Essay on tres riches heures du duc de berry

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry is the illustrated manuscript that was made in the XV century. The most famous part of the Tres riches heures du duc de Berry is the cycle Seasons, which consists of twelve images depicting entertainment nobility or peasants work on the background of medieval castles. The book of hours was ordered by the Duke Jean de Berry to miniaturists Paul, Jean and Herman Limburg in 1410-1411. However, it remained unfinished when the artists, as well as the customer, died in 1416. However, researchers suggest that the manuscript was completed twenty years later by an unknown artist. Some art historians believe that this was an artist Barthelemy d’Eyk. In the years 1485-1486 the manuscript was finished by the artist Jean Collomb who was commissioned by Charles I of Savoy, but some sheets of the manuscript remain still unfinished. This essay is devoted to the Tres riches heures du duc de Berry and is aimed on outlining its influence on the French art of the fifteenth century. The essay will be divided into three parts.

French art in XV century

After the end of the Hundred Years’ War, France was experiencing rapid growth – spiritual, economic, cultural. Gradually overcoming the crisis, Charles VII, Louis XI begin to unite franch lands. This event started the period of the absolute monarchy in the country. The war changed the balance of social forces in the country. Heated by military events of the feudal nobility dreams of reviving past glory and were not meant to come true. Royal power, uniting the nation and the land now made ​​a bet on the city, reeling from the devastation and the rich bourgeois who earned a huge capital on war and were striving for power, prestige and titles. The Third Estate grew stronger, concentrating in their hands huge cash. And the money is subject to all, as people used to say in the middle of the fifteenth century. ” De plus en plus!” (More and more) was the motto of one of the members of the new royal administration. The closest associates of Charles VII in the new policy financiers and Simon Jacques Coeur de Vari Chancellor Zhyuvenel Dezyursen treasurer Etienne Chevalier and his son and successor, Laurent Girard came from the bourgeoisie. It were they who were the main patrons at the court of the king. Charles VII and Louis XI were especially busy political construction, the court throughout the century was nomadic , and therefore the authorities cared much about perfect largely reduced to comply with external decorum – the organization lush urban celebrations entries royals, religious pageants holidays. Politics and religion are in favor of a new performance power allies: the city and the citizens. Entertainment era was extremely high. These magnificent testimony powerful national recovery can now only try to reconstruct from indirect sources.
The main feature of French painting of the 15th century after the Hundred Years’ War was the fact that, freed from the centuries depending on the architecture, it was able to focus on itself. The point is that painting of France felt the rebirth before the Renaissance. Using the results of the Dutch and Tuscan artistic revolutions, architectures let themselves search for muse and inspirations. It was painting that became the main subject of experiments with space, color and light, which resulted in a decisive break with the medieval worldview.
However, the leading genre in French paining of the fifteenth century was the miniature book making. It is worth to mention that the fifteenth century was its last heyday. Among the various types of handwritten products of leading workshops a special place belongs to the Book of Hours. Some researchers even call it a bestseller of the late Middle Ages. The prayer book has almost completely replaced the psalter in the hands of the laity at the beginning of the century. With it the noble lords and ordinary citizens prayed in the bedroom or home chapel, not parted on the road. Master miniaturists decorated calendar pictorial compositions and extraction of the gospels, and excerpts from the books of the Old Testament prophets, the prayer to the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, referring to the patron saint, the funeral prayer. That painting was a matter of pride and vanity owner of the Book of Hours. Rich bibliophiles spared no expense for the best artists who created these luxuries. Thus, one sees that Duke of Berry ordered Tres riches heures du duc de Berry to the brothers Limburg because it was popular that days.

The effect of the French art on Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry

Already a cursory acquaintance with thumbnail and décor of the Prayer Book it becomes clear that the manuscript presents the artistic tendencies of two different eras. For the first time, it was admitted by the Duke of Aumale. Everything that was created before 1416 was very different from what was made ​​in 1485 by Colombe and artists who worked with him. While Jean Colombe began to work on Hour Book the style of Limburg brothers, which is considered an unmatched vertex of the International Gothic era, was considered archaic. Colombes, with his own individual artistic handwriting, could not and did not try to follow the style of the Limburg.
French breviary century reflected many of the features of the artistic process era. Here one can see full rapprochement of religious subjects and everyday reality and the birth of a new iconography style. Liturgical Prayer Book composition, selection and interpretation of its stories were dictated by the customer, and therefore are an invaluable document for the study of individual piety era, people’s attitudes towards life and death.

The influence of Thre riches heures du duc de Berry on other works

In the fifteenth century French painting combined three powerful stream of European culture: Gothic heritage, the new Dutch realism and Florentine spatial revolution. Bright original style of the Limburg brothers in the beginning of the century absorbed Flemish acute observation, the refined taste of the late Gothic and the obvious interest in the problem of space in painting, Italian trecento preheated masters. In mid-century, three major start again embodies his creative triad artists and innovators. The point is that the brothers Limburg influenced not only the art in France, but in the entire Europe as well. They have combined three different painting styles and artists followed them. In the Renaissance period, many artists were creating books of hours. However, the Limburg brothers were the ones who presented the concept of creating the book of hours. In my opinion, Tres riches heures du duc de Berry influenced not only the art of the Renaissance, but art movements of later periods.

Conclusion

This essay was dedicate to the issue of the book of hours Tres riches heures du duc de Berry. It outlined the peculiarities of the book and its influence on the French art not only of the fifteenth century, but later periods as well. The essay showed that the brothers Limburg, as well as the artists who continued their work, were influenced by the events of the Hundred Years war and the later France union. Moreover, it was the impact of both sides: the Limburg brothers influenced the future of French art and were influenced by the past and the present of the country. In my opinion, Tres riches heures du duc de Berry can be named the most significant work before the French Renaissance.

Resources:

Short The international gothic style. N. d. Castletroy College Web 23 Nov 2013