Museum het Valkhof :cc,. Katalog hrsg. von Rob Dckers und Pieter Roelofs, in: Kunstchronik,
:cco, S. ::,-,;.
:: Unter anderem: Allen S. Farber, Considering a Marginal Master: Te Work of an Early
Fifteenth Century Parisian Manuscript Decorator, in: Gesta ,:, : (:,,,), S. ::-,,; auf die For-
schungen dieses amerikanischen Kollegen hat nur Franois Avril regelmig hingewiesen.
:: Diese Datierung haben Millard Meiss und Sharon O erarbeitet (Te Bookkeeping of
Robinet dEstampes and the Chronology of Jean de Berrys Manuscripts, in: Art Bulletin ;,
(:,;:), S. ::,-,,, bes. S. :: und :,,; das auch wiederholt in Meiss op. cit. (Anm. ;), sowie Meiss
& Beatson op. cit. (Anm. ;)).
:c iniiuaio xoxic
werden. Dabei enthlt die Chronologie des Buchschmucks ihre Tcken: Die
Belles Heures bieten ein Novum, sind sie doch das lteste datierte Beispiel fr
geschlossene Teppichwirkung des in Blattgold ausgefhrten Dornblatts, das
bei den einfachen Textseiten ohne Farben auskommt.
:,
Im gleichen Zeitraum,
gerade um die Jahre :c/c, aber entstanden Handschriften ganz anderer
Prgung: Der buntfarbige Blattschmuck, den man in nicht ganz zutreender
Terminologie Akanthus nennt, war aus Italien ber Prag gerade in jenen Jah-
ren endlich doch in die franzsische Hauptstadt gelangt, die sich zu jener Zeit
im Ornamentalen erstaunlich konservativ zeigte.
:
Akanthus setzte sich :c
zum ersten Mal in einem Pariser Stundenbuch triumphal durch: Douce :
der Oxforder Bodleian Library.
:,
Gleichzeitig aber lie der Herzog von Berry
in seinen Grandes Heures,
:o
dem grten bekannten Stundenbuch, einen schon
drei Generationen alten Schriftdekor aus einem der kleinsten, dem Stunden-
buch der Jeanne dEvreux, die neben den Belles Heures in den Cloisters liegen,
nachahmen. Dazu lie er um die Textfelder der mit spaltenbreiten Bildern ver-
sehenen Seiten herum Bordren malen, wie sie schon vor :c:/c, im Brsseler
Stundenbuch vorkommen, dort aber nur um die textlosen Bildseiten.
:;
:, Zu den Ausnahmen gehren die einzelnen Horenanfnge im Marien-Ozium (mit Aus-
nahme der Matutin) und Seiten wie die Ernung der Horen des Heiligen Kreuzes , f. c; dort
beweisen die Limburgs ihre Fremdheit zum Pariser Brauch, indem sie eine eher altmodische
Form zur Auszeichnung der Inicipits vor die moderne der einfachen Textseiten stellen. Eine
Sonderrolle spielen auch die Seiten mit leer gebliebenen Aussparungen; auf einer von ihnen,
f. :;, konnte Margaret Lawson die Vorzeichnung eines Engels nachweisen.
: Man denke nur an die Pariser Zurckhaltung, was die Einfhrung des von den Parlern in
Prag entwickelten Flamboyant in gebauter Architektur und in der Zierarchitektur von Klein-
kunst und Bildern betrit siehe die Anste zu entschiedener Sptdatierung bei Philippe Pla-
gnieux im Paris :,oo, op. cit. (Anm. ), S. cf.
:, Paris :,oo, op. cit. (Anm. ), Nr. :, mit weiterer Lit. vor allem Millard Meiss, Te Bouci-
caut Master (French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry II; London etc. :,o), passim, und
Charles Sterling, La peinture mdivale Paris, : (Paris :,;), S. ,o ., sowie Gabriele Bartz, Der
Boucicaut-Meister. Ein unbekanntes Stundenbuch (Illuminationen. Studien und Monographien,
hrsg. von Heribert Tenschert, :; Ramsen etc. :,,,), S. :::, und Albert Chtelet, Lge dor du
manuscrit peintures en France au temps de Charles VI et les Heures du marchal Boucicaut, (Paris
und Dijon :ccc), S. :o:,:o.
:o Paris, BnF, Ms latin ,:, das Blatt mit der Kreuztragung war in Nimwegen die Nr. :::.
:; Siehe meinen Beitrag Archasme et Innovation dans les livres dheures du duc de Berry,
in: Actes du colloque Charles VI, Paris und Dijon :cc (Paris :cco), S. ::-c; abweichend von der
communis opinio wird das Brsseler Stundenbuch datiert von Gerhard Schmidt, in: Heures de
Bruxelles. Ms. ::oo-:. Bibliothque Royale Albert I
er
. Bruxelles, hrsg. von Bernard Bousmanne
u.a. (Luzern :,,o), S. o:-:,:, bes. S. :c;-.
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: :c,
Die Chronologie lsst sich in dieser Zusammenschau aus den Jahren :c/c,
nicht mit kennerschaftlichem Datieren begreifen. Man meint ja allgemein,
Dornblattdekor gehe dem Akanthus voraus; die Reinheit in den Belles Heures
aber markiert mit den einfachen Tintenlinien und der vereinheitlichten Form
eine neue Stufe der Entwicklung und nimmt in ihr nur einen extrem kurzen
Moment ein; denn schon im Boucicaut-Stundenbuch, das Millard Meiss und
ihm folgend Ins Villela-Petit um :c; bzw. um :c datieren, gibt es in den
Ecken Akanthus.
:
Dabei tragen die Limburgs in der New Yorker Handschrift
selbst zur Verwirrung bei, bieten sie doch mit der Bordre auf f. ,c, ein ganz
entgegen gesetztes Novum: den ltesten rechteckig gerahmten vollfarbigen
Randschmuck nrdlich der Alpen. Inspiriert von der Porta della Mandorla des
Florentiner Doms,
:,
ersetzt das Blattwerk um das Verkndigungsbild einen
zunchst ausgefhrten Dornblattschmuck. Einer der Limburgs verrt damit
eine frische Inspiration aus Italien, die whrend der Illuminierung des Buches
die Limburgs erreichte und eher Einblick in die Plne oder die laufende Arbeit
als das Studium dieses erst :: vollendeten Monuments verrt. In schner
Paradoxie bildet diese Anleihe aus Italien den Ausgangspunkt fr die berhm-
ten Bordren, die in den Niederlanden den Meister von :: und die Maler
um Maria von Burgund berhmt machen sollten.
:c
Im niederlndischen Kontext sieht die Forschung solche Bordren zum Teil
auch nur deshalb als etwas einzigartig Neues, weil man die franzsischen Vor-
stufen wie das Stundenbuch der Marguerite dOrlans, das seinerseits an die
Belles Heures anschliet, nicht zur Kenntnis genommen hat.
::
Die drei Brder Limburg brachten also Bewegung in das knstlerische
Geschehen ihrer Zeit: Sie waren in Paris und in der Buchmalerei fremd; das
machte sie frei, verschiedene Aspekte genial zu verbinden: Den Goldranken
: Paris, Muse Jacquemart-Andr, Ms. :: Meiss :,o (wie Anm. :,), passim; Villela-Petit in:
Paris :,oo, op. cit. (Anm. ), Nr. :;:. Die Verwendung des Akanthus bietet einen von mehreren
Grnden, die Datierung der Handschrift noch einmal neu zu berdenken!
:, Darauf hat zum ersten Mal Friedrich Winkler hingewiesen, Paul de Limbourg in Florence,
in: Burlington Magazine ,o (:,,c), S. ,,f.
:c Siehe zuletzt, Illuminating the Renaissance, hrsg. von Tomas Kren & Scot McKendrick
(Ausst.-kat.; London :cc,), passim; sowie, dort nicht recht benutzt, Eberhard Knig (mit Bei-
trgen von Fedja Anzelewsky, Bodo Brinkmann und Frauke Steenbock), Das Berliner Stunden-
buch der Maria von Burgund und Kaiser Maximilians (Lachen am Zrichsee :,,), passim.
:: Paris, BnF, Ms latin ::,oB: Eberhard Knig, Les Heures de Marguerite dOrlans, bersetzt
von Franois Boespug (Paris :,,:); ders., Das Provost-Stundenbuch. Der Meister der Marguerite
dOrlans und die Buchmalerei in Angers (Illuminationen. Studien und Monographien, hrsg. von
Heribert Tenschert, ; Ramsen etc. :cc:).
::c iniiuaio xoxic
wie auch dem Einsatz der Metalle in den Bildern muss die Ausbildung bei
einem Pariser Goldschmied zugute gekommen sein, die wenigstens zwei der
Brder zeitweise erhielten. Mit Italien mag sie zunchst nur jugendliche Neu-
gier verbunden haben. Fr Millard Meiss stand angesichts der Anleihen, die er
im uvre fand, fest, dass wenigstens einen von ihnen er denkt an Paul
eine Reise dorthin fhrte. Selbst wenn Victor Schmidt im Nimwegener Kata-
log gegen eine Reise ber die Alpen argumentiert, kommt auch er nicht
umhin, noch einen neuen Hinweis auf Vertrautheit mit dem Trecento zu lie-
fern: ein Tfelchen von Ambrogio Lorenzetti, das die Martinsminiatur in den
Belles Heures (f. :o,) vorzubereiten scheint.
::
Italien also war in den Kpfen
der Brder aus Nimwegen als Kunde von einem fernen Land, aus dem sie
Zeichnungen und Objekte kannten, oder gar aus persnlicher Erfahrung.
Dafr sprche insbesondere die Vernderung ausgerechnet der Hauptminia-
tur in den Belles Heures.
sthetische Qualitt im Widerspruch zu verlsslicher Arbeit
Zum Studium des Textes blieb bisher aus den genannten konservatorischen
Grnden kaum Zeit. Er ist, wie in Prachthandschriften blich, nicht von der
besten Qualitt; die Schreiber haben zuweilen, um den Zeilenausgleich zu
erreichen, Buchstaben wie i, n und m eingefgt, um sie sogleich durchzustrei-
chen. Wegen der Verwechselbarkeit der Zeichen wirkt es dann oft so, als stehe
das durchgestrichene i als Krzel fr das lateinische Wort et, wo nur ein Fllsel
gemeint ist.
Das hat mit den Limburgs nicht viel zu tun; denn deren Aufgabe lag sicher
nicht darin, das mrbe Latein eines Schreibers zu prfen. Doch mag es mehr
als ein Zufall sein, dass auch dessen Arbeit oenbar an der Schnheit und
nicht an der Korrektheit gemessen wurde. Deshalb hat er nur selten vorsichtig
einen Buchstaben, aber so gut wie nie ein ganzes Wort korrigiert.
:,
Fr die
Limburgs interessanter wird es, wenn man zu Beginn der Suragien auf Par-
tien stt, die nachgerade unsinnig sind; so heit es gleich zu Beginn des Tri-
nitts-Suragiums am Seitenwechsel von f. :,, Recto zu Verso O Beata et
benedicta trini/riosa trinitas. Im Gebet folgt die Formel Omnipote(n)s sem-
:: Victor M. Schmidt, Te Limbourgs and Italian Art, in: De Gebroeders Van Limburg, op.
cit. (Anm. :), S. :;,-:c;, bes. S. :f. mit Abb. :c-::; die farblich allerdings vllig abweichende
Tafel bendet sich in der Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.
:, Selbst beim Lesen fallen solche Korrekturen wie zum Beispiel im falschen Plural edebant,
f. :,,v. links, ,. Zeile, der zum Singular edebat gemacht wird, kaum auf.
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: :::
piterne deus qui dedisti famulis et famulabus tuis . . . inpotenciam maiestatis
adorare. Nach dem Schreibfehler, bei dem vergessen wurde, dass auf Recto
schon der Wortbeginn von trinitas statt der Anfangsbuchstaben von gloriosa
steht, wirkt die Auorderung an den allmchtigen ewigen Gott, der seinen Die-
nern und Dienerinnen (deren Femininum grammatikalisch khn bezeichnet
wird!) gegeben habe, die Ohnmacht oder Machtlosigkeit der Majestt anzubeten,
geradezu wie ein Hohn. Tatschlich ndet sich eine korrekte Version dessel-
ben Gebets in der Messe zu Trinitatis auf f. :cv.: Da lautet die Wortfolge in
potentia maiestatis adorare unitatem, also in der Macht der Majestt die Ein-
heit anzubeten.
Angesichts der Fehler auf f. :,,v. verwundert es nicht, dass auch das fol-
gende Gebet alles andere als korrekt abgeschrieben ist; denn dort heit es erst
im Prsens wir loben dich, dann im Perfekt wir haben dich gepriesen, und der
Anschluss von Gloria in Ewigkeit will auch dem Lateiner nicht so recht gefal-
len. Schlielich beweist der Schluss dieser Passage, wo die Bitte lautet, dass wir,
die wir durch die Last unserer Snden niedergedrckt werden, Erlass der Snden zu
erhalten verdienen: ut q(ui) pec(cat)orum n(ost)roru(m) pond(er)e premimur
scelera indulgencia consequi mereamur. Wie da die Snden scelera und der
Plural fr Erlass indulgencia grammatikalisch gleich gestellt sind, kann nur
erstaunen.
:
Nicht nur diese Hufung von Fehlern fllt am Beginn der Suragien auf.
John Plummer, dessen Kollationierung sonst so verlsslich ist, war an dieser
Stelle entgangen, dass ein ganzes Blatt weggefallen ist. Es muss Suragien zu
den ersten beiden Personen der Trinitt enthalten haben, also zu Vater und
Sohn, war vielleicht sogar schon von den Limburgs bemalt worden. Doch
mag der Verlust bereits auf die Entstehungszeit zurckgefhrt werden; er mag
auf unrettbare Fehler des Schreibers zurckgefhrt werden.
Dem Schreiber ist sonst oenbar alles verziehen worden; die Limburgs aber
waren oenbar in einer Weise als Genies geschtzt, dass bei ihnen auch der
grobe Fehler durchging: Wie wenig sie von den Grundlagen der Bebilderung
eines Stundenbuchs verstanden haben, wird hingegen erst langsam deutlich.
Engel und Stier haben sie in den Belles Heures bei Lukas und Matthus ver-
tauscht, whrend ihnen der Adler des Johannes vertraut und der Markuslwe
mglicherweise aus Venedig gelug war. Ihr kurzes Leben lang konnten sie
: Siehe Eberhard Knig & Gabriele Bartz, Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. Acc.No.,,.:.:.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Te Cloisters Collection, New York, Transkription und bersetzung
(Luzern :cco).
::: iniiuaio xoxic
1. Belles Heures, fol. o: Marienverkndigung
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::,
:. Trs Riches Heures, fol. :o: Marienverkndigung
:: iniiuaio xoxic
sich nicht einmal merken, welches Attribut welchem Evangelisten zukommt;
denn noch in den Trs Riches Heures sollten sie die Fehler wiederholen.
Eine andere Fertigkeit, die man bei Buchmalern sicher stillschweigend vor-
aussetzte, fehlte den jungen Leuten aus Nimwegen ebenso: Sie waren unsg-
liche Heraldiker, wenn sie den Herzog von Berry auf f. ,: mit eurs-de-lis auf
grnem Grund ausstatteten, wo doch gleichsam jedes Kind wusste, dass die
goldenen Zeichen des franzsischen Knigshauses auf azur zu erscheinen haben.
Das verwundert umso mehr, als technisch dafr eine besonders wertvolle Farbe
erforderlich war. Zugleich erstaunt die Fremdheit der Heraldik, weil anders als
im Franzsischen schon in ihrer Heimatsprache die Schilde ebenso wie die
Schildereien zum schilderen, also zum Beruf der Maler gehrten.
Die Unterzeichnungen und die Probleme der Hndescheidung
Einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Frage, was die New Yorker Belles Heures zum
Verstndnis der Limburgs oder eben der Meister von Chantilly Ms. , beitragen,
bieten Untersuchungen in der Restaurierungswerkstatt des Metropolitan Muse-
ums, zu der die Faksimilierung Anlass gab. Erste Ergebnisse machte die verant-
wortliche Restauratorin Margaret Lawson im Katalog von Nimwegen publik.
:,
Der systematischen Forschung stehen nun Infrarot-Reektographien zur
Verfgung, in denen das Verhltnis von Zeichnung und Ausfhrung deutlich
zu Tage tritt.
:o
Doch deren wichtigstes Ergebnis ermutigt nicht: Zwischen den
nun lesbaren Zeichnungen und den Oberchen der Miniaturen besteht nm-
lich in aller Regel eine geradezu erstaunliche bereinstimmung. Geschichts-
schreibung aber lebt von Distanz und Dierenz; Wer Kunstgeschichte schreibt,
ist darauf aus, Brche in der Konzeption und Pentimenti aufzudecken. Wenige
Reuezge in den Belles Heures erkannte man schon mit dem bloen Auge; sie
sind im Faksimile selbstverstndlich zu sehen und stellen sich nach allem tech-
nischen Aufwand als die entscheidenden heraus: Bei der Marter des Apostels
Bartholomus (f. :o:) hat man beispielsweise einzelne Figuren verndert; eine
Dornenkrone wurde auf f. ::v vorgezeichnet, blieb dann aber unter dem Grn
des Grases verborgen, weil sie eine Doppelung im Bild wre; denn Christus
:, Margaret Lawson, Te Belles Heures of Jean, Duc de Berry. Te Materials and Techniques
of the Limbourg Brothers, in: De Gebroeders Van Limburg, op. cit. (Anm. :), S. :-o,, bes. Abb.
:,-:c auf S. :o:f.
:o Hiermit danke ich den Verantwortlichen, unter anderem Timothy Husband, dafr, mir
die Aufnahmen zugnglich gemacht zu haben.
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::,
. Belles Heures, fol. 1,1v: Antonius auf der Suche nach Paulus Eremita
::o iniiuaio xoxic
. Belles Heures, fol. 1,:: Antonius auf der Suche nach Paulus Eremita
gleich daneben trgt sie auf dem Haupt.
:;
hnlich ikonographisch sprechende
Details sind mit den technischen Mitteln nicht zu Tage getreten.
Wichtiger noch ist der Umstand, dass keine Eingrie zu Tage traten, die auf
Abhngigkeiten von Meister und Gehilfen schlieen lieen. Das Bemerkens-
werteste, was Margaret Lawson verbrgt, betrit den Duktus der Unterzeich-
nung: Er verrt ihr tatschlich drei Maler; die Eigenarten, auf die sie gestoen
ist, beschreibt sie als drei knstlerische Temperamente. Besonnenheit bestimmt
Lawsons Auswertung, wenn sie, anders als Meiss und Beatson in :,;, die
einzelnen Temperamente und die ihnen zugeordneten Bilder nicht mit Vorna-
men der Limburgs versieht. Solange nur Aufnahmen weniger Miniaturen
abgebildet sind, kann weitere Forschung allein im Museum selbst ein Gesamt-
bild gewinnen, das dann mit den Intuitionen von Meiss abgeglichen werden
msste.
Dringend ntig wirkt Hndescheidung unter den Limburgs ohnehin schon
deshalb nicht, weil alle drei Brder oenbar ihr kurzes Arbeitsleben gemein-
sam verbrachten und im selben Jahr ::o starben. Zudem berzeugen sie auf
den ersten Blick durch die erstaunlich gleich bleibende Qualitt ihrer Arbeit,
die sie zugleich so schlssig von Nachfolgern wie dem Spitz-Meister unter-
:; Dabei ist bemerkenswert, wie wenig vertraut die Limburgs mit dem von den Franziskanern
verbreiteten Kult der Dornenkrone waren: Nur in einer weiteren Passionsszene kehrt sie in den
Belles Heures wieder, als Reliquie, die eine Frau bei der Kreuzabnahme birgt (f. :,). Christus
trgt die Dornenkrone in den Trs Riches Heures nur bei der entsprechenden Szene (f. :,ov.).
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::;
scheiden lassen.
:
Nur selten wird trotz der hohen Disziplin der Gegensatz
zwischen verschiedenen Hnden auf den ersten Blick evident: am deutlichsten
beim Nebeneinander der beiden kompositorisch eng verwandten Miniaturen
mit der Suche des heiligen Antonius nach dem Einsiedler Paulus, auf f. :,:v.
und :,:. Khn in anderer Sicht aber unprofessionell wirkt die Tatsache,
dass die erste der beiden Miniaturen auf den Horizont verzichtet; raniert
hingegen mag man die Abwendung des beide Male im Hintergrund rechts
oben hockenden Einsiedlers auf der spteren Miniatur nden; denn nur diese
Position macht verstndlich, dass Antonius den Gesuchten nicht nden kann.
Meiss meinte, Paul habe die krftige Figur des Heiligen auf f. :,:v. entwor-
fen und vielleicht auch gemalt, whrend dieselbe Gestalt seiner Meinung nach
auf f. :,: von Jan in einen wrdigen Abt mit sorgfltig frisiertem Haar und
seidenweichem Bart verwandelt wurde. Das Urteil entspricht einer an Italien
orientierten sthetik: Moderne Augen vermag sicher die erste Miniatur str-
ker zu berzeugen; denn heute honoriert man die groe Form; doch mgen
die Zeitgenossen die Vielfalt und kleinteilige Przision der anderen Miniatur
hher geschtzt haben.
Bei Meiss bildet die Benennung der einzelnen Brder somit ausschlielich
ein Werteschema ab. Immerhin knnte die Hndescheidung den in den Quel-
len immer hervorgehobenen Paul als Meister etablieren, dem die beiden jn-
geren beliebig zuzuordnen wren, weil fr den Unterschied von Jan und
Herman keinerlei Kriterien zu fassen sind. Die interessanteste Frage bleibt, ob
und wie weit sich die drei jungen Leute in Berrys Diensten berhaupt werk-
stattmig organisiert haben. Die Limburgs stammen zwar aus einer Familie,
die handwerklich orientiert war; sie waren aber eigentlich zu jung, als dass sich
auch nur einer von ihnen wirklich wie ein Meister fhlen und auhren
konnte. Dass sie sich in die im Wesentlichen auerknstlerische Buchpro-
duktion in Paris kaum eingepasst haben, wei man schon lange; und ob das
aus dem niederlndischen und deutschen Zunftwesen bernommene Schema
von Meister und Werkstatt sozialgeschichtlich berhaupt auf Buchmaler um
:cc angewendet werden kann, bleibt eine unbeantwortete Frage.
:,

: Benannt nach dem erst krzlich vom Getty-Museum in Los Angeles erworbenen Stun-
denbuch, Ms. Getty ,;, das auch in Nimwegen zu sehen war (De Gebroeders Van Limburg, op.
cit. (Anm. :), Nr. :c,).
:, Deshalb kommt ihnen auch nicht viel Raum zu in Richard & Mary Rouse, Manuscripts
and Teir Makers. Commercial Book Production in Medieval Paris. ::oo-:,oo, : Bde. (Turnhout
:ccc).
:: iniiuaio xoxic
Knstlerisches Kollektiv oder Werkstatt mit Paul als Meister?
Die detailgetreue bereinstimmung der meisten nun von Margaret Lawson
sichtbar gemachten Zeichnungen mit den ausgefhrten Miniaturen knnte
dafr sprechen, dass man die Arbeit blattweise verteilte nicht lagenweise, wie
die beiden Szenen von Antonius auf der Suche nach Paulus beweisen. Die
einzelnen Bilder waren also jeweils von der Planung bis zur Fertigstellung
einem der Brder anvertraut. Daraus wre im Verein mit der Scheidung von
Unterzeichnungen zu schlieen, dass die aus den Quellen sprechende Fh-
rungsrolle des ltesten Bruders Paul ihm nicht das Privileg gab, im Manuskript
selbst die Miniaturen zu entwerfen, um sie von seinen Brder ausmalen zu
lassen. Der Meister, als der Paul in den Quellen erscheint, zeigt sich somit im
Werk nur als Primus inter pares.
Ein entscheidender Vergleich mag das erhellen: Htte sich Paul jene Aufga-
ben vorbehalten, die bei der blichen Arbeitsverteilung im Stundenbuch dem
Werkstattleiter zuelen, msste er die New Yorker Verkndigung ebenso wie
die entsprechende Miniatur in Chantilly gemalt haben; denn die Ernung
der Marien-Matutin war Sache des Meisters. Doch steht der Augenschein
und auch die Hndescheidung bei Meiss, der die Hauptminiatur in den Belles
Heures Paul, die in den Trs Riches Heures aber Paul und Jan gibt gegen eine
solche Gleichung. Bei den Brdern Limburg htte somit die Bildhierarchie
nicht der Hierarchie der Beteiligten entsprochen; oder die Hndescheidung
funktioniert doch nicht so, wie man das gerne htte.
Eine Entdeckung, die Lawson im Nimwegener Katalog verentlicht hat,
bietet nun einen spannenden Hinweis: Die letzte Miniatur, f. ::,v., zeigt ein
mikroskopisch kleines P in einem Trmchen; sie knnte von Paul von Lim-
burg signiert sein! Wenn es sich wirklich um Pauls Signatur handelt, wre
diese Miniatur der Schlssel zu dessen Anteil am uvre der Limburgs. Meiss
erhielte im Nachhinein ein wenig Recht; denn auch fr ihn hat das Schluss-
bild der Belles Heures durchaus mit dem ltesten Bruder zu tun aber nur so
wie die Verkndigung der Trs Riches Heures: Beide Miniaturen sind seiner
Meinung nach von Paul entworfen, jedoch nicht von ihm, sondern von Jan
vollendet.
Zum Vergleich mit der New Yorker Verkndigung eignet sich die Szene
freilich nicht besonders gut; der Augenschein lsst sogar massiv zweifeln, ob
fr beide Arbeiten wirklich dieselbe Hand in Frage kommt. Von der Qualitt
her unterscheiden sich die beiden Bilder in einer Weise, dass ein moderner
Blick in Gabriel und dem Engel bereits Vorboten von viel spterer monumen-
taler Malerei sehen wrde; an Lochners Auentafeln zum Klner Dombild
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::,
gemahnen sie mich. Das New Yorker Schlussbild aber wirkt viel zierlicher und
mag deshalb fr Zeitgenossen sogar den Vorrang gehabt haben.
Zugleich ergeben sich weitere Fragen: Wenn nun Jan das Schlussbild voll-
endete, warum htte er in diese Miniatur des lteren Bruders Zeichen setzen
sollen? Immerhin sprechen die Quellen zuweilen von Pol et ses frres. Wenn das
P eine Signatur ist, die nicht vom ltesten Bruder selbst gesetzt wurde, dann
haben sich die Limburgs selbst, in Analogie zu Joseph mit seinen Brdern in
gypten, als Paul und seine Brder im fremden Land, Frankreich, begrien.
Warum aber wurde nur das letzte Bild signiert?
Berry und die neuen Bilder
Noch mehr erstaunt, dass Berry auf dieser Miniatur keine rechte Gestalt hat,
whrend er auf der entsprechenden Miniatur in den Petites Heures so ein-
drucksvoll wie sonst nur im Januar der Trs Riches Heures portrtiert ist.
,c
Man
wird den Nimwegener Herausgebern zustimmen, dass in einer der Figuren,
die sich in dem New Yorker Bild von rechts auf die Burg hin bewegen, der
Herzog selbst zu erkennen sein msste. Doch schon lsst sich streiten, welcher
Reiter gemeint sein mag. Der Konvention entsprechend msste ihm der Schim-
mel gehren; dessen Reiter aber wird stark vom Bildrand angeschnitten.
Fr das Verhltnis der Miniaturen in den Belles Heures zu anderen Stunden-
bchern ist das Schlussbild noch in manch anderer Hinsicht aufschlussreich:
Die Darstellung ist mittig in zwei Hlften geteilt, in Burg und Reitergruppe.
Zweiphasige Bilder schuf man in Italien; Frankreich erreichten sie im Oeuvre
des Meisters der Cit des Dames, wo sie ab etwa :c, heimisch wurden.
,:
Das
wrde ins Bild passen, das Meiss entwarf und das Colenbrander an der Her-
kunft der fr die Limburgs gehaltenen Maler aus Geldern zweifeln lsst.
In herkmmlichem Bildaufbau mssten die Ankmmlinge von links ins
Bild treten, um rechts auf das Gebude zu stoen. In den Belles Heures wird die
,c Paris, BnF, Ms latin :c:, f. :v., hinzugefgt wie das Blatt in den Belles Heures; diese
Miniatur diente zu Recht als Aushngeschild der Nimwegener Ausstellung; gute Abb. auf S. ,;;;
ihr folgt auf S. ,;, eine entsprechend gute aus Chantilly, Ms. o,, f. :.
,: Neben den zweiphasigen Frontispiz-Miniaturen zu den namengebenden Handschriften
(Paris, BnF, Ms fr. oc;; Brssel, KB, Ms. ,,,, u.a.) ist vor allem an die erst etwa zehn Jahre
sptere Illustration des Decameron fr Johann ohne Furcht zu denken (Rom, Biblioteca Aposto-
lica Vaticana, Pal.lat.:,,); zu diesem Exemplar und zu den Vorstufen im uvre des Malers und
in Italien siehe: Eberhard Knig, Boccaccio: Decameron. Alle :oo Miniaturen der ersten Bilderhand-
schrift (Stuttgart :,,).
::c iniiuaio xoxic
. Belles Heures, fol. ::v: Ankunft an einem Stadttor
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: :::
Leserichtung umgekehrt; und das kann drei Grnde haben: Die Reiter mgen
aus einer volkreichen Kreuzigung stammen und htten dann in fremdem
Zusammenhang ihren Charakter vllig verndert. Unter Jesu Kreuz naht eine
hnliche Truppe mit dem Hauptmann in ihrer Mitte, der seinen Begleiter auf
Christi Gottessohnschaft hinweist; und das geschieht gewhnlich wie hier von
rechts. Solche Klitterungen aus Bildvorlagen kannte man durchaus; der Rohan-
Stil ist dafr berhmt geworden; denn die beiden bedeutendsten Miniaturen in
den Grandes Heures de Rohan stammen aus greren Zusammenhngen.
,:
Volkreiche Kreuzigungen mit Reitergruppen unter dem Kreuz kennt die zeit-
gleiche franzsische Buchmalerei kaum. Die Limburgs haben nicht einmal im
groen Format der Trs Riches Heures fr Pferde Platz (sie kommen dort erst bei
Jean Colombe, also um :, auf ). Dasselbe gilt fr die groe Folge bedeutender
Stundenbcher von Berrys Brsseler Trs Belles Heures bis zu den Hauptwerken
der nach Boucicaut, Mazarine oder Egerton genannten Meister. Eine Ausnahme
bildet das Heidelberger Missale aus der Bedford-Gruppe brigens mit irri-
tierenden Anklngen an deutsche Malerei der Zeit.
,,
Fr die deutlich spter
entstandenen Grandes Heures de Rohan entlehnte man sie der neapolitanischen
Anjou-Bibel des :. Jahrhunderts.
,
Aus Italien wird die Idee in die deutschspra-
chigen Lande gekommen sein, wo zwar Altarbilder wie jenes in Bad Wildungen,
das Conrad von Soest :c, datierte, noch mit Fuvolk allein auskommen, der
Klner Meister der Heiligen Veronika aber in dem meits schon um :cc datier-
ten Tfelchen des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums die um :,:c von Pietro Lorenzetti
in der Unterkirche von Assisi verwirklichte Vision in nordalpine Form umsetzte.
,: Ms latin ,;: der Pariser Nationalbibliothek, f. :,, (Klage unter dem Kreuz) und :,,
(Toter vor Gott); die eine Personengruppe stammt aus einer volkreichen Kreuzigung in der Art
von Founders o: in Cambridge, die andere aus Bordren zu Bildern des Toten-Oziums; zuletzt
Eberhard Knig, Die Grandes Heures de Rohan. Eine Hilfe zum Verstndnis des Manuscrit latin
),;: der Bibliothque nationale de France (Simbach am Inn, :cco), sowie ders., Fifteenth-
century illuminations from Angers in Cambridge: the Hours of Isabella Stuart and the quest for
a local style, in: Symposium of the Fitzwilliam Museum, hrsg. von Stella Panayotova & Paul Bin-
ski (Cambridge :cc;; pp. ::-:).
,, Heidelberg, UB, Cod.Sal. IXa, f. :c;v.: Armin Schlechter u.a., Vom Bodensee an den Neckar.
Bcherschtze aus der Bibliothek des Zisterzienserklosters Salem in der Universittsbibliothek Heidel-
berg (Schriften der Universittsbibliothek Heidelberg, Band ,; Heidelberg :cc,), Nr. ,, und
Farbtaf. ,c.
, Paris, BnF, Ms latin ,;:, f. :;, entspricht mit Ausnahme des Goldgrunds und weniger
hinzugekommener Figuren der Miniatur auf f. :;v. in Ms fr. ,,o: (ebenda); siehe z.B. Meiss
:,; (wie Anm. ;), Abb. ;: f.; den Bezug der beiden Handschriften zu einander hat Jean Por-
cher am intensivsten untersucht (Two Models for the Heures de Rohan, in: Journal of the War-
burg and Courtauld Institutes, (:,,), S. :-o).
::: iniiuaio xoxic
Den Reitern der Belles Heures kommt jedoch meiner Meinung von allen Kreu-
zigungsbildern das verlorene Urbild einer Komposition am nchsten, die ich
hinter Miniaturen in Walters ::: in Baltimore, im Stundenbuch der Isabella
Stuart, Founders o: im Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge und dem Stunden-
buch der Marguerite dOrlans, Ms latin ::,oB in Paris, vermute.
,,
Deren frhe-
ste datierte Spur geht immerhin zurck bis zu den :c, vollendeten Grandes
Heures des Herzogs von Berry.
,o

Ranement oder Rechts-Links-Schwche
Die ungewhnliche Ausrichtung der Bildelemente im Schlussbild mag man
auf ein bewusstes Ranement zurckfhren: Die Maler knnten absichtlich
gegen die Erwartung verstoen haben, dass jede wesentliche Bildentwicklung
,, Eberhard Knig, Franzsische Buchmalerei um :,,o: Der Jouvenel-Maler, der Maler des Gen-
fer Boccaccio und die Anfange Jean Fouquets (Berlin :,:), S. :::., Abb. :,, :,,, ,:.
,o Paris, BnF, Ms latin ,:,, f. ;: ebenda, Abb. ,c,.
o. Fragment eines Stundenbuchs aus Rennes, Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, W ::1,
fol. : Kreuzannagelung und Kreuzigung
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::,
von links zu erfolgen habe. Sie mgen aber auch schlicht eine Rechts-Links-
Schwche gehabt haben.
Zunchst scheint die Vermutung einer eklatanten Schwche ein ungebhr-
liches Ansinnen, angesichts der eminenten Bedeutung der Limburgs. Doch
gibt es in den Belles Heures mehr als eine Miniatur, die durch das Verhltnis
von links und rechts irritiert, also wenigstens zeigt, dass die Limburgs von der
Gleichsetzung des Lesens mit der Logik der Bilderzhlung nichts wussten oder
nicht viel hielten: Das krasseste Beispiel ist die nach herkmmlicher Lesart im
Bild vllig unverstndliche Intrige, die den heiligen Hieronymus aus Rom
vertrieben hat (f. :,v.): Dort wird links die Folge von dem erzhlt, was rechts
angerichtet wird.
Die Leserichtung wird auch sonst gern umgekehrt: Einen Gegensinn erzeugt
die Bildordnung auf f. :o, wo die von Maxentius zusammen gerufenen Philo-
sophen sterben, ehe Katharina zu ihnen spricht, oder auf f. :c, wenn dort die
Pilger bereits auf der beschwerlichen Reise zum Katharinenkloster am Sinai
sind, bevor der Leib der Heiligen dort mit dem abgeschlagenen Haupt durch
Engel wieder vereint wird. Dramatisch gewinnen einige Bilder, wenn beispiels-
weise auf f. :ov. Katharinas Einkerkerung dem Betrachter gleichsam entgegen-
kommt; dasselbe gilt fr Faustinas Martyrium auf f. : oder die Ermordung
der bekehrten Massen auf f. :,.
Man knnte darber nachsinnen, wie weit solche Phnomene an eine Arbeits-
phase gebunden sind oder gar einen der Limburgs von seinen Brdern unter-
scheiden; denn in den Geschichten von der Einrichtung der Litanei (f. ;-;,v.)
oder von der Grndung der Groen Kartause (f. ,-,;v.) trit man solche
Probleme ebenso wenig wie in den Zyklen der Kindheitsgeschichte und der
Passion, in den Geschichten von Heraklius (f. :,;) oder in den Suragien.
Doch in der Legende des Kirchenvaters Hieronymus werden ganze Passagen
umgedreht; das gilt nicht nur fr das schon zitierte f. :v., sondern ebenso fr
f. :,, wo man nicht wei, ob mit der Seefahrt die Reise vor oder nach dem
Treen mit Gregor von Nazianz gemeint ist.
Noch irritierender wirkt die Andacht des heiligen Hieronymus in der Gra-
beskirche zu Jerusalem auf f. :,v.: In einem eigentmlichen Zitat wachen hier
die Soldaten aus der Osternacht immer noch am Grab des Herrn, der zu Zei-
ten des Kirchenvaters schon lange auferstanden war.
Die Erndung der Bildformeln und die Ausmalung der Belles Heures
Die Vertauschung von Links und Rechts scheint jeweils einen Eingri in einen
ersten Entwurf zu verraten. Das zeigt sich am krassesten beim Besuch der
:: iniiuaio xoxic
;. Belles Heures, fol. 18v: Intrige gegen Hieronymus in Rom
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::,
Kaiserin Faustina in Katharinas Kerker (f. :;v.): Diese Szene erscheint wie
einige andere in spteren Handschriften vollstndiger als in der Fassung fr
den Herzog von Berry: In den Belles Heures fehlt Kaiser Maxentius; doch nur
weil der zugesehen hat, wie sich die Kaiserin heimlich zur Heiligen schlich,
musste Faustina in der nchsten Szene noch vor Katharina den Mrtyrertod
sterben. Im Spitz-Stundenbuch zwngt sich auf f. ,v. der brutale Beobachter
geradezu ins Bild; das ist sthetisch weniger elegant; ihn wegzulassen, empfahl
sich also durchaus.
,;
Die Belles Heures erweisen sich an dieser Stelle nicht als Schpfungswerk. So
neu und revolutionr die Entwrfe der Limburgs auch in ihrer Zeit waren, so
sind sie keineswegs mit der Arbeit in den Belles Heures entstanden. In den New
Yorker Bildern bewegen sich die Brder sogar bereits ein Stck weg von der
Phase, in denen sie die Bilder entworfen haben!
Der zeitliche Ablauf
Man kann nur annherungsweise sagen, wann die Belles Heures entstanden
sind. Meiss und Farber stimmen, wie schon gesagt, darin berein, dass :c
ein gutes Datum ist. Freilich wird solch ein Buch nicht an einem Tage gemacht;
und gerade die Jugend der Limburgs macht ihre mgliche Entwicklung bei
der Arbeit an den vielen Miniaturen besonders interessant.
Vom Arbeitsprozess zeugen die wenigen Spuren des Unvollendeten: Am
Ende der Katharinenlegende blieb ein fr Malerei grundiertes Bildfeld ohne
Text leer, weil man oenbar die Zahl der erforderlichen Bilder falsch berech-
net hatte ein Unikum in der Geschichte des Stundenbuchs, das wieder die
mangelnde Vertrautheit der Maler mit ihren Aufgaben verrt. Einzelne Bor-
dren lassen Felder frei, die nicht ausgemalt wurden. Was geplant war, zeigt
auf f. :; ein Engelchen, das in ein derart unvollendet gebliebenes Randfeld
hineingezeichnet wurde.
Nachtrglich umgestellt wurden die beiden Lagen mit Geschichten der Alt-
vter; zunchst htte von Antonius und Paulus Eremita die Rede sein mssen;
dann erst von Hieronymus; denn ihm verdanken wir ja die Berichte aus der
Tebaischen Wste. Von seiner prchtigeren Bordre her erhebt auch das Ein-
gangsbild mit der Flucht des Paulus aus Rom (f. :,:) Anspruch darauf, den
ganzen Block der Bilder einzuleiten; die Rubrik auf f. ::v. aber ist bereits auf
,; Siehe Abb. bei Gregory T. Clark, Te Spitz Master. A Parisian Book of Hours (Los Angeles
:cc,), S. :;.
::o iniiuaio xoxic
8. Belles Heures, fol. 1;v: Besuch der Kaiserin Faustina in Katharinas Gefngnis
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::;
,. Spitz-Stundenbuch, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, ms. ;, fol. v: Besuch
der Kaiserin Faustina in Katharinas Gefngnis
:: iniiuaio xoxic
das eingestellt, was man heute vor sich hat, wenn es heit, es folgten die Mes-
sen, und zwar zunchst von Weihnachten; zuerst aber sei das Leben des heili-
gen Hieronymus gesetzt (Sequitur misse. Et primo de nativitate domini n(ost)ri
ih(es)u xp(ist)i. Et primo ponitur vita beati ieronimi tota ystoriata).
Gleich mehrere wichtige Aufschlsse ergeben sich hieraus: Der Schreiber
reektiert oenbar zunchst einmal, dass hier direkt die Messen anzuschlieen
htten, dass dazwischen aber etwas geschaltet wurde, was anfangs gar nicht
geplant war. Im Hinweis auf die volle Bebilderung (tota ystoriata) drckt sich
noch die Verwunderung ber die eingeschalteten Passagen ein, die nicht dem
Schreiber, sondern den Limburgs zu verdanken sind. Dabei gibt der Kopist
schlielich den Stand der Dinge wieder, nachdem man entschieden hatte, die
nachgetragenen Lagen umzustellen, als die Vita des Hieronymus vorzuziehen.
Die Belles Heures sind, wie diese Rubrik indirekt verrt, ganz oenbar in
mehreren Etappen geschaen worden. Am Anfang stand ein recht schlichtes
Konzept, das von den Haupttexten ausging, also Kalender und Marien-
Ozium, Bupsalmen, Horen von Heilig Kreuz und Heilig Geist, das Toten-
Ozium und die Suragien enthielt. In einem weiteren Schritt kamen dann
Perikopen, Mariengebete sowie am Abschluss die Messen hinzu. Alle diese
Abschnitte wurden so kopiert, dass jeder vernnftige Pariser Buchmaler zu
ihrer Ausmalung in Frage gekommen wre.
Die bergnge zwischen den Planstufen waren ieend; gekennzeichnet
wird die Entwicklung durch den zunehmenden Einuss der Limburgs. Schon
bei den franzsischen Gebeten der XV Freuden (f. ) und VII Klagen (f. ,:v.)
bestimmten die Buchmaler, was der Schreiber zu tun hatte. Ihre Rolle nahm
zu bei der Aufnahme des Passions-Oziums, das in einzigartiger Weise zur
Matutin drei und zu allen anderen Horen jeweils zwei Eingangsbilder erhielt
(. ::,-,). Ganz und gar Sache der Maler waren dann die Partien, die ganz
historisiert wurden; und die Verwunderung darber reicht bis ins Inventar von
::,, wenn dort gesagt wird Unes belles heures . . . et au commencement est le
kalendrier, . . . et aprs est historie la vie et passion de saincte Katherine . . .,
also die Bildervita der heiligen Katharina besonders hervorgehoben wird.
,
Das Schlussbild mit dem kleinen P im Trmchen nimmt in diesem Zusam-
menhang eine schwer einzuschtzende Sonderstellung im Buch ein: Es ist
nachgetragen; auch der Text gehrt nicht zum Buchblock. Deshalb wird man
die Malerei spter als den Buchblock und damit die meisten Miniaturen in
den Belles Heures ansetzen mssen. Unklar bleibt jedoch, ob diese Darstellung
vor oder nach den eingefgten Bildergeschichten entstanden ist.
, Voller Text beispielsweise bei Knig, op. cit. (Anm. ,), S. :c.
was xaxx xax aus oix BELLES HEURES unii oii iixnuics iiixix: ::,
Meine nur vom Augenschein bestimmte Vermutung, das Buch enthalte an
verschiedenen Stellen statt echter Bifolia am Falz kunstvoll zusammengeklebte
Einzelbltter, hat Lawson nicht geprft. Dieses Vorgehen, das ich nirgendwo
sonst beobachtet habe, verrt, dass es den Limburgs oenbar auch darauf
ankam, whrend der Arbeit eingetretene Plannderungen zu verschleiern: Die
Geschichte der Litanei wird auf einem solchen falschen Doppelblatt (. ;,/;)
geschildert; f. :,,, vor dem der Beginn der Suragien Trinitt fehlt, hat man
mit f. :o: zusammengekleistert; auch das darin liegende Doppelblatt aus f. :,o
und :o: ist nicht kohrent.
Das Ergebnis
Die Belles Heures sind vermutlich bereits in frstlicher Isolierung, im Schlo
des Herzogs in Bictre sdlich der Pariser Stadtgrenze, und nicht in der Metro-
pole selbst entstanden. Sie sind das einzige vollendete Werk der Limburgs,
wenn man vom Valerius Maximus des Vatikans absieht, der nur ein kleines
Eingangbild erhielt.
,,
Nur die Bordren in den Lagen mit den Evangelisten
und den Messen sind teilweise unfertig. Das wurde mglich durch eine eigen-
tmliche Arbeitsweise: Nachdem der Schreiber zunchst einmal ein geradezu
banales Manuskript geliefert hatte, konnten die Limburgs im ersten Schritt
zeigen, dass sie ein vllig normales Stundenbuch mit guten Miniaturen zu
schmcken verstanden. Da ist nichts wirklich Herausragendes, wenn man
vom knstlerischen Detail der Ausfhrung, beispielsweise der stillen Geniali-
tt der Verkndigungsminiatur auf f. ,c absieht.
Auch die folgenden Texte konnten die Brder aus Nimwegen nicht wirk-
lich fordern. Erst als die Limburgs die Leitung des Projekts in die eigenen
Hnde nahmen, gewannen die Belles Heures jene Gestalt, fr die sie berhmt
sind. Im Vergleich mit den nur wenig spter entstandenen Miniaturen dem
oben erwhnten Schlussbild der Petites Heures oder den Miniaturen in den
Trs Belles und den Trs Riches Heures zeigt sich, wie stark das Format als Fessel
wirkt: In den kleinen fast quadratischen Miniaturen in New York regiert die
Figur, hat Landschaft kaum Platz; hier ist es die Flle des hnlichen, das den
Betrachter in den Bann schlgt, whrend die Miniaturen in Chantilly die jun-
gen Maler dazu einluden, sich gestalterisch so weit auszubreiten, dass zugleich
auch die Strenge und Klarheit des vollendeten frhen Werks verloren zu gehen
drohte.
,, Rom, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Reg. lat. ,,,; De Gebroeders Van Limburg, op. cit.
(Anm. :), Nr. :c,.
Guelders-France. Another Connection around
:
Herman T. Colenbrander
Independent Scholar, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Around :,,o, Johan Maelwael, and his nephews some years later successively,
went to France, the mightiest kingdom of the West, to seek their fortune.
However, there were more connections between Guelders and France at the
time. In :c the brother of the French king, Louis dOrlans, arranged a
marriage between Reinout, duke of Guelders and his niece Marie dHarcourt,
and :o August of the following year she arrived at the castle of Rozendaal
where she was heartedly welcomed.
:
A miniature of Mary in the prayer-book
the duchess had written in Dutch in ::, was related to a drawing in Uppsala
and considered as proof for the inuence of the French court culture she had
introduced in Guelders.
,
Tis perception was further enhanced by a few let-
ters exchanged between Marie and the duke of Berry.

But also at a lower level

in society there were connections. At the brutal murder attack on Louis
dOrlans on :, November :c;, one of his cuyers who had tried to protect
him, was also killed. His name was Jacob van Melkeren, born in Herssen near
: For a full discussion of the proposition advanced here I would like to refer to my doctoral
thesis upheld on : December :cco at the University of Amsterdam, entitled Op zoek naar de
Gebroeders Van Limburg. De Trs Riches Heures in het Muse Cond in Chantilly, Het Wapenboek
Gelre in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I in Brussel en Jan Maelwael en zijn neefes Polequin,
Jehannequin en Herman van Limburg.
: Gerard Nijsten, Het hof van Gelre. Cultuur ten tijde van de hertogen uit het Gulikse en Egmondse
huis (-) (:nd edn.; Kampen :,,,), pp. ,-,, :o,. English edition: Gerard Nijsten, In the
Shadow of Burgundy: the court of Guelders in the late Middle Ages (Cambridge :cc).
, Te Prayer-book is now divided between Berlin, MS Germ. Qu. : and Vienna, Cod. :,c,
the miniature in question being f. :,v. of the Berlin part, cf. De Gebroeders Van Limburg. Nijmeegse
meesters aan het Franse hof -, ed. Rob Dckers & Pieter Roelofs (Gent :cc,), pp. :,-,,
no. : (drawing in Uppsala), pp. :,c-:, no. ::-, (Prayer-book of Mary of Guelders).
For the correspondence, cf: Nijsten, op. cit. (n. :: :,,,), pp. ,-,.
:,: uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
Nijmegen. His family was later on, in ::,, compensated by John the Fearless,
duke of Burgundy and perpetrator of the murder.
,
A further connection is the fact that Jean de Berry bought from a certain
Jean de Nymgue a ring with an emerald y in :c, and between :c, and
:c he bought again from this same Jean de Nymgue a costly chessboard. An
identication of Jean de Nymgue with Jehannequin of Limbourg, one of the
Limbourg brothers, is unlikely because of the age of the latter. However, it has
to be noted that later on, in ::,, Jehannequin inscribed himself in the guild
of the Parisian goldsmiths.
o
Te examples put forward here deal with incidental cases, from which little
can be concluded as to the broader cultural inuences between Guelders and
France, nor, for that matter, the reciprocal stylistic impact on, for example, the
art of painting. Te existing generalised opinions on these matters must be
qualied as rather premature. Given the occasion here to broaden the scope
somewhat, I would like to point out a hitherto unnoticed example of a con-
nection between Guelders and France.
One of the great treasures of the Royal Library at Brussels is the Wapenboek
Gelre, an armorial compiled by the herald Gelre (MS :,o,:-,o). Te manuscript
was mentioned and illustrated in the catalogue of the Nijmegen exhibition, but
the manuscript itself could not be present since it was on display elsewhere.
;
It
contains a large illustration of the Emperor and his electors (illus. :). Tis illustra-
tion is a lightly coloured pen drawing and is located, by way of title-page, at
the beginning of that part of the armorial which contains some :cc coats
of arms of the nobility of the German Empire, the kingdom of France and
other kingdoms, duchies and counties. Te manuscript was never completed
, P. Raymond, Enqute du prvt de Paris sur lassassinat de Louis Ier du duc dOrlans, in:
Bibliothque de lcole des Chartes, :o (:o,), pp. ::,-:,, esp. p. ::;; P. Champion, La vie de
Charles dOrlans (-), vol. : (Paris :,::), pp. ,-o. His name was also spelled as Jacques
de Meckeren and Jacob de Merr; B. Schnerb, Jean sans Peur. Le prince meurtrier (Paris :cc,),
pp. :c,, :,, (Archives du Nord, Lille (ADN) B o,, nr.:, :,).
o Un tablier et eschaquier dargent dor et de cristaulx, garni deschaz dargent dor et
blanc. . . . IIIc frans: J. Guirey, Inventaires de Jean Duc de Berry (- ), : vols. (Paris :,-o),
vol. :, p. ,c, no. :,o, and on the :,th of September :c, in Mehun-sur-Yvre: Un annel dor ou
il a une mouche faicte desmeraude. . . . (ibid. vol. :, p. ::,, no. c:); Ph. Henwood, Les orfvres
parisiens pendant le rgne de Charles VI (:,c-:::), in: Bulletin archologique du Comit des
travaux historiques et scientiques, :, (:,:), pp. ,-:c, esp. p. :oc; E. Kovcs, Hansse Melluel
priszi tvs, ::,, in: Mveszettrtnet resit, ,,, : (:,), pp. :-,.
; De Gebroeders Van Limburg, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. oo-;. At the time of the Nijmegen exhibi-
tion, the codex was on display in an exhibition of highlights from the Royal Library, Brussels.
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :,,
:. Te Emperor and his electors, coloured pen drawing, Wapenboek Gelre, f. :or.,
MS :,o,:-,o, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Brussels.
as numerous coats of arms were never executed; others are incomplete, often
missing their crests or their legends. Te part preceding the armorial proper
contains texts in which the author mentioned himself several times as the
herald Gelre. His portrait as a herald is also to be found in the manuscript.
Van Anrooij has proven that the herald Gelre can be identied with Claes
Heynenzoon who, presumably, died shortly after ::.

Te dating of the
manuscript is still problematic. In the :,th century, the conviction prevailed
that the emperor depicted on the titlepage represented Charles IV; hence it
was thought the manuscript dated from around :,,o. But nowadays, the man-
uscript is generally dated around :cc, and the idea the imperial ruler repre-
sents a contemporaneous emperor is not considered likely any more.
,
As appears from the coats of arms in the manuscript the herald must have
been skilled with the pen and the brush. However, the discrepancy in quality,
between the way the coats of arms in the armorial are executed on the one
W. van Anrooij, Te Gelre Wapenboek and its Most Important Miniatures, in: Proceedings
of the Congress on Medieval Manuscript Illumination in the Northern Netherlands, Utrecht :c-:,
December :,,, ed. K. van der Horst & J.-C. Klamt (Doornspijk :,,:), pp. :,,-,c:.
, G. Schmidt, Das Kaiser-und-Kurfrsten-Bild im Wapenboek des Herolds Gelre, in:
Wiener Jahrbuch fr Kunstgeschichte, , (:,:), pp. ;:-,,, illus. ,;-,,.
:, uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
hand, and the skilled execution of the drawing of the Emperor and his electors
and the gouache with the portrait of the herald on the other, is such that in all
probability the title-page and the portrait were done by a professional artist.
Te names of the two older Maelwaels, Herman and Willem, were proposed
though they died probably in :,,;. Willems son, Johan Maelwael, was already
in Paris by :,,o and later on he was working in Dijon in the service of the
duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold.
After the death of the duke of Guelders in :c:, the herald Gelre entered
the service of William of Oostervant, who succeeded his father two years later
as count William VI of Holland, Seeland and Hainaut. Shortly after that the
herald started to call himself Beieren quondam Gelre. Dating parts of the
manuscript to the time the herald was in the service of William was considered
likely by Verbij-Schillings.
:c
In any case the manuscript was not ordered by,
nor intended for, the duke of Guelders, as all indications for this assumption
are missing. It was not dedicated to the duke, nor is his coat of arms, or those
of his liegemen, prominently represented in the manuscript. However, the
manuscript is connected with Guelders by the person of the herald Gelre.
Te drawing of the Emperor and the electors in the second part of the manu-
script is exceptional. As Van Anrooy has proven, the drawing is not a later
insertion on a separate leaf: it is an integral part of the manuscript. As men-
tioned before, the drawing was intended as the title-page of the original armo-
rial.
::
In :,,:, Margaret Rickert pointed to the stylistic similarities between the
drawing and a loose miniature in the Louvre with a representation of Te
Confessors (RF :c:,v) (illus. :). Te gures and the faces are fairly well match-
ing and the infra-red photograph of the miniature (illus. ) tends to conrm
Rickerts observations. Te hatching at the feet of the gures looks quite the
same (illus. , and o). As it seems, the drawing may be made by the same
draughtsman.
Te miniature in the Louvre, with four other ones, comes from the so-called
Hours of Turin (Turin, Bibliothque nationale K.IV.:,), a famous Book of
Hours that was lost at a re in the Royal Library in Turin in :,c. Tis manu-
script, together with two other volumes one originally in Milan but after
:,c donated to the Museo Civico in Turin; the other in the Bibliothque
nationale at Paris (MS Nouv. acq. lat. ,c,,) originally formed an Hours-
Missal, the Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, a manuscript that was split up in
:c Het Haagse handschrift van heraut Beyeren, Hs. Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek G ,
ed. J.Verbij-Schillings (Hilversum :,,,).
:: Van Anrooij, art.cit. (n. ), pp. :,,-,c:.
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :,,
:. Te Confessors, miniature RF :c:,v., Muse du Louvre, Paris.
:,o uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
three parts at an unknown date and from which the four leaves with the ve
miniatures were stolen some time in the :th or the :,th century.
::
One of the best known miniatures of the lost volume formerly in Turin is
the Debarkment of William VI, which is often ascribed to Jan van Eyck himself,
a later addition to the manuscript. Tis miniature, alas, is also lost. But in
:: A.H. van Buren e.a., Heures de Turin-Milan, Inv. No. , Museo Civico dArte Antica, Torino
(Luzern :,,o); Albert Chtelet, Jean van Eyck enlumineur. Les Heures de Turin et de Milan-Turin
(Strasbourg :,,,); Eberhard Knig, Die Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame des Herzogs von Berry.
Handschrift Nouv.acq.lat. , Bibliothque nationale Paris (Luzern :,,:); idem, Die Trs Belles
Heures de Notre-Dame von Jean de France Duc de Berry. Ein Meisterwerk an der Schwelle zur Neu-
zeit (Mnchen :,,).
,. Te Confessors, infrared photograph (by J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer and M. Faries),
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, Te Hague.
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :,;
. Detail of illus. ,.
,. Detail of illus. : (left).
o. Detail of illus. : (right).
:, uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
recent years a miniature from the burnt manuscript surfaced and was acquired
by the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. James Marrow devoted a thor-
ough study to this miniature which was also a later addition.
:,
All the other
miniatures of the lost part in Turin are only known through the descriptions
and the photographical reproductions which Paul Durrieu published in :,c:,
:,:c and :,::.
:
Te miniature of Te Confessors appears to have been part of a series of
miniatures illustrating the short prayers to the Saints (the Surages). Of these
the following items will concern us here: Saint John the Baptist in the Desert
(f. ,o), Te Patriarchs, Te Prophets and Apostles (f. ,;v.), Mary Magdalene at
Christs feet in the house of Simon (f. ,), Te Martyrs, Louvre (recto, illus. ),
Te Confessors, Louvre (verso, illus. :), St. Jerome in his Study Assisted by two
Clerks (f. cv.), and a Donor Praying to the Virgin and Child (f. ;v., illus. ;).
As for this last miniature, the prayer stool of the kneeling gure is clad with
the arms of Berry, so the gure may be Jean de Berry, and this is conrmed by
other portraits of the duke. Moreover, it is well known that the manuscript of
the Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame belonged to the duke at some moment.
For that reason it is very likely the duke himself had these miniatures added to
the manuscript.
Te period in which he had this done, can approximately ascertained: it is
the time in which he had the Grandes Heures made (Paris, Bibliothque nation-
ale, MS lat. ,:,). Tis Book of Hours was nished in the year :c,, according
to the ex-libris in the manuscript itself.
:,
If Jean de Berry was also the one who
had replaced the calendar in the Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame (in the vol-
ume now in the Bibliothque nationale at Paris), then these additions may
date between :c and :c,, as this calendar contains the obit of his brother
Philip the Bold who died on :; April :c.
:o
:, James H. Marrow, Une page inconnue des Heures de Turin, in : Revue de lart, :,, (:cc:),
pp. o;-;o.
: Paul Durrieu, Heures de Turin. Quarante-cinq feuillets peintures provenant des Trs Belles
Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry (reprint with a postscript by Albert Chtelet; Turin :,o;);
idem, Lenlumineur et le miniaturiste, in: Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Comptes
rendus des sances (:,:c), pp. ,,c-o; idem, Les Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame du duc Jean de
Berry (Paris :,::).
:, Millard Meiss, French painting in the time of Jean de Berry. Te late XIVth century and the
patronage of the duke, : vols. (London :,o,) [:st ed. :,o;]; Marcel Tomas, Les Grandes Heures
de Jean de France, duc de Berry (Paris :,;:).
:o Knig, op. cit. (n. ::: :,,:); idem, e.a., Les feuillets du Louvre et les Heures de Turin dis-
parues, (Luzern :,,); idem, op. cit. (n. ::: :,,).
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :,,
;. Jean de Berry in prayer to the Virgin Mary and the Christ child, miniature [f. ;v.] in
the Hours of Turin (lost).
:c uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
On the reverse of the leaf with the miniature with Te Confessors in the Louvre,
one can nd, quite unusually, another miniature, depicting Te Martyrs, (illus. 8)
which is, stylistically seen, slightly dierent. Meiss christened the anonymous
masters working on these and other miniatures in the manuscript after the
subject of miniatures they worked on: the Baptist Master and the Master of
the Martyrs, but a clear distinction between the two masters is not very easily
drawn. In any case, the miniature of Te Martyrs (illus. 1o and 11) shows the
same hand as the one showing Te Pentecost in a Book of Hours in the British
Library in London (MS Yates Tompson, f. :::, illus. ,), which is written
according to the use of Bourges.
:;
Tis manuscript was not made for the duke,
but for another unknown patron. Te other miniatures in this London manu-
script show the hands of the same equipe responsible for the miniatures in the
Grandes Heures of the duke. Tis Book of Hours was qualied as the work by
Jacquemart de Hodin et autres ouvriers of the duke.
It was as yet not possible to establish if the Grandes Heures and the manu-
script in London were made in Bourges or Paris. In the years :c: to ::c, Jean
de Berry resided mainly in Paris. From the beginning of November :c until
March :c, he stayed in the Berry and the Poitou. From April ::c onwards,
he lived in the south for a longer period and did not return to Paris before
November :::. His long absence from Paris had everything to do with the
conict between the Armagnacs and the Bourguignons.
:
Tere is, however,
no reason to assume that the manuscripts under discussion had to be made
under the direct supervision of the duke, nor is there any indication all these
painters were in the dukes personal service.
In the Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, that is to say in the part now in the
Bibliothque nationale at Paris, there is yet another series of miniatures which
attracts our attention. Tis part, which was mainly historiated so to speak
by the so-called Parament Master, contains an oce of the Holy Ghost which
was apparently illustrated later on by another master. Tis illuminator, who
Meiss baptised the Master of the Holy Ghost, is an impressive and fascinating
artist who was responsible for the following six miniatures: Te Baptism
:; Meiss, op. cit. (n. :,), pp. ,:-,; Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive catalogue of fty
manuscripts from the collection by H. Yates Tompson (Cambridge :,), pp. ,-,, no. ,; H. Yates
Tompson, Illustrations from one hundred manuscripts in the library of H. Yates Tompson. Te
seventh and last volume, with plates from the remaining twenty-two manuscripts (London :,:), Pls.
XVI-XX, no. HYT cat. CVI, vol. IV.
: Itinraire of Jean de Berry, cf. F. Lehoux, Jean de France, duc de Berri. Sa vie, son action
politique (-), , vols. (Paris :,oo-), vol. ,, pp. :,-,:,, esp. pp. ,c-:c.
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo ::
. Te Martyrs, miniature RF :c:,, Muse du Louvre, Paris.
:: uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
,. Te Pentecost, miniature f. :::, Yates Tompson ,;, British Library, London.
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :,
:c. Detail of illus. ,
::. Detail of illus. .
: uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
(p. :o:), Te Pentecost (p. :o:), Te Resurrection (p. :o,), Te Descent of the Holy
Ghost on the Faithful (p. :;,), Te Washed, Sanctied and Justied (I.Cor.o:::)
(p. :;o), and Te Apostles going forth to preach (p. :;). I assume, for the time
being, that these miniatures were added in about the same period as the
Grandes Heures were made, that is to say :c-:c,.
:,
For example, the typical little trees (illus. 1:-1) in both manuscripts are
quite identical, and in the Pentecost-scene in the Grandes Heures, the example
of the Master of the Holy Ghost in the Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame was
clearly followed. Meiss even discerned in Te Baptism (p. :o:) the hand of the
so-called Baptist Master (of the rst series of miniatures discussed here) and
presumed a collaboration of these three masters. Tis seems not unlikely.
However, the extraordinary characteristic heads in the miniatures by the
Holy Ghost Master recall those of the electors in the drawing of the Emperor
and his electors in the Guelders armorial. Typical are the upturned, broad bearded
faces. Tis seems to suggest that we have two series of miniatures made in Paris,
or maybe Bourges, which show characteristics of the drawing of the Emperor
and the electors which is related to Guelders. Tey seem to represent a northern
inuence in Paris.
Tis supposition may nd a conrmation in the fact that these two series of
miniatures show stylistic and iconographical similarities with works by three
other masters, active in this same period, not far outside Guelders: Conrad von
Soest, (illus. 1o) the Masters of Te Golden Panels and Master Francke (illus. 1;).
Conrad von Soest worked in Dortmund.
:c
Te Golden Panels, now in Hannover,
were made for the Saint Michael in Lneburg.
::
Master Francke worked in
Hamburg but probably has been active also in Mnster.
::
Comparing the heads
and iconography of the two series of miniatures to the works of these three mas-
ters in Germany, we see a tradition emerge that the miniatures seem to t in. We
must take into account that parts of the work by Master Francke, that have
survived, date from a slightly later period (c. ::c-:: for the Barbara altarpiece
in Helsinki and :: for the Tomas altarpiece in Hamburg, which was commis-
sioned in that year). But one of the few things we know about Master Francke
:, Meiss, op. cit. (n. :,). Knig, op. cit. (n.::: :,,). Te miniatures attributed to the Holy
Ghost-Master may be dated earlier.
:c B. Corley, Conrad von Soest, Painter among Merchant Princes (London :,,o).
:: Te Golden panels: Corley, op. cit. (n. :c), pp. ::o-,:.
:: Exhibited in Meister Francke und die Kunst um . Ausstellung zur Jahrhundert-Feier der
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg :,o,); Goldgrund und Himmelslicht. Die Kunst des Mittelalters
in Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, :, November :,,,-, March :ccc (Hamburg :,,,-:ccc).
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :,
::. Tree, Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, Te Resurrection of the death, detail, p. :o,,
Nouv. acq. lat. ,c,,, Bibliothque nationale, Paris.
:,. Trees, Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, Te Resurrection of the death, detail, p. :o,,
Nouv. acq. lat. ,c,,, Bibliothque nationale, Paris.
:o uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
:. Tree, Grandes Heures de Jean de Berry, Lamentation of Christ, detail, f. ;;, ms. lat. ,1,,
Bibliothque nationale, Paris.
:,. Trees, Grandes Heures de Jean de Berry, Calendar, month of June, detail, ms. lat. ,:,,
Bibliothque nationale, Paris.
cuiioiis-iiaxci. axoruii coxxicriox aiouxo 1oo :;
:;. Master Francke, Te St Barbara altarpiece, Te Death of the Virgin, carved relief,
detail, National Museum of Finland Helsinki.
:o. Conrad von Soest, Niederwildungen Altarpiece, Stadtkirche Bad Wildungen, Te
Ascension of Christ, detail (reversed).
: uiixax ru. coiixniaxoii
is that he came from either the city or the county of Zutphen, in the duchy of
Guelders.
Conclusion
In the two series of miniatures in a manuscript owned by the duke the Berry
we have traced artists who, just like the Limbourg Brothers, were working for
the duke in Paris, or even in Bourges, and had ties with Guelders. Te ques-
tion remains: Who were they? Until further evidence comes to the surface, we
can but conclude that not all the riddles of the art of painting in Guelders are
solved a s y et.
A Close Encounter? Te Limbourg Brothers and
Illumination in the Northern Netherlands in the
First Half of the Fifteenth Century
Rob Dckers
Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Introduction
:
One of the most rewarding results one can hope for when mounting an exhi-
bition, is that grouping together or juxtaposing works of art will bring to light
new relationships that hitherto have gone unnoticed, or have not been given
the prominence they deserve. Te exhibition Te Limbourg Brothers. Nijmegen
Masters at the French Court (-), shown at Museum Het Valkhof in
Nijmegen in the autumn of :cc,, provided such an opportunity. In this exhi-
bition, both the section on art in Guelders and the surrounding regions and
the section on the followers of the Limbourg brothers, showed several manu-
scripts that incorporated compositions or elements thereof copied from
the Limbourgs. Tat compositions by these formidable artists were used by
illuminators in the Northern Netherlands had already been recognised and
brought to attention, especially in the monumental exhibition Te Golden Age
of Dutch Manuscript Painting in Utrecht and New York in :,,-:,,c and
its accompanying catalogue. Tese borrowings, nevertheless, were only obvi-
ous in a few Dutch manuscripts, not all of which could be included in the
Nijmegen exhibition. However, as one slowly becomes more and more famil-
iar with the compositions by the Limbourgs over time an opportunity I was
given by Museum Het Valkhof when I was invited to co-curate the exhibition
and co-edit the catalogue one suddenly starts to notice that elements from
Limbourg compositions recur in Northern Netherlandish manuscripts on a
: Tis contribution is a much revised and expanded version of the paper I presented at the
conference. Many of the borrowings of compositions by the Limbourgs included in this contri-
bution I had not yet discovered at the time of the conference.
:,c ion oucxiis
much larger scale than one would expect, and that these borrowings often
have gone unnoticed in previous studies of the manuscripts in question.
:
Tis contribution aims at drawing attention to the phenomenon that a lot
of compositions by the Limbourgs both what appear to be original composi-
tions by the Limbourgs themselves and compositions they created using also
elements borrowed from others have entered the artistic vocabulary of illu-
minators, active in the Northern Netherlands in the period ::,-,c, and are
used in their work. To demonstrate this, a number of re-used Limbourg com-
positions, found in Dutch manuscripts, were identied and tabulated. Te
tables presented in appendix :a-c show a total of :o manuscripts or parts
thereof from the Northern Netherlands, dating between ::, and :,c, in
which compositions or motifs borrowed from the Limbourg brothers can be
traced. Tese borrowings vary from relatively faithful copies of major parts of
a Limbourg composition to individual motifs that are copied. In between
these extremities and therefore more common are those cases where illumina-
tors use several key elements from a Limbourg composition and also copy
their relative spatial setting, that is to say that the elements and gures bor-
rowed from the Limbourg composition recur in more or less the same juxta-
position, pose and/or spatial relationship in the new composition. However,
quite often in such cases, other important details in the original that would
have helped to disclose the source, such as architecture, landscape features or
secondary gures, are not copied at all, which makes the composition dicult
to recognise as a partial copy of a Limbourg brothers original.
Te tables in appendix :a-c cannot claim to be exhaustive. Tey have been
compiled mainly from reproductions in the literature.
,
Out of the :o manuscripts
: At this point, I would like to thank Dr. Patricia Stirnemann, who commented on some of
the points raised during my presentation at the conference and whose remarks helped me to
dene points more clearly. I hope she will nd at least an echo of her useful criticism in this writ-
ten version. I also owe many thanks to Drs. Dorine van Heerdt tot Eversberg, who allowed me
to use her :,, unpublished Masters thesis on the Leefdael Hours (Utrecht, University Library,
MS ,.J.:o), not only conrming my suspicion of links between the work of the Limbourg broth-
ers and the two artists who illuminated this manuscript, i.e. the Master of the Morgan Infancy
Cycle and the Passion Master of Mary of Guelders, but also drawing my attention to parallels I
had overlooked. Finally, I must express my gratitude to the curators of the manuscript collections
that have enabled me to study a number of the manuscripts discussed here. I would especially
like to convey my gratitude to Roger S. Wieck of the Morgan Library and Museum, New York,
who not only facilitated my study of the Egmont Breviary (M. ;), but who also was very helpful
in providing me with reproductions for further study.
, In the introduction to the appendices, references to reproductions of the compositions
indicated in the tables are given, so that the reader has the opportunity to rearm the comments
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :,:
mentioned, I have only been able to study seven, plus a few fragments, in
autopsy.

Several very interesting manuscripts, that I have not as yet seen,

made. Tese references have been made in shortened form. A full bibliography of the titles
referred to there is given here: A.W. Byvanck, De Middeleeuwsche Boekillustratie in de Noordelijke
Nederlanden (Antwerp, etc. :,,); L. Delaiss, A Century of Dutch Manuscript Illumination (Ber-
keley, etc. :,o); F. Gorissen, Das Stundenbuch der Katharina von Kleve. Analyse und Kommentar
(Berlin :,;,); B. Haller, Ein Gotisches Prachtmissale aus Utrecht (Mnster :,,o); C. de Hamel,
A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, (London :,,); K. van der Horst, Illuminated and Deco-
rated Medieval Manuscripts in the University Library, Utrecht. An illustrated Catalogue (Maarssen,
etc. :,,); J. Marrow, Dutch Manuscript Illumination before the Master of Catherine of Cleves:
the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle in: Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek :, (:,o),
pp. ,:-::,; Masters and Miniatures. Proceedings of the Congress on Medieval Manuscript Illumina-
tion in the Northern Netherlands (Utrecht, - December ), ed. K. van der Horst and J.-C.
Klamt (Doornspijk :,,:); P. Obbema, Boeken uit het atelier. De handschriften van de :,de
eeuw, in: Kunstschrift ,,/o (:,,), pp. :;-:; E. Panofsky, Early Netherlandisch Painting (New
York, etc. :,;:); J. Plummer, Het getijdenboek van Katharina van Kleef (:nd edn.; Amsterdam
:,;,); L. Randall, Pea-pods and Molluscs from the Master of Catherine of Cleves workshop, in:
Apollo (:,;), pp. ,;:-,; E. Schreiber, Niederlndische Buchmalerei. Die Miniaturen des Culen-
borch-Missales in Brixen (Bozen :,,:); Te Golden Age of Manuscript Painting, ed. H. Defoer,
e.a., (Stuttgart, etc. :,,); Te Limbourg Brothers. Nijmegen Masters at the French Court -,
ed. R. Dckers & P. Roelofs (Gent :cc,); W. de Vreese, Een Noordnederlandsch handschrift met
verlichterien uit het midden van de de eeuw. De meester met het stompje (Te Hague :,::). Dig-
ital images of all the miniatures in manuscripts from the Royal Library in the Hague including
the ones mentioned in the appendix are available through www.kb.nl/manuscripts. Reproduc-
tions of the miniatures of the Limbourg brothers Belles Heures and Trs Riches Heures are widely
available, both in high quality full colour facsimiles of the entire manuscripts (published by the
Faksimile Verlag Luzern), or in partial facsimiles, reproducing all the miniatures, published in
several dierent languages and editions. For the Bible Moralise, the only publication to date to
reproduce all the miniatures by the Limbourg brothers is M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time
of Jean de Berry. Te Limbourgs and Teir Contemporaries, vol. : (New York :,;,), gs. :;-,:,.
For the reconstruction of the lost miniature from the Belles Heures, mentioned in appendix :a, cf.
John Plummer, A blank page in the Belles Heures, in: Gatherings in honor of Dorothy E. Miner,
ed. Ursula E. McCracken (Baltimore :,;), pp. :,,-:c: and Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit (n. ,)
pp. ,-,. For the miniatures added to the Trs Belles Heures de Notre Dame, cf. F. Boespug &
E. Knig, Les Trs Belles Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry (Paris :,,), pp. ;,-:.
Tese are the Leefdael Hours (Utrecht, University Library, MS ,.J.:o), the Egmont Breviary
(New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.;), a detached miniature from the Egmont
Breviary (Utrecht, University Library, MS ::.C.:;), three Books of Hours (Rotterdam, Gemeen-
tebibliotheek, MS ,o G ::, Te Hague, Royal Library, MS :,: M ,:, Te Hague, Royal Library,
MS ;, K :), the London History Bible (London, British Library, MS Add. ,:::) and the Specu-
lum Humanae Salvationis (New York, New York Public Library, Spencer MS :,). I have been able
to see only a few of the pages of the prayer-book of Mary of Guelders, (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin, MS Germ. Qu. :), which is currently disbound and therefore not accessible for study.
Tis manuscript, however, seems to be extremely rich in borrowings from the Limbourgs, as will
:,: ion oucxiis
contain illuminations that have never been reproduced. It is therefore possi-
ble, if not even probable, that in these manuscripts more borrowings from
compositions by the Limbourgs are contained. And nally, manuscripts that
have so far escaped my attention and there undoubtedly will be some, if not
many will need to be added in the years to come. To thoroughly undertake
a study like this would be very worth while, since it would deepen our under-
standing of the relationships between French illumination around the turn of
the :th to the :,th century and the Northern reception of it. Alas, to do this
properly would be a painstaking task that would grossly exceed the frame of
this contribution. Tis is also one of the reasons why a time-limit has been
imposed and manuscripts after :,c have been disregarded, another one being
that in the second half of the :,th century our picture of connections between
workshops and possible routes of transmission of models as they are suggested
in appendix : becomes much less clear. Given all these aws, however, it seems
to me that for the purpose of this contribution, which is to raise awareness
of the scale on which Limbourg compositions were transmitted and used or
adapted by their Northern colleagues, a necessarily defective and partial listing
is better than no listing at all.
Te only way to clearly demonstrate the ndings presented here, would be
to illustrate every parallel found and indicate individually the similarities and
dierences. Tis, obviously, is not possible within the constraints of a contri-
bution like this one. In stead, a number of examples, treated per workshop,
individual motif or per iconographic theme, will have to suce.
,

Te First Generation: the Master of the Prayer Book of Mary of Guelders,
the Passion Master and the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle
On St. Matthews Eve ::, (i.e. :, February of that year), Brother Helmich de
Leeuw of the monastery at Marinborn near Arnhem nished copying a prayer
book for Marie dHarcourt, better know as Mary, duchess of Guelders.
o
She
become clear from appendix :. Even though Prof. Eef Overgaauw, director of the manuscript
department of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, has indicated that in the near future the manu-
script might be rebound again to make it accessible to scholars, this is nevertheless a case where
a complete colour facsimile would denitely benet scholarship.
, Te reader, however, is encouraged to use the reproductions in the literature referred to in
appendix : to compare source and copy and hopefully conrm the validity of the parallels indi-
cated there.
o As stated in the colophon on f. :c of the manuscript. Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,),
pp. ;,, ,, n. :,.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :,,
was born the daughter of count Jean VI of Harcourt and Aumale, becoming
duchess in :c,, when she married Reinald IV, duke of Guelders and Jlich.
Trough her mother, Catherine de Bourbon, Mary was related to the French
royal family, including the Limbourg brothers patron, Jean de France, duc de
Berry. With him she corresponded and exchanged gifts, and they both shared
a love if not a passion for beautiful books. Te prayer book that Helmich
copied on Marys instigation was to be lavishly illuminated, initially by two
artists.
;
Te rst artist, named the Master of Mary of Guelders after the por-
trait of the duchess he painted for this manuscript (f. :,v.), also painted another
o, miniatures on . :o-c,v., that contain surages. He also painted histori-
ated initials and drolleries. Te Hours of the Cross and the Temporale were
illuminated by a second artist, named the Passion Master of Mary of Guelders
after his work on the passion scenes in this manuscript. As I have suggested
elsewhere, these illuminators may well have been working in Nijmegen, and
since they most likely would already have started the decoration of those pages
that had already been written, the decoration of the manuscript must have
been well on the way by the time Helmich de Leeuw wrote his colophon on
that winter-day in ::,.

Meanwhile, as becomes clear from the municipal

records of Nijmegen, in December ::,, Jean de Limbourg visited Nijmegen.
Just over a year later, in March ::,, he did so again, this time together with
his brother Paul.
,
Tese visits to their native town of these acclaimed illumina-
tors would have been the perfect opportunity for the Master of Mary of
Guelders and the Passion Master to get acquainted with the works by the
Limbourgs. Te number of direct borrowings from Limbourg compositions,
as can be glanced from appendix :, seems to conrm this.
:c
However, it seems
; Around a decade after the initial completion of the manuscript, a third artist, working in
the style of the Masters of Otto of Moerdrecht, came in and added a number of full-page mini-
atures and vignettes in the calendar. However, his contribution need not concern us here.
Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ;, ;;.
, F. Gorissen, Jan Maelwael und die Brder Limburg: eine Nimweger Knsterfamilie um
die Wende des :. Jahrhunderts, in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen van de Vereniging Gelre, , (:,,),
pp. ::c, no. ::, :::, nos. ::o-, :,c-:.
:c A number of these borrowings (. :,v., ,,v., ,cv. and :v.) have already been discussed in
Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ;,-;, :,c-,. Panofsky, op. cit. (n. ,), p. :c:, already
noted the relationship between the work of the Master of Mary of Guelders and the Limbourgs,
and went even as far as to suggest a lost manuscript illuminated by the Limbourgs in the posses-
sion of the duchess. Panofskys Early Netherlandish Painting, however, appeared in :,,,, a year
before Gorissens publication of the Nijmegen origins of the Limbourgs. He therefore did not
know that there was a more direct way through which the Master of Mary of Guelders could
have gotten acquainted with the work of the Limbourgs; cf. Gorissen, op. cit. (n. ,).
:, ion oucxiis
that these illuminators also were aware of recent and even current trends in
illumination in France. Did they also learn this through the Limbourgs, with
them acting as intermediaries? Some examples may shed some light on this.
For the hours of the Holy Cross, the Passion Master painted eight scenes from
the passion of Christ. Several of these are related to compositions by the Lim-
bourgs notably from the Belles Heures (cf. appendix :a). Two of those, the
Road to Calvary (f. :;v.) and the Descent from the Cross (f. ,or.) also reveal
interesting details. Te Road to Calvary (illus. :) seems rather similar, only
mirrored, to the composition devised by the Limbourg brothers in the Belles
Heures (f. :,v., illus. :). Indeed, the central group of Christ, Mary and John
and the two principal tormentors can all be traced in the Belles Heures mini-
ature, with slight dierences. Teir poses, nevertheless, reveal the source. Tere
is one interesting detail, however, that shows in the prayer-book of Mary of
Guelders, but is missing from the Belles Heures. Te tormentor at the front,
leading the procession, is carrying in his hands three nails, the nails with which
Christ will be xed to the cross. Tis detail is completely lacking from the
scene in the Belles Heures, but does occur in a depiction of the same scene by
the Master of the Parament of Narbonne in the Trs Belles Heures de Notre
Dame (Paris, Bibliothque Nationale, MS Nouv. acq. lat. ,c,,, f. :c).
::
Simi-
larly, the scene with Christs Descent from the Cross (illus. ,) again derives
from the example by the Limbourgs, as can be seen from the main gures
(Christ, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimatea and John, who is barely visible behind
Mary) and the position of the cross (f. :,r., illus. ). Interestingly, this Lim-
bourg miniature does show a man holding the nails (as well as one of the
women holding the crown of thorns), though this time after the crucixion,
suggesting that the brothers did know the iconography. However, again we
nd a remarkable detail in the prayer-book, absent from the Belles Heures. In
the prayer-book, we see a gure seated on the ground, pulling out the nail
from Christs feet with a pair of thongs. Tis detail can again be found in the
Parament Masters depiction of the scene in the Trs Belles Heures de Notre
Dame on f. ::v.
::
How did the Passion Master learn of these details, both to
be found in the work of the Parament Master on the Trs Belles Heures de Notre
Dame? It is interesting to note, that the Limbourg brothers themselves added
two miniatures to this manuscript after its initial completion.
:,
Tey therefore
:: Boespug & Knig, op. cit. (n. ,), p. oo.
:: Boespug & Knig, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ;c.
:, Boespug & Knig, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ;,-:.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :,,
:. Passion Master of Mary of Guelders, Te Road to Calvary, from the prayer book of
Mary of Guelders, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Germ. Qu. :, f. :;v.
must have had ample opportunity to study the work of the artists that had illu-
minated this interesting manuscript, before it was split up in or before ::, and
partly given to Robinet dEstampes.
:
Tis also provides a terminus antequem for
the Limbourg additions. It shows that when Jean and Paul came to Nijmegen
in ::, and ::,, they already knew the compositions in this manuscript. Tey
may therefore have made sketches from it, which they could have shown the
Passion Master and the Master of Mary of Guelders during their visit.
Finally, a word needs to be said on one of the most inventive and original
illuminators in the Northern Netherlands, an artist that James Marrow has
named Te Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, after a book of hours in
the Morgan Library and Museum in New York (MS M. oo). As will become
clear later on in this contribution, this illuminator is familiar with several
compositions originating from the Belles Heures and the Trs Riches Heures.
:,

: Boespug & Knig, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. :,-,.
:, One example, Te Flight into Egypt in the Leefdael Hours (Utrecht, University Library, MS
,.J.:o, f. ,r.), has already been discussed in Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit (n. ,), pp. ;;, :-,:.
:,o ion oucxiis
:. Limbourg Brothers, Te Road to Calvary, from the Belles Heures, New York, MMA,
Cloisters Collection, Acc. ,.:.:, f. :,v.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :,;
,. Passion Master of Mary of Guelders, Descent from the Cross, from the Prayer Book of
Mary of Guelders, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Germ. Qu. :, f. ,or.
Interestingly, also some of his marginal decoration seems to be inspired by the
Limbourgs. He seems to be the rst artist in the Northern Netherlands to
include carefully and realistically depicted owers in his margins.
:o
An inter-
esting question is how the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle got to know
of these innovations by the Limbourgs. If my hypothesis is right that the
Master of Mary of Guelders and the Passion Master saw and copied composi-
tions by the Limbourgs whilst they were in Nijmegen, then the link may be
found in the Leefdael Hours, which is preserved in the University Library of
Utrecht (MS ,.J.:o).
:;
Tis book of Hours, to be dated around ::,-:c, is a
:o Like the pea-pods and owers that can be seen in a book of hours by his hand (London,
British Library, MS Add. ,ccc,, f. :,r.), which seem to be direct precursors of those depicted by
the Masters of Catherine of Cleves in two books of Hours (New York, Morgan Library and
Museum, MS M. ,,, f. ::r. and Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, MS ;:, f. ,r.). Cf. Te Lim-
bourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. :,c-:, Plummer, op. cit. (n. ,), nr. , and Randall, op. cit. (n. ,),
p. ,;,.
:; Van der Horst, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ;-, gs. o-::, and Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,),
pp. ;;, :-,.
:, ion oucxiis
. Limbourg Brothers, Descent from the Cross, from the Belles Heures, New York, MMA,
Cloisters Collection, Acc. ,.:.:, f. :,r.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :,,
co-production of the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle and the Passion
Master of Mary of Guelders. It is then through his colleague, the Passion Mas-
ter, that the Morgan Infancy Cycle master may have gained access to the Lim-
bourg material (cf. appendix :).
Te Masters of Zweder of Culemborg
Te most important group of artist active between ::, and :c were the
masters of Zweder of Culemborg. Although artist working in that style were
already active around ::,, the style did not achieve pre-eminence until ::,.
It is around that time-period that illuminators from their circle produce the
manuscript they are named after, a missal, destined for use by the exiled
Utrecht bishop Zweder of Culemborg, which today is kept in Bressanone
(Biblioteca del Seminario Maggiore, MS C. :c).
:
Tis missal contains a full-
page canon-miniature, and :; historiated initials. Two of those initials, the
one showing the Lapidation of St. Stephen on f. :v. and Pentecost on f. :;,v.
deserve our attention here, since both are based on compositions by the Lim-
bourg brothers.
:,
In the Lapidation of St. Stephen (illus. ,), the rst thing that
strikes us is the completely dierent position that this Stephen has when com-
pared to his counterpart in the Belles Heures (f. :o:r., illus. o). Nevertheless,
the central group of three men throwing stones, as well as Saul on the right,
are remarkably similar in their poses, even down to such a detail as the stones
that the men carry in the folds of their tunics. Tere can be no doubt that the
origin for the historiated initial in the missal is to be found in the Belles Heures
composition. When looking at the Pentecost scene (illus. ;), it takes more of an
eort to recognise its origins. Only when we look at the architecture, do we
start to see similarities. In the Zweder-composition, the interior is constructed
in a strange way. Behind Mary and the Apostles, there seems to be one con-
tinuous wall, stretching parallel to the picture plane. However, the vault seems
to consist out of a at ceiling in combination with a barrel vault, supported by
the columns. Tis incongruence only can be explained when looking at the
Belles Heures equivalent (f. :,,, illus. ). Clearly, the Zweder master has misun-
derstood the sketch or the composition in front of him, and has tried to resolve
the problem. Yet, the position of the columns and the arches they are support-
ing clearly betray their origins, as do the two strangely positioned low walls,
: Haller, op. cit. (n. ,).
:, Tere is a third example, on f. :o,r., showing the Resurrection, which also is derived from a
Limbourg composition, but will not be discussed here. Cf. Haller, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ;-,.
:oc ion oucxiis
,. Master of Zweder of Culemborg, Lapidation of St. Stephen, from the Missal of
Zweder of Culemborg, Bressanone, Biblioteca del Seminario Maggiore, MS C. :c, f. :v.
behind which the apostles are seated. Interestingly, this composition becomes
a favourite one in the Zweder workshop, and is used in other manuscripts
(cf. appendix :a).
As can be seen in the appendix :a-c, many compositions deriving from the
Limbourg brothers can be found in manuscripts illuminated by the Zweder
workshop.
:c
In the Hoya-Missal, for example, we nd not only beautifully
painted owers around the canon-page, that remind us of the larkspurs around
the Feeding of the Five Tousand in the Trs riches Heures (f. :ov.), but also
historiated initials that show details from Limbourg compositions, such as the
initial depicting the Nativity (f. :,:r.), where we see such details as the shep-
herds, watching the child from behind a trellis, and a deep landscape with a
:c A very instructive example, deriving from the Egmont Breviary, is discussed in Te Lim-
bourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. :c-:.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :o:
o. Limbourg Brothers, Lapidation of St Stephen, from the Belles Heures, New York,
MMA, Cloisters Collection, Acc. ,.:.:, f. :o:r.
:o: ion oucxiis
;. Master of Zweder of Culemborg, Pentecost, from the Missal of Zweder of Culem-
borg, Bressanone, Biblioteca del Seminario Maggiore, MS C. :c, f. :;,v.
gold statue of a pagan god details that can be found in the nativity in the Trs
riches Heures. Another example is the beheading of John the Baptist, which is
illustrated in the initial on f. :v. Johns decapitated body is coming out of
a castle, just as the Limbourg Brothers depicted him in a miniature from the
cycle showing scenes from the Life of John the Baptist in the Belles Heures
(f. :::r.).
::
Tat this cycle was known to the Zweder Masters is proven by the
fact that another miniature from this cycle, showing John the Baptist in the
desert, is used to isolate the gure of John the Baptist (Belles Heures, f. :::r.).
As can be seen in appendix :a, this gure with its typical position of the feet
recurs several times in Zweder manuscripts, amongst which what is arguably
:: For illustrations of the examples mentioned here, cf. Haller, op. cit. (n. ,), p. , and Golden
Age, op. cit. (n. ,), pls. IV ,:a-b. Te composition was also used in a miniature by the Alexander
Master in a History Bible in the Hague, Royal Library, MS ; D , II, f. :o:r.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :o,
. Limbourg Brothers, Pentecost, from the Belles Heures, New York, MMA, Cloisters
Collection, Acc. ,.:.:, f. :,,r.
the most beautiful manuscript to come from a Zweder workshop, the Egmont
Breviary in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York (MS M. ;). Te
gure later also occurs in works by the Master of Catherine of Cleves. Tat it
indeed is this miniature that the gure is derived from is proven by the fact
that one of the auxiliary gures in the Belles Heures composition, a man count-
ing on his ngers on the right of the picture, reappears in a miniature the
Lochorst Bible in Cambridge (Fitzwilliam Museum, MS :,, vol. :, f. ,v.),
which is also illuminated by the Zweder Masters.
::

Te Masters of Catherine of Cleves
Arguably the most remarkable illuminator, not only in his direct surroundings
like his workshop but in the history of Dutch manuscript painting altogether,
the Master of Catherine of Cleves had a large artistic vocabulary, borrowing
not only from his Dutch colleagues, but also from Southern-Netherlandish
:: Reproduced in Masters and Miniatures, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ,,:, g. :.
:o ion oucxiis
painters, notably Robert Campin, and Parisian illumination.
:,
Not surpris-
ingly, we also nd quotations from Limbourg compositions in his work, though
perhaps not as many as we would expect. One of the most clear examples is a
drawing he added to a History Bible in London (London, British Library, MS
Add. ,:::, f. o:v.), which he modelled after the miniature of Heraclius at the
Gates of Jerusalem in the Belles Heures (f. :,or.). Another example is the gure
of John the Baptist, discussed above in the paragraph on the Zweder Masters,
that occurs twice in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves and seems to have been
passed on by the Zweder Masters, with whom the Cleves Master was in direct
contact, to such an extant that it even has been suggested that the Cleves Mas-
ter was trained in a Zweder workshop.
:
However, it is certain that the Cleves
Master and Zweder Masters collaborated on the Greienklau-missal now in
Baltimore (Walters Art Museum, MS :;). It is likely via this route that the
Cleves Master got to know the Limbourg compositions that were so exten-
sively used in the Zweder workshops (cf. appendix :). Some examples, to be
discussed below, may illustrate this further.
Individual Motifs
Sometimes, the relationship between miniatures painted in the Northern Neth-
erlands and those painted by the Limbourg brothers is not purely composi-
tional or iconographical. Individual motifs may recur, sometimes even in a
dierent context, that nevertheless link the work of the Dutch illuminators to
that of the Limbourgs.
:,
Such a motif has already been noted by James Mar-
row in his seminal article devoted to the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle:
it is the depiction of Christ with his hands tied and hidden beneath his sleeves,
when he appears for the Roman judges. We encounter the motif in the works
by the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle and the Cleves Master, but is
already present in both the Belles Heures and the Trs Riches Heures.
:o
Another
:, From the extant works, it seems clear that more than one hand has participated in their
execution. Tat is why I use the term Masters of Catherine of Cleves in the heading in stead of
a singular. Nevertheless, it seems that this workshop or even style was dominated by one
major artistic personality. It is this artist that I credit with using Limbourg compositions, and
therefore the paragraph suggests a singular master, despite the heading.
: Plummer, op. cit. (n. ,), nrs. o,, :c,.
:, Tis even extends to border-decorations, as already discussed in Te Limbourg Brothers, op.
cit. (n. ,), pp. ;,-c, :-,. Tese examples are not included in the appendix, which only men-
tions compositions or elements thereof.
:o Marrow, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ,, n. :; he only mentions the Belles Heures, but the motif also
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :o,
example is a motif that is encountered in the scene depicting Christs Agony
in the Garden, after the Last Supper. In his study of the Cleves Hours, Frie-
drich Gorissen noted that there this scene not only contains the chalice and
host in reference to both Christs imminent suering and the Eucharist ,
but also shows God the Father appearing, to present Christ with the Cross.
:;

Gorissen traced this motif back to Konrad van Soest as the earliest example
(the altarpiece at Bad Wildungen, completed in :c,), but was not able to
explain how the motif entered the workshop of the Cleves Master. However,
before the Cleves Master and probably before Van Soest, the motif had already
been employed by the Limbourgs in the Bible Moralise (f. ::r.) and later again
in the Belles Heures (f. ::,r.).
:
Both of these Limbourg compositions also con-
tain small wicker fences, to suggest that the garden was separated from the
land around it. Tis motif recurs not only in the Cleves miniature, but also in
the work of the Passion Master in the Leefdael Hours (f. :,,r.) and in several
miniatures by the Zweder Masters.
:,
All of this suggests that the Limbourg
composition has inspired the Cleves Master, be it directly or indirectly. It is
also interesting to note that the gure of God the Father, appearing to comfort
Christ, is already present in the depiction of this scene in the eponymous
work of the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle.
,c
However, here God appears
without the Cross, holding what seems to be a scroll or a rolled-up cloth in
his hands. In this particular instance it therefore is dicult to reconstruct the
stemma showing how the Limbourg composition passed through several
workshops to eventually be used by the Cleves Master. Another example may
clarify such relationships better.
occurs in the Trs Riches Heures, as Bodo Brinkmann observed, cf. Masters and Miniatures, op. cit
(n. ,), p. :::, n. ,c.
:; Gorissen, op. cit. (n.,), pp. ,c;-.
: Tis is provided that my hypothesis is right that the Bible Moralise in the Bibliothque
Nationale in Paris, MS fr. :oo, should not be identied as the trs belle et trs notable Bible, par-
tially illuminated by the Limbourgs between :c: and :c, mentioned in the sources. If this
indeed is the case, then this surviving manuscript, undoubtedly by the Limbourgs, is likely to
predate the bible mentioned in the sources, and in that case also predates the altarpiece by Van
Soest, cf. Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ;-, ,c-:.
:, E.g. Rotterdam, Gemeentebibliotheek, MS ,o E ::, f. :,v. and Te Hague, Royal Library,
MS :,, E ,o, f. :v., which show exactly the same composition. For the Rotterdam Hours, cf. Te
Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. :,o-;.
,c New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS M. oo, f. o,v., cf. Golden Age, op. cit. (n. ,),
plate II ::a.
:oo ion oucxiis
St Martin of Tours
As an example of how a Limbourg brothers composition was transmitted, the
miniature depicting St Martin of Tours in the brothers Belles Heures (f. :o,r.)
may be instructive (illus. ,). As Victor Schmidt already demonstrated in his
essay Te Limbourgs and Italian Art, this composition strongly resembles a
panel attributed to Ambrogio Lorenzetti in New Haven.
,:
However, as Schmidt
points out though for dierent reasons not so much the similarities between
the panel and the miniature are interesting, but rather the dierences. One of
the most intriguing is the fact that even though the Lorenzetti composition
only shows one beggar, the Limbourg brothers, probably for reasons of visual
interest, added a second. Tis second beggar is not mentioned in Sulpitius
Severus Vita Martini, neither is he recorded by Gregory of Tours, nor can he
be found in the Legenda Aurea nor in the liturgy for the feast of St. Martin
(November ::) or his translation (July ). Tere seems to be no obvious textual
source for this motif.
,:
Nevertheless, in at least three Dutch manuscripts we
encounter this second beggar. Coincidentally, all three manuscripts are kept
in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. Te rst example is the
eponymous manuscript of the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle (M. oo,
f. :,cv.), the second one the Egmont Breviary (M. ;, f. :cv.) and the third
example the Hours of Catherine of Cleves (M. ,:;, p. :;,). All three miniatures
show a second beggar (illus. :c-::). However, all three miniatures also show
Martin turning backwards in the action of splitting his cloak, which is exactly
the opposite of how the saint is shown in the Belles Heures. In both the Belles
Heures and the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, Martin is exiting the city gate
of Amiens. In the Egmont Breviary, he seems to be entering the city. Te Mas-
ter of the Morgan Infancy Cycle shows no city gate at all; neither is there
any reference whatsoever in his miniature to the vision Martin had after his
encounter with the beggar, when Christ appeared to him clothed in the part
of the garment he gave to the beggar. Tis reduction in narrative elements is
,: New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, inv. :;:.::. Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n.,),
p. :.
,: All of these sources mention just one beggar. For the Legenda Aurea, cf. Jacobi a Voragine
Legenda Aurea: vulgo Historia lombardica dicta, ed. T. Graesse (,rd ed.; Breslau :,c), cap. :oo;
a reliable edition of the Vita sancti Martini episcopi et confessoris by Sulpicius Severus is oered by
Migne in his Patrologia Latina, but is also available on the web, cf. www.thelatinlibrary.com/
sulpiciusseverusmartin.html. For a reconstruction of the oce of St. Martin for November ::,
as chanted in the Cathedral of Utrecht, cf. M. Breij, Sint Maarten, Schutspatroon van Utrecht
(Utrecht :,), pp. ,-.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :o;
,. Limbourg Brothers, St Martin, from the Belles Heures, New York, MMA, Cloisters
Collection, Acc. ,.:.:, f. :o,r.
:o ion oucxiis
:c. Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, St. Martin, New York, Morgan Library &
Museum, MS M oo, f. :,cv.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :o,
::. Masters of Zweder of Culemborg, St Martin, from the Breviary of Arnold of
Egmont, New York, Morgan Library & Museum, MS M ;, f. :cv.
:;c ion oucxiis
::. Master of Catherine of Cleves, St Martin, from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves,
Morgan Library and Museum, MS M ,:;, p. :;,.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :;:
in line with the simplication of compositional schemes, which we shall also
encounter in another instance where this master copies a Limbourg composi-
tion, to be discussed below. Te reference to the vision is also absent from the
Egmont Breviary, but reappears in the Cleves Hours. Te horse, on which the
saint is seated, is the same in all three miniatures, but diers considerably from
the one shown in the Belles Heures. However, it is indeed a Limbourg-horse
that we nd here, for it re-occurs on f. :,o of the Belles Heures, in the miniature
depicting Heraclius return with the Holy Cross. Tis particular horse, as a
matter of fact, the Limbourgs copied from a medal in the collection of Jean de
Berry.
,,
Finally, the hoof-prints visible on the road in the Cleves Hours seem
compositionally akin to the stones from which the road in the Belles Heures is
made. Even though it is clear that the Dutch illuminators whose work is dis-
cussed here used a composition after the Limbourgs, the relative coherence
between the three copies and their dierences with the Belles Heures miniature
seem to indicate that they did not copy the Belles Heures directly. Tey couldnt
have, since the manuscript was already in possession of Jolande of Aragon by
the time the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle rendered his St. Martin.
Adhering as they were to their Italian (or Italianate) model, it may be that
the Limbourgs eventually were dissatised with their rendering of Martins
encounter with the beggar in the Belles Heures. For the beggar who receives the
cloak from the saint is partially covered by the horse; his face is not visible at
all. Tey may have conceived a new compositional scheme, in which the saint
turns back to split his cloak and clothe the beggar. It would not have been that
much of a stretch, since on the medal the Limbourgs used as a source of inspi-
ration for the Heraclius miniature, there is already a depiction of a servant
riding a second horse behind the rst one, turning back towards Heraclius.
Tis posture may have inspired the Limbourgs to rethink the position of the
saint and make him turn backwards in their new rendering of the theme.
,
Te
,, Te Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ,,c-:; f. :,o of the Belles Heures is reproduced on
p. :c;.
, Interestingly, two manuscripts that include Limbourg borrowings, namely the Heures de
Saint Maur (Paris, Bibliothque Nationale, MS n.a.l. ,:c;) and the Chteauroux Breviary (Ch-
teauroux, Mdiathque municipale quinoxe, MS :) show depictions of Martin and the beggar
in this new position on a similar horse; the miniatures are very similar as far as the poses of
Martin, the horse and the beggar are concerned. However, they fail to show a second beggar or
a piece of Martins cloak handed down from heaven. Tey may therefore represent current mod-
els in depicting St. Martin in the le de France, rather than giving direct evidence for a change in
a Limbourg composition after the Belles Heures. For these two manuscripts, cf. Te Limbourg
Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. c-;; Paris . Les arts sous Charles VI, ed. E. Taburet-Delahaye &
F. Avril (Paris :cc). pp. :-o, nr. :;o (Heures de Saint Maur) and I. Villela-Petit, Le Brviaire
de Chteauroux (Paris :cc,), p. :::.
:;: ion oucxiis
new and redened composition then would have been the image they would
have shown to their colleagues upon their return to Nijmegen in ::, or ::,,
where this and other models may have been partially or fully copied, most
likely by the Passion Master and the Master of Mary of Guelders, perhaps
already by the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle as well. Tese studies (or
copies thereof ) would then have been reused at a later date by the Zweder
Masters and the Master of Catherine of Cleves. Notwithstanding their overall
similarities, the distinct dierences between the miniatures of these three
dierent Dutch illuminators seem to suggest that each illuminator had access
to and re-shued the copied Limbourg composition, as opposed to a
younger Northern illuminator copying the composition from an older col-
league. However, that a corpus of Limbourg compositions was handed over or
passed down from one workshop to another seems to be hardly unlikely, given
the scale on which direct or indirect borrowings from the oeuvre of the Lim-
bourgs occur in Dutch illuminated manuscripts. A relationship between the
rendering of St. Martin by the Master of Catherine of Cleves and that of the
Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle was already noted by James Marrow in
his :,o article on the Infancy Cycle Master. However, as he stated, the ever-
present possibility of a lost common prototype prevents us from arming
direct inuence.
,,
Tis common prototype, as it turns out, is likely to be a
Limbourg drawing, indeed lost, but partially preserved in an earlier version in
the St. Martin from the Belles Heures.
Te Annunciation
One of the most important iconographical themes in a miniaturists artistic
vocabulary is the scene of the angel Gabriel who announces to Mary that
she will become the Mother of Christ. Taken from the Gospel of St. Luke
(:: :o-,), it is a scene that is encountered in many variations in every book
that shows an illuminated cycle of the life of Mary or the infancy of Christ or
individual scenes thereof, be it a book of hours, a Speculum Humanae Salva-
tionis, a History-Bible or an illuminated missal, to name but a few possible
genres. Te Limbourg brothers created two dierent but in both cases impres-
sive depictions of this scene in both the Belles Heures (f. ,cr., illus. :,) and the
Trs Riches Heures (f. :or., illus. :); given the importance of the miniatures, as
the opening of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, it is only tting that both are
,, Marrow, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ,,-:cc.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :;,
:,. Limbourg Brothers, Annunciation, from the Belles Heures, New York, MMA,
Cloisters Collection, Acc. ,.:.:, f. ,cr.
:; ion oucxiis
:. Limbourg Brothers, Annunciation, from the Trs Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
Chantilly, Muse Cond, f. :or.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :;,
monumental compositions. Tese appealing compositions were already circu-
lating in France, as is shown by contemporary copies.
,o
Around ::,, these
compositions also seem to have reached the illuminators in the Northern
Netherlands. Te rst Dutch illuminator to use these compositions seems
to be the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, in the Leefdael Hours (f. :,v.,
illus. :,). He does not copy the whole composition, so that at rst sight there
seems to be only a supercial resemblance. However, when compared in more
detail, both the gures of Gabriel and Mary turn out to derive from the origi-
nals by the Limbourgs. Te posture of Mary in the Leefdael Hours is very close
to that in the Trs riches Heures, even down to the part of her cloak that sags
onto the ground and folds in a similar fashion in both miniatures. Te drapery
of the tunic of Gabriel also is very similar in both. Finally, the gure of God
the Father sending down the Holy Spirit, a motif that does not occur that
often in Northern Netherlandish manuscripts of the period, can be found in
the left-hand corner in both annunciations. It seems that the master has used
the essential elements in the Limbourg composition, i.e. Mary, her prie-Dieu
or lectern, Gabriel and God the Father with the Holy Spirit, and left every-
thing else out, so as not to divert attention away from the main storyline, a
characteristic that we have already encountered in his depiction of St. Martin.
Coincidentally, a similar yet less radically restricted use of Limbourg and
Boucicaut models can be observed in a number of printed Annunciation-
scenes, possibly stemming from Southern Germany, c. :oc.
,;
An interesting
feature in the Infancy Cycle Masters miniature is the gesture of Gabriel, who
is pointing towards heaven. Tis gesture is absent from the Limbourg compo-
sition in the Trs riches Heures, but does occur, though less articulated, in the
Belles Heures.
,
It is likely that the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle distilled
his composition out of two examples after the Limbourgs at his disposal, one
,o Te composition from the Belles Heures was already copied around ::c into a book of
hours (Paris, Bibliothque Sainte Genevive, MS :;:,, f. :,r.) and at approximately the same
time in the Heures de Saint Maur (Paris, Bibliothque Nationale, MS n.a.l. ,:c;, f. ,r.) and a
partial copy from the annunciation in the Trs Riches Heures can be found in a book of hours,
dating around ::,, in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York (M. ,,, f. ,cv.). For the
most recent discussion of these examples, cf. the comments made by Gregory Clark in: Te
Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. :,,, co-;.
,; Origins of European Printmaking. Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Teir Public, ed. P. Par-
shall & R. Schoch (Washington :cc,), pp. :::-:,.
, Te Limbourgs may have found the gesture readily in annunciations in manuscripts
already owned by the duke, such as the Trs Belles Heures de Notre Dame, f. ;v., cf. Boespug &
Knig, op. cit. (n. ,), p. ::.
:;o ion oucxiis
:,. Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, Annunciation, from the Leefdael Hours,
Utrecht, University Library, MS ,.J.:o, f. :,v.
more similar to the Belles Heures, one close to the Trs riches Heures, since other
Dutch illuminators seem to use elements from both as well. Alternatively, a
composition that already combined elements from both may have been circu-
lating by this time. Tis, however, seems less likely when we look at the work
of other illuminators, who seem to include other copied details.
In the second part of a history Bible, dating from c. :,c and now preserved
at the Royal Library in Te Hague (MS ; D , II), the so-called Alexander
Master shows us on f. ::v. the annunciation (illus. :o).
,,
Here the illuminator
reveals his sources more clearly. Te pose of Mary and the position of both the
angel and the dove, representing the Holy Spirit, derive from the Trs riches
Heures-annunciation, even though the composition is mirrored, the angel
makes a gesture like we already noted in the rendering of this scene by the
Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle and Marys lectern has turned into an
altar here. However, this time, the Alexander Master also shows us an interior,
that is clearly modelled after the room the Limbourgs created in the Belles
Heures. It shows the same compartmented interior, with a central column
dividing the room into two spaces, and two columns on the side which are
rendered almost identical to the ones in the Belles Heures , and also the vault
is depicted in the same way. In the back wall of the room, the Alexander Mas-
ter makes a slight variation on the arches visible in the Belles Heures, which are
turned into windows here. Te notable absentee in the Alexander Masters
,, Golden Age, op. cit. (n. ,), nr. ,, pp. :,:-,.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :;;
:o. Alexander Master, Annunciation, from a History Bible, Te Hague, Royal Library,
MS ; D , II, f. ::v.
miniature is God the Father; however, in both the Belles Heures and Trs riches
Heures annunciations, he is not represented in the central part of the minia-
ture, but in an extension (Belles Heures) or even in the margin (Trs riches
Heures). Tis may explain his absence here.
It is essentially the Alexander Masters composition that we also encounter
in a book of hours, illuminated by the Zweder Masters, around the same time,
if not slightly earlier (France, private collection, illus. :;).
c
Yet a dierent step
is taken very soon. In the annunciation in the Egmont Breviary (New York,
Morgan Library and Museum, MS M. ;, f. ,,v.) painted around :,,, the
interior seems to be a further simplication of the Belles Heures room (illus. :).
Te columns on the side are still there; the central column, however, has dis-
appeared, even though the arches in the front wall still reect the separation of
the space in two distinct bays. Te poses of Mary and Gabriel are very close
to the Leefdael Hours, with only the positions of the arms changed on both
gures. God the Father re-appears here, and coming down on rays of light, not
c Golden Age, op. cit. (n. ,), nr. ,:, pp. :c-:c,.
:; ion oucxiis
:;. Zweder Master, Annunciation, from a Book of Hours. France, Private Collection.
only the Holy Spirit is overshadowing Mary, but we also see the infant Jesus
being sent down, carrying the Cross on his back, a motif that is familiar to us
from Robert Campins Merode Altarpiece (New York, Metropolitan Museum
of Art, the Cloisters). Behind Mary is a curtain, and over her head, high up
near the vault, a canopy. It is this curtain and canopy that we eventually nd
integrated as a bed in many other depictions of this scene by the Zweder Mas-
ters, such as in the annunciation in a book of hours in the Hague (Royal
Library, MS ;, K :, p. :). However, the poses of Mary, the Angel and God
the Father (without the Christ-child) remain similar.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :;,
:. Masters of Zweder of Culemborg, Annunciation, from the Breviary of Arnold of
Egmont, New York, Morgan Library & Museum, MS M ;, f. ,,v.
:c ion oucxiis
Conclusion
Te evidence assembled and presented in appendix :a-c seems to support the
hypothesis that a model book containing copies of Limbourg compositions
circulated in the Northern Netherlands from about ::, onwards. Te possi-
bility of such a model book existing, is given weight by the so-called Model
Book of Jacques Daliwe (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Liber Picturatus a ;), a col-
lection of drawings on small boxwood panels dating from around ::,, where
on two of the panels (IIa and XIIa) compositions of the Limbourg brothers
survive (i.e. the Flagellation of Christ and the Visitation, both taken from the
Belles Heures, f. :,:r. and :v. respectively).
:
Whether these models were intro-
duced to Dutch illuminators active between ::c and ::, by the Limbourgs
themselves during the visits to their native town of Nijmegen is a question that
cannot be answered armatively as yet, since too many variables in this equa-
tion are unsure. Were the Master of Mary of Guelders and the Passion Master
indeed living in or near Nijmegen during their work on the prayer-book of
Mary of Guelders, which would have enabled them to meet the Limbourgs?
And regardless the question where these artists worked did these illumina-
tors stay in their native region during that period, or did they, like many oth-
ers, follow the example set by such artists as the Limbourgs by going to the le
de France, where they may have learned of the Limbourgs compositions, as
well as those by other leading illuminators, perhaps even without ever meeting
them?
:
Te evidence so far seems to suggest otherwise, for as we have seen,
: U. Jenni & U. Winter, Das Skizzenbuch des Jacques Daliwe (Weinheim :,;), pp. ,c-:;
R. Scheller, Exemplum: Model-Book Drawings and the Practice of Artistic Transmission in the Mid-
dle Ages (ca. -ca. ) (Amsterdam :,,,), pp. :,,-c.
: Tis possibility was pointed out to me by Dr. Patricia Stirnemann, and given the direct
relation between Mary of Guelders and Jean, duc de Berry and therefore the possibility of
access to the dukes manuscripts for Marys artists through an introduction it should not be
dismissed instantly. However, the chronology of their work points in a dierent direction, since
accepting this hypothesis means the master of Mary of Guelders and the Passion Master would
have needed to go to France and return from there before their work on the prayer-book of Mary
of Guelders was nished, which cannot have been much later than ::o; the borrowings from the
Trs Riches Heures suggest a terminus postquem of ::: if not later, since that project was only
started around ::: and the Limbourgs were also executing other, smaller commissions during
this time, such as the miniatures they added to manuscripts already owned by Jean de Berry and
possibly others (such as the Vatican Valerius Maximus and the Paris Trs Belles Heures and Petites
Heures). Considering that the Dutch illuminators needed time to incorporate the borrowings in
their own miniatures, this theoretically leaves a gap of about three and a half years at most, but
most likely much shorter than that, since the writing of the manuscript was only nished in
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos ::
February ::, and will not have taken three years to complete. It is a time period, moreover, in
which the illuminators were supposed to work full-time on their commission by the duchess,
before starting their work on other manuscripts, such as the Leefdael Hours or the Cockerell
Hours. A journey to France, even to be inspired by contemporary French illumination, seems a
luxury they could not aord at the time.
, A number of compositions in Dutch manuscripts are derived from manuscripts in the
collection of Jean, duc de Berry, such as the Trs Belles Heures de Notre Dame (Paris, Bibliothque
Nationale, MS N. a. lat. ,c,,), the Petites Heures (Paris, Bibliothque Nationale, MS lat. :c:)
or the Trs Belles Heures (Brussels, Royal Library, MS ::coc-o:). Te Limbourgs added minia-
tures to the rst two, and probably studied and used all three as a source for their own composi-
tions. Terefore, they may also have made sketches of these compositions, which were shown to
their Dutch colleagues, together with their own; see also the comments made in the paragraph
on the Master of Mary of Guelders and the Passion Master. For compositions derived from these
manuscripts, cf. Te Golden Age, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. ::, ,, ;, :c:, :c-,, :co, :c,-:c, :::; Te
Limbourg Brothers, op. cit. (n. ,), pp. :,o-;. Te latter case indeed seems to support the hypoth-
esis of the Limbourgs also transmitting some compositions by their contemporaries, since it
indeed shows a combination of motifs, taken from two dierent sources (a feature that we
already encountered when we discussed the annunciation in a privately owned book of hours by
the Zweder Masters, cf. the paragraph on the annunciation), in this case the Limbourgs Belles
Heures and the Brussels Hours.
even in those instances where we can identify the use of compositions devel-
oped by contemporaries of the Limbourgs working in France, these are often
taken from manuscripts that the Limbourgs had access to, or even added min-
iatures to.
,
For now, the admittedly rather romantic hypothesis of a close
encounter in Nijmegen between the leading Dutch illuminators of the time
and their famed countrymen working at the court of Jean de Berry seems to
t the existing evidence perfectly.
:: ion oucxiis
Appendices
Te rst appendix lists in three tables those compositions or compositional elements by the
Limbourg brothers that have been used in manuscripts from the Northern Netherlands between
::, and :,c, together with the manuscripts that they are found in. For the sake of brevity and
clarity, sigla are used to indicate these manuscripts. Te list below presents the key to those sigla.
Furthermore, the table mentions the folio-number of the manuscript where the derived compo-
sition is to be found (when unknown, a question-mark appears), and the back-ground colour of
the cell indicates whether a composition by the Limbourgs or a substantial part thereof has been
generally adapted, in which case the background is light, or whether only individual elements
or iconographic motifs have been copied or used, in which case the background is dark. It is
possible that elements from dierent Limbourg compositions are combined in one miniature
by a follower; in that case, a specic folio or page of a manuscript will appear more than once in
the table.
Te second appendix interprets the data provided by the rst. Te purpose of the chart is to
clarify possible relationships between individual manuscripts and the artists or workshops that
illuminated them, thereby showing how compositions could have been transmitted from one
workshop to the other.
Sigla
Te sigla are created from the title of the manuscript when it is generally known under that title;
when generic, as in the case of books of hours, the rst letter of the location of the collection is
added, or, if more relevant manuscripts of one book-type with only a generic name are kept in
the same collection, a lower case number is added. In some cases, manuscripts were decorated by
artist working in dierent styles and/or dierent periods. When both (groups of ) artists used
compositions by the Limbourg brothers, they are distinguished by adding a lower case letter
referring to that/those artist(s) to the siglum. PMGp, for example, refers to the miniatures that
the Passion Master contributed to the Prayer Book of Mary of Guelders; PMGm denotes the
miniatures painted by the Master of Mary of Guelders. Contributing artists that have not used
Limbourg compositions have been disregarded; as an example, there is no mention of the added
illumination by the Masters of Otto of Moerdrecht in the Prayer Book of Mary of Guelders,
since their illuminations do not reect the work of the Limbourgs. References have been made
to reproductions of the compositions in question; a full bibliography for these references is given
in note ,.
rui iixnouics axo iiiuxixariox ix rui xoiruiix xiruiiiaxos :,
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Te Master of Guillebert de Mets, Philip the Good,
and the Breviary of John the Fearless
Gregory T. Clark
University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
In 1;, the British Museum acquired the summer half of a generously illus-
trated early fteenth-century French breviary as part of the Harley collection
(illus. 1-;).
1
Although written for the use of Rome, the better part of the
manuscript, now Harley :8,; in the British Library, was probably made in
Paris in the second decade of the century. Te coats of arms beneath the Ascen-
sion (f. 188v.) demonstrate that Harley :8,; was once owned by John the
Fearless, duke of Burgundy from 1o to 11,; his wife, Margaret of Bavaria;
or both.
:
In 18,8, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the winter half
of the breviary to the British Museum; today it is Additional manuscript
11 in the British Library (illus. 8).

In 1,o, both halves of the London Breviary were included in the sixth and
last volume of the British Museums Schools of Illumination series.

Tat vol-
umes anonymous author was apparently the rst to recognize that the text
of the Sanctorale breaks o in midline at f. 88v. in Additional 11 and
recommences on f. :;,r. of Harley :8,;.

Given this, it would appear that the

1 For Harley :8,;, see most recently Te Limbourg brothers. Nijmegen masters at the French
court 1,vv-1,1, ed. R. Dckers & P. Roelofs (Nijmegen :oo), p. ,8, no. 11, with a summary
bibliography.
: F. 188v. of Harley :8,; is illustrated in ibid. on p. ,,.
For Additional 11, see most recently ibid., p. ,o, no. 11 (with summary bibliogra-
phy), and C. de Hamel, Te Rothschilds and their collections of illuminated manuscripts (London
:oo), pp. 1, 1;, Pl. ;a.
Schools of illumination. Reproductions from manuscripts in the British Museum. Part 6: French,
mid-1,th to 1th centuries (London 1,o), pp. ;-8, Pl. o.
Te break comes between two gatherings of eight: f. 88 is the last folio in gathering o
(. 81-8) of Additional 11 and f. :;, is the rst folio in gathering ; (. :;,-8o) of Harley
:8,;.
:,: ciicoi\ r. ciaix
1. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. :v.: David in landscape pointing to his eyes (Psalm :o). Master of Guillebert de
Mets, southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: BL).
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :,,
:. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. v.: David in landscape pointing to his mouth (Psalm 8). Master of Guillebert
de Mets, southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: BL).
:, ciicoi\ r. ciaix
. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. :v.: Kneeling David praying to Lord in landscape as jester dances (Psalm :).
Master of Guillebert de Mets, southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o
(photo: BL).
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :,,
. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. ov.: Nude David standing in body of water (Psalm o8). Master of Guillebert de
Mets, southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: BL).
:,o ciicoi\ r. ciaix
. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. o:: Seated David playing bells (Psalm 8o). Master of Guillebert de Mets, south-
ern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: BL).
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :,;
o. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. ;:v.: David leading ve clerics in song (Psalm ,;). Master of Guillebert de
Mets, southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: BL).
:, ciicoi\ r. ciaix
;. London, Brit. Lib., MS Harley :8,; (Breviary of John the Fearless, summer por-
tion), f. 8: Trinity enthroned (Psalm 1o,). Master of Guillebert de Mets, southern
Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: BL).
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :,,
8. London, Brit. Lib., MS Add. 11 (Breviary of John the Fearless, winter portion),
f. v.: Nude David standing in body of water (Psalm o8). Master of the Breviary of
John the Fearless, probably Paris, before 11, (photo: BL).
:cc ciicoi\ r. ciaix
London breviary was originally meant to be bound as a single volume of some
;o leaves. Once it was decided to divide the very dense book into two more
manageable halves, the second half now Harley :8,; was provided with
its own calendar, ferial psalter, and common of saints. Together with a selec-
tion of hymns, absolutions, benedictions, and invitations, these texts occupy
the rst twenty gatherings of the book, from . 1 to 1.
o
In a seminal essay on the London breviary published in 1,11, Friedrich
Winkler attributed the seven surviving miniatures in the ferial psalter in Har-
ley :8,; to the southern Netherlandish illuminator whom Winkler himself
would name the Master of Guillebert de Mets just four years later.
;
Te start-
ing point for ascriptions to the painter is the frontispiece in a textual miscel-
lany in the Royal Library of Belgium (MS ,,-o; illus. ,)
8
Tat frontispiece,
the only miniature in the manuscript, introduces the miscellanys rst text,
Christine de Pisans pistre dOtha; the last text is a famous description of
Paris transcribed in or shortly after 1 by Guillebert de Mets of Geraards-
bergen (Grammont) in East Flanders. As Guillebert de Mets most likely died
between 1o and 1,, the Brussels miscellany should probably be dated
between about 1 and 1,. But while Guillebert de Mets lived in Ger-
aardsbergen, the illuminator named after him probably illustrated the miscel-
lany in nearby Ghent.
,
In the nine and a half decades since Winklers 1,11 essay, scholars writing
about the London breviary have focused almost exclusively on the books lead
o Te collation of Harley :8,; to f. 1: 1
o
(1-o), :
;
(;-1, leaf between o and ; removed),
-1
8
(1-1o,), 1
o
(11o-1), 1o
8
(11o-:), 1;

(1:-;), 18-1,
8
(1:8-), :o
1o
(1-). Catch-
words survive at the ends of gatherings :-1, 18, and 1,.
; F. Winkler, Ein neues Werk aus der Werkstatt Pauls von Limburg, in: Repertorium fr
Kunstwissenschaft, (1,11), pp. o-; F. Winkler, Studien zur Geschichte der niederln-
dischen Miniaturmalerei des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts II: Eine andrische Lokalschule um
1:o-1oo. Der Meister der Privilegien von Flandern und Gent (Cod. :8 der k.k. Hofbiblio-
thek), der Meister des Guillebert von Metz, in: Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des
allerhchsten Kaiserhauses, : (1,1), pp. oo-:.
8 Te fullest description of the Brussels manuscript is found in C. Gaspar and F. Lyna, Les
principaux manuscrits peintures de la Bibliothque royale de Belgique, vol. : (Paris 1,; repr. and
enl. Brussels 1,8;), pp. -, no. :18, Pl. 1:,. For Guillebert de Mets, see most recently S.
Somers, Te Varied Occupations of a Burgundian Scribe: Corrections and Additions Relating
to Guillebert de Mets (c.1,o/,1-after 1o), in: Als Ich Can. Liber amicorum in memory of
Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, ed. B. Cardon, J. Van der Stock, & D. Vanwijnsberghe (Louvain
:oo:), pp. 1::;-o.
, Te place of work of the Guillebert de Mets Master is most recently considered by M.P.J.
Martens, Te Master of Guillebert de Mets: An Illuminator between Paris and Ghent?, in: Als
Ich Can, op. cit. (n. 8), pp. ,:1-,.
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :c:
,. Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, MS ,,-o (Textual Miscellany), f. ;: Justice
seated between personications of Mercy and Information. Master of Guillebert de Mets,
southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, c.1-, (photo: RLB).
:c: ciicoi\ r. ciaix
illuminator, the wonderful eccentric whom Millard Meiss named the Master
of the Breviary of John the Fearless after the London volumes.
1o
Both volumes
were shown in the Nijmegen exhibition in :oo because of the close relation-
ship between some of the miniatures by the Master of the Breviary of John the
Fearless and the work of the Limbourg Brothers. I will concentrate instead on
the seven pages illustrated by the Guillebert de Mets Master in the ferial psal-
ter of Harley :8,;. One of my motivations is to introduce those seven pages
to a wider audience: save a closely cropped reproduction of the miniature of
the Trinity (illus. ;), the illumination of the rst twenty gatherings of Harley
:8,; is, to the best of my knowledge, entirely unpublished.
11
My main pur-
pose here, however, is to set those gatherings into the larger context of the
history of the breviary, and more specically the books peregrinations imme-
diately after the passing of its original owner or owners.
Te illustration of the rst twenty gatherings of Harley :8,; originally
comprised eight miniatures, all in the ferial psalter. Sadly, the illustration for
psalm one (Beatus vir) was lost with the excision of the psalters rst leaf. Te
corresponding miniature in Additional 11 (f. 8) is two columns wide.
1:

Painted by the Breviary Master, it depicts David and a scribe before the Lord.
Given this, the rst illustration in the ferial psalter of Harley :8,; was prob-
ably two columns wide as well. Te remaining seven psalter miniatures in
Harley :8,;, like the seven corresponding illustrations by the Breviary Master
in Additional 11, are just one column wide.
Although probably the work of dierent scribes, the Gothic scripts before
f. 1 in Harley :8,; and in the remainder of the London breviary are not
distinctive enough to localize to one or another center or region (illus. 1-8).
What does distinguish the rst twenty gatherings in Harley :8,; from the rest
of the breviary are the ligraine and colored initials, the marginal ora, and of
course the miniatures themselves. All of the one-line initials in the breviary are
either blue or gold and are embellished with ligraine decoration in red or
black, respectively. But while the marginal extenders of that ligraine decora-
1o Te classic essay on the Breviary Master remains M. Meiss, French painting in the time of
Jean de Berry. Te Limbourgs and their contemporaries (New York 1,;) pp. ::-;.
11 Tat reproduction of the Trinity appeared in Winkler, art. cit. (n. ;: 1,1), p. :, g. ,.
In September of :ooo, Mara Hofmann posted the Harley page with David pointing to
his mouth (f. v.) in her illustrated online portfolio on Parisian illumination between about
1oo and 1o in the British Library (http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/
TourFr1oo.asp).
1: Te two-column miniature in Additional 11 is most recently illustrated in: Te Lim-
bourg brothers, op. cit. (n. 1), p. ,;.
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :c,
tion are wispy in the rst twenty gatherings of Harley :8,; (illus. 1-;), the
extenders are less expansive but much denser in the rest of the breviary (illus. 8).
As the incipit initial D of Psalm :o (illus. 1) and incipit E of Psalm 8o (illus. )
demonstrate, the ivy leaves in the two-to-three-line-high colored initials before
f. 1 in Harley :8,; sometimes spike beyond the edges of the initials. Tere
is no such perforation in the remainder of the breviary (illus. 8). In addition,
the ivy leaves of the pen-and-ink burnished-gold rinceaux before f. 1 are
more corpulent than the same ivy leaves in the rest of the breviary. Another
distinguishing feature of the burnished-gold rinceaux before f. 1 is the
intermittent addition of two or three short, parallel hatches at set intervals
across the pen-and-ink vines themselves (illus. 1-, o-;).
Te broader, colored ivy-leaf rinceaux sprays in the upper and lower mar-
gins before f. 1 (illus. 1-;) are not as slight and spidery as those elsewhere in
the breviary (illus. 8). Tose broad sprays come in two styles before f. 1. Te
ones above and below David in the water (illus. ), for example, more closely
resemble the sprays in the rest of the breviary (illus. 8), but the stems are
broader and the unopened buds are more regularly spaced and straighter.
Some of the sprays before f. 1 (illus. 1-, -;) are also enlivened with broad,
particolored acanthus leaves with boldly modeled spines heightened with
short strokes of white pigment. Comparable acanthus leaves are entirely absent
from the remainder of the breviary. Te second style of colored rinceaux spray
before f. 1 can best be seen both above and below David leading the choir
at Psalm ,; (illus. o). Tat species has even thicker stalks and more boldly
colored ivy leaves.
Like the miniatures themselves, the colored initials and border ora before
f. 1 in Harley :8,; are not French in style, but rather resemble those found
in southern Netherlandish manuscripts illustrated by the Master of Guillebert
de Mets. For example, diapering comparable to that in the incipit initials for
Psalms : (illus. ) and 1o, (illus. ;) lls the initial O beneath the frontispiece
in the Brussels miscellany (illus. ,). Similarly, colored ivy leaves like the ones
perforating the incipit initials at Psalms :o (illus. 1) and 8o (illus. ) also
puncture the initial E in a celebrated French-language copy of Boccaccios
Decameron in the Arsenal Library in Paris (MS o;o, illus. 1o).
1
Although it contains no marks of original ownership, the Arsenal Boccaccio
does appear in the posthumous inventory of the library of Philip the Good,
1 For the Arsenal Boccaccio, see most recently Medieval mastery. Book illumination from
Charlemagne to Charles the Bold vv-1,;, (exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum Vander Kelen-Mertens;
Louvain :oo:), pp. :8o-;, no. ;, with references to earlier literature.
:c ciicoi\ r. ciaix
1o. Paris, Bibl. de lArsenal, MS o;o (Boccaccio, Decameron), f. ;: Pampineas tale
of Master Albert of Bologna and Malgherida de Ghisolini (First Day, Tenth Story). Mas-
ter of Guillebert de Mets, southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, 1os (photo: Bib-
liothque Nationale de France).
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :c,
duke of Burgundy. As Guillebert de Mets was the scribe, the Arsenal codex
was most likely written before 1,. Te miniature reproduced here, which
illustrates the tenth story on the rst day, is by the Guillebert de Mets Master
and has, like the transcription, been dated to the 1os.
1
Short, parallel
hatches break up the pen-and-ink rinceaux stems on both the Arsenal page
and six of the seven miniature pages before f. 1 in Harley :8,; (illus. 1-,
o-;). Acanthus leaves with prominent spines dotted with white also enrich the
particolored rinceaux on the same Arsenal page and six of the seven London
ones as well (illus. 1-, -;).
Colored ivy-leaf rinceaux with thick stems like those above and below
David Leading the Choir at Psalm ,; (illus. o) appear on the incipit page of a
Latin-language copy of Valerius Maximus Memorable Doings and Sayings in
the Royal Library in Brussels (MS ,,o:, illus. 11).
1
Te historiated initial U
on that page, by the Guillebert de Mets Master, shows Valerius Maximus read-
ing his text. At the bottom of the page are the arms of Godevaert de Wilde, a
burgher of Bruges who held several oces at the Burgundian court between
1oo and his death in 1o.
1o
Like the Arsenal Boccaccio, the Brussels Vale-
rius Maximus and several other manuscripts owned by Godevaert de Wilde
eventually found their way into the collection of Philip the Good.
1;
In his 1,11 essay on the London Breviary, Friedrich Winkler rightly noted
that the seven compositions before f. 1 in Harley :8,; are directly based
on their counterparts by the Breviary Master in the books other half (illus. ,
8).
18
Te style of the seven Harley miniatures, on the other hand, is entirely
characteristic of the Guillebert de Mets Master, as Friedrich Winkler also
rst recognized. Tis can be seen by comparing the Harley David in the
Water (illus. ) with the Christopher Carrying the Child by the Guillebert
de Mets Master in a Book of Hours in the Morgan Library and Museum (MS
1 For the dating of the Boccaccio miniatures, see Somers, art. cit. (n. 8), pp. 1:-8 and
n. 8.
1 Te fullest description of the Brussels Valerius Maximus is in Gaspar and Lyna, op. cit.
(n. 8), pp. 1-, no. :1;, Pl. 1:8b. For the correct identication of the books original owner,
however, see La librairie des ducs de Bourgogne. Manuscrits conservs la Bibliothque royale de
Belgique. :: Textes didactiques, ed. B. Bousmanne, F. Johan, & C. Van Hoorebeeck (Brussels
:oo), p. 18.
1o Te life of Godevaert de Wilde is outlined in L. Nys and D. Lievois, Not Timotheos
Again! Te Portrait of Godevaert de Wilde, Receiver of Flanders and of Artois?, in: Als Ich Can,
op. cit. (n. 8), pp. 1o-;.
1; For this history, see La librairie des ducs de Bourgogne, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 18-,.
18 Winkler, art. cit. (n. ;: 1,11), p. ;.
:co ciicoi\ r. ciaix
11. Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, MS ,,o: (Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta
memorabilia), f. 1: Valerius Maximus reading his text. Master of Guillebert de Mets,
southern Netherlands, probably Ghent, 1:os (photo: KIKIRPA).
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :c;
1:. New York, Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.o (Book of Hours), f. :v.:
Christopher carrying the Child. Master of Guillebert de Mets, southern Netherlands,
probably Ghent, c.1:o-o (photo: MLM).
:c ciicoi\ r. ciaix
M. o; illus. 1:).
1,
Among the many points of similarity are the mature male
physiognomical types, the spindly outcroppings of rock, the crowns of the
trees, and the scatterings of perfectly round little stones on the barren
ground.
To sum up thus far, the text in the rst twenty gatherings of Harley :8,;
could presumably have been written either in France or in the southern Neth-
erlands. Te miniatures, colored initials, and marginal decoration from . 1 to
1, on the other hand, were almost certainly executed in the southern Neth-
erlands. When did this happen, and at whose orders?
Two separate documents mention a breviary or breviaries owned or com-
missioned by John the Fearless, Margaret of Bavaria, or both. Te rst docu-
ment notes that John gave Margaret oo francs for a breviary and other books
in May of 11:.
:o
Te second document concerns a very beautiful and rich
breviary for Paris use. Tat breviary was lost when John was murdered at
Montereau in 11, but was afterwards restored to his survivors by Jehan
Guiot, dean of Notre-Dame de Montereau.
21
Some scholars have argued that the London manuscript and the breviary
cited in 11: are one and the same, and thus that the London codex was made
for the duchess between about 11 and her husbands murder in 11,. Oth-
ers have proposed that the London breviary was the one in the dukes posses-
sion at Montereau in 11,, and therefore in fact his. It is, of course, also
possible that the breviaries cited in the two documents are one and the same.
What is certain is that the London breviary appears neither in Johns posthu-
mous inventory of 1:o nor in Margarets of 1:.
If the London breviary is indeed the very beautiful and rich one lost at
Montereau, is it absent from both Johns and Margarets posthumous invento-
ries because it went straight from Montereau into the hands of Johns son,
survivor, and ducal successor, Philip the Good? To be sure, the document
states that the Montereau breviary was for Paris use and the London breviary
is for Rome use. If the Montereau and London breviaries are in fact one and
the same, however, then the breviary looked Parisian when the document was
drawn up, and it is easy to imagine the books seemingly Parisian decoration
superseding its pan-European textual use as a handle for identication.
1, For Morgan o, see G.T. Clark, Made In Flanders. Te Master of the Ghent Privileges and
manuscript painting in the southern Netherlands in the time of Philip the Good (Turnhout :ooo),
pp. -, 8, and 1o, n. o, with references to earlier literature.
:o G. Doutrepont, La littrature franaise la cour des ducs de Bourgogne (Paris 1,o,; repr.
Geneva 1,;o), p. :o1, and Meiss, op. cit. (n. 1o), p. :.
:1 Doutrepont, op. cit. (n. :o), p. :o:, and Meiss, op. cit. (n. 1o), p. :.
rui niiviai\ oi ;oux rui iiaiiiss :c,
Whether or not the London breviary was the one lost at Montereau, Philip
the Good certainly inherited some :o manuscripts from his father and at
least twelve from his mother as well.
::
If the London breviary was one of them,
however, it was not in Philips library at the time of his death. Is there any
other reason to think that Philip might have owned the London breviary in
the decades after his parents passings?
While the London breviary could have been broken into two halves by its
original owner or owners, it was most likely a later one who commissioned the
Master of Guillebert de Mets to decorate the rst twenty gatherings in Harley
:8,;. To be sure, John the Fearless did own at least one manuscript in a style
that anticipates that of the Guillebert de Mets Master. Tis is the dukes book
of hours now in the Bibliothque Nationale de France (MS n.a.l. o).
:
Tose hours may well have been commissioned for John by his son Philip,
who from 111 onward represented his absent fathers interests in the Low
Countries from a base in Ghent.
:
Te more monumental gures, voluminous draperies, and deeper land-
scapes in Harley :8,;, however, suggest that the seven miniatures by the Guil-
lebert de Mets Master there were not painted before 1:o, but rather in the
1:os or 1os. In this connection, it may be signicant that the painters of
the Arsenal Boccaccio used a Boccaccio made in Paris around 11 for John
the Fearless as their compositional model (Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana, MS Pal. 1,8,).
:
Johns Boccaccio appears in the 1:o inventory of
his manuscripts and in the posthumous inventory of Philips codices. If Philip
himself ordered the making of the Arsenal Boccaccio, he must have viewed his
fathers Boccaccio as an exemplar worthy of emulation; indeed, the Arsenal
codex may have been meant as an homage by Philip to his dynastic predecessor.
:: See in this regard G. Dogaer & M. Debae, La librairie de Philippe le Bon (exh. cat., Royal
Library of Belgium; Brussels 1,o;), pp. -, and La librairie des ducs de Bourgogne. Manuscrits
conservs la Bibliothque royale de Belgique. 1: Textes liturgiques, asctiques, thologiques, phi-
losophiques et moraux, ed. B. Bousmanne & C. Van Hoorebeeck (Brussels :ooo), p. 1.
: For the Hours of John the Fearless, see most recently Art from the court of Burgundy. Te
patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless 1,,-1,1, (exh. cat., Museum of Art; Cleveland
:oo), p. ;, gs. -, and p. 118, no. .
: Philip the Goods years in Ghent are described in R. Vaughan, John the Fearless. Te growth
of Burgundian power (London 1,oo; repr. Woodbridge [Suolk] :oo:), pp. 1-;:.
: Te derivation of the Arsenal compositions from those in the Vatican Boccaccio was rec-
ognized already in 1,1o by Paul Durrieu (Winkler, art. cit. (n. ;: 1,1), pp. :o-1, n. ). All of
the illuminated pages in the Vatican exemplar are reproduced in color in E. Knig, Boccaccio
Decameron. Alle 1vv Miniaturen der ersten Bilderhandschrift (Stuttgart 1,8,); the analogous com-
position to my illus. 1o (f. 1v. in the Vatican codex) is reproduced there on page ,.
::c ciicoi\ r. ciaix
In like wise, the seven Harley illuminations emulate the models in a book owned
by one or both of Philip the Goods parents. If Philip did indeed possess
the London breviary for a time after Johns or Margarets death, then the seven
miniatures before f. 1 in Harley :8,; and surely the excised eighth between
. o and ; as well comprise a second homage by Philip to his forebears.
Whether or not Philip the Good ever owned the London breviary, that
book and John the Fearless Boccaccio had clearly found their way by the sec-
ond quarter of the fteenth century to the southern Netherlands, where they
were extensively quarried by local artisans. At the very least, both the breviary
and the Arsenal Boccaccio are testimonials to the high esteem in which early
fteenth-century French illumination was held by later generations of painters
and patrons.
Notes on Contributors
Haxxixi vax Asiiiix works at the Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen (Te
Netherlands). Her dissertation that is nearing completion focuses on pilgrims
badges that are sewn or glued into the margins of medieval manuscripts and
the painted badges in the Flemish trompe-loeil borders. Te badges oer
insight into the devotional and related customs of the laity as well as workshop
practices during the late Middle Ages. As a specialist on the subject, she has
contributed to the :ooo exhibition Faith and Fortune on badges, brooches and
devotion in medieval Flanders at Bruges. At the moment, she is participating
in the Heilig en Profaan project, the third part of book series on pilgrims
badges that is scheduled to appear in :o1o. She also works on Kunera, a
searchable database of medieval badges and ampullas (www.ru.nl/ckd).
Giicoi\ T. Ciaix (1,1) is Professor of Art History at the University of the
South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He has published numerous studies on French
and Flemish manuscript illumination of the fteenth century. His two most
recent books are Made in Flanders: the Master of the Ghent Privileges and Man-
uscript Painting in the Southern Netherlands in the Time of Philip the Good
(:ooo) and Te Spitz Master: a Parisian Book of Hours (:oo).
Hiixax Tu.Coiixniaxoii, studied art history at the University of Amster-
dam and graduated in 1,;o. Stayed for further research in Florence, Rome
and Madrid; attached 1,81-1,,; to the Netherlands Organisation for Scien-
tic Research NWO in Te Hague. Published articles on Andrea del Verroc-
chio and Leonardo da Vinci, Jean Perral, the Master of Saint Giles,
Hieronymus Bosch, Jan van Eyck, Rembrandt and upheld in :ooo his PhD
thesis on the Trs Riches Heures and the Limbourg Brothers (under supervision
of prof. C. Chavannes-Mazel and prof. P. Hoppenbrouwers) at the University
of Amsterdam.
Ron Ducxiis (1,;:) studied art history at Raboud University Nijmegen and
codicology at Leiden University. He specializes in medieval codices and in
ecclesiastical art, publishing regularly in both elds. Dckers is currently
:1: xoris ox coxriinurois
working on an international loan exhibition on the Hours of Catherine of
Cleves (Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen). He is attached to Emerson College
European Center (Well) and to the treasury at the Basilica of Saint Servatius
in Maastricht.
Eniiuaio Koxic (1,;) studied in Paris, Oxford and Bonn, had fellowships
in Oxford and Munich, was University assistant in Kiel and is, since 1,8o,
professor of Art History at the Freie Universitt Berlin. Living in Berlin and
Paris, he specialized in illuminated manuscripts mostly north the Alps. After a
book on the Jouvenel Master and the young Fouquet (Franzsische Buch-
malerei um 1o, Berlin 1,8:) he published monographs (and articles) on
manuscripts of Books of Hours, the Roman de la Rose, the Divine Comedy,
the Decameron, Franz von Retz and the Chastel de Labour, Boccace and
Froissart, but also on printed Bibles from Mainz and on Still Life, Caravaggio,
Michelangelo, the Louvre and the U zi gallery, and two volumes on the Ital-
ian Painters of the Renaissance. He has written commentary volumes for the
facsimiles of the Trs Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, the Paris leaves and the
burned Turin Hours, the Belles Heures, the Bedford Hours and the Grandes
Heures de Rohan.
Maicaiir Lawsox received a BA in studio art and art history from the Col-
lege of Wooster, Ohio, in 1,o8 and an MA in art conservation from the Coo-
perstown Program for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works,
Cooperstown, NY, in 1,81. She has been a paper conservator at the Metro-
politan Museum of Art, New York, since 1,81.
Sriiuix Piixixsox is Associate Professor of Art History at Bowdoin College
(Brunswick, Maine, USA). His book, About Face: Te Prehistory of Portraiture
in Late Medieval France, will be published by the University of Chicago Press
in :oo,. He has published extensively on issues pertaining to portraiture, with
articles in Te Art Bulletin, Gesta, Te Sixteenth Century Journal, and else-
where.
Piirii Roiiois (1,;:) has been Curator of Seventeenth Century Dutch
Painting at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam since :ooo. From :oo to :ooo he
was Curator at Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen. Together with Rob Dckers
he curated the exhibition Te Limbourg Brothers: Nijmegen Masters at the
French Court (-) (Nijmegen :oo). Roelofs specializes in seventeenth-
century Dutch art but has published on a wide range of art-historical themes.
xoris ox coxriinurois :1
Vicroi M. Scuxior (1,;) studied art history in Groningen and at the
Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In 1,,8 he took his PhD with a dis-
sertation on medieval legends about Alexander the Great at the Rijksuniversit-
eit Groningen, where he also lectures in art history. Schmidt worked as a senior
researcher in the period 1,,-, at the Istituto Universitario Olandese di Storia
DellArte in Florence. Major publications: A legend and its image: the Aerial
Flight of Alexander the Great in Medieval Art (Groningen 1,,o) and Painted
Piety: Panel Paintings for Personal Devotion in Tuscany, - (Florence
:oo). In :oo: he edited Italian Panel Painting of the Duecento and Trecento
for the Center for Advanced Study in Visual Arts of the National Gallery of
Art in Washington.
Alexander Master, 1o:, 1;o, 1;;, :1
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 11o, 1oo
Anne de Bourbon, ;
Baptist Master, 1o, 1
Barthlemy dEyck, 11, o
Bedford Master, 1, 1;
Bonne dArmagnac, 8, o
Catherine de Bourbon, 1
Charles dOrleans, 8, o, :o
Charles the Bold, 1, :o
Charles IV, 1
Charles V, o8, ,;
Charles VI, 11, 1, o:, o, o;, ;, ;8, 81,
8, ,1, 1oo, 1o8, 1:, 1;1
Charles VII, o, ,o
Christine de Pizan, o,, ;o, ;1
Claes Heynenzoon, 1
Conrad van Soest, 1:1, 1, 1;
Dom Bernard de Montfaucon, 1
Duke dAumale, 1, , ;
Fra Angelico, :,
Giotto, :,
Godevaert de Wilde, :o
Helmich de Leeuw, 1:, 1
Herman de Limbourg, 1, 1,, :o, , 8:,
1oo, 11;, 11
Herman Maelwael, 1
Isabelle of France, Portugal, Bavaria, 1, o,,
;o, ;1, ;, 81, 1o
Jacob van Melkeren, 11
(Jan) van Eyck, o, 1o, :11
Name Index
Jean de Bourbon, 8, o, oo, ;, ;8, 81
Jean de France duc de Berry (Jean de France;
Jean de Berry), 1, 11, 1o, 1,, :o, :1, :,
:, :;, :,, 1, , , ;, ,, 1, ,
, ;, ,, 1, , , oo, o:, o, o,
o;, ;:, ;, ;8, 81, 8:, 8, 8, 8;, 88,
8,, ,o, ,1, ,, ,, ,, ,o, ,;, ,,, 1oo,
1o1, 1o, 1oo, 1o;, 1o8, 11, 1:, 1o,
18, 1,, 1o, 1o, 11, 1, 1;1, 18o,
181, :o:
Jean de Limbourg, 1, :o, , 8:, 1, 1
Jean de Nymgne, 1:
Jean Hayton, 11, 1
Jean IV of Harcourt, 1
Jehannequin of Limbourg, 1oo, 11, 1:
Johan Maelwael, 1, , ;, ,, 1o, 11, 1:, 1,
1, 1, 1o, 1;, 11, 1
John the Fearless, , o, ;, 8, ,, 1o, 11, 1:,
1, 1, ,, ;8, ;,, 8o, ,, ,, ,o, 1:,
1,1, 1,:, 1,, 1,, 1,, 1,o, 1,;, 1,8,
1,,, :o1, :o:, :o, :o, :o;, :o8, :o,,
:1o
King Joo I of Portugal, ;
Kolner Meister der Heiligen Veronika, 1:1
Limbourg Brothers, 1, , 11, 1:, 1,, :o, :1,
:, ,, 1, :, , , o, ;, o1, o, ;,
8, ,, ,, ,8, ,,, 1oo, 1o1, 1o:, 1o,
1oo, 11, 1:, 18, 1,, 1o, 11, 1:,
1, 1, 1o, 1;, 18, 1,, 1oo, 1o1,
1o:, 1o, 1o, 1o, 1oo, 1o;, 1;1, 1;:,
1;, 1;, 1;, 18o, 181, 18:, 18,, 1,1,
:o:, :11, :1:
Louis dOrleans, 11, 1:
Louis de Male, ,
Louis de/of Bourbon, o, oo, o8, 8
Louis of Anjou, ;
Louis II dAnjou, 11, o, ,o
:1o xaxi ixoix
Margaret of Bavaria, ,, 1,1, :o8
Marguerite dOrleans, 1o,, 1::
Marguerite de Flandre, ,, o,
Marie (daughter) (de Berry), 8, o, oo, ;,
;8, 8:, ,o
Marie dHarcourt, 11, 1:
Martin Gouge,
Master Francke, 1, 1;
Master of Catherine of Cleves, 11, 1;,
1o, 1o, 1;o, 1;:, 18, 18,
Master of Guelders, 1:
Master of Guillebert de Mets, 1,1, 1,:,
1,, 1,, 1,, 1,o, 1,;, 1,8, :oo, :o1,
:o:, :o, :o, :o, :o;, :o,
Master of Mary of Guelders, 1, 1
Master of the Breviary, ,, ,, ,o, 1,,,
:o:
Master of the Holy Ghost, 1o, 1
Master of the Martyrs, 1o
Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, 1o,
11, 1:, 1, 1;, 1,, 1o, 1o, 1oo,
1o8, 1;1, 1;:, 1;, 1;o, 18, 18,
Master of the Prayer Book, 1:
Master of Zweder of Culemborg, 1,, 1oo,
1o:, 1o, 1o, 1o, 1o,, 1;:, 1;;, 1;8,
1;,, 181, 18, 18,
Mazarine Master, 11, 1, 1:1
Meister Boucicat, Mazarine, Egerton, 1:1
Parament Master, 1o, 1
Passion Master, 1:, 1, 1, 1, 1;,
1,, 1o, 1;:, 18o, 181, 18:
Passion Master of Mary of Guelders, 1o,
1, 1, 1;, 1,, 18, 18,
Paul de Limbourg, 1, 1,, :o, , 1o,, 11o,
11;, 118, 11,, 1, 1
Philip of Artois, ,;, 1o
Philip the Bold, 1, ,, 1:, 1, 1, 1o, 88, 8,,
1o, 1, 18, :o,
Philip the Good, 8, 8,, ,o, ,:, 1,1, :o,
:o, :o8, :o,, :1o, :11
Pietro Lorenzetti, 1:1
Reinout, duke of Guelders, 11, 1
Ren of Anjou, ,o, 1o
Robert Campin, 1o, 1;8
Willem Maelwael, 1
William of Oostervant, 1
William VI of Holland, 1, 1o
Yolande of Aragon, 88, ,o, ,1, 1o, 1;1