Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65)

February, f. 2v.

Colloquial name(s): Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

Official name(s): Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65

Date: 1412-1416 (Limburg brothers' illustrations), 1420s or 1440s (further embellishments by an anonymous painter), 1485-1489 (illustrations completed or added by Jean Colombe) (source)

Origin: made for the French prince, John, Duke of Berry, France (source)

Online facsimile available via: Mirador (full, zoomable facsimile), Wikimedia Commons (next best online facsimile), Christus Rex (inferior online facsimile)

The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry is a book of hours and one of the finest examples of French Gothic manuscript illumination (source). It was produced for the French prince, John, Duke of Berry, by the Limbourg brothers but was left unfinished in 1416 when the three painters and their sponsor died (source). Thereafter, it was further embellished by an anonymous painter who has been dubbed the "intermediate painter" and the Master of the Shadows. He is often thought to have been Barthelemy van Eyck, working in the 1440s (source). However, others think these illuminations were completed as early as the 1420s (source). Following this, additional illustrations were added between 1485 and 1489 by Jean Colombe, who was paid by Duke Charles I of Savoy (source).

The Très Riches Heures is famous for its series of full-page illustrations of the months of the year, which are highly popular with amateur costumiers for their depictions of early 15th C clothing. However, it should be noted that these are not paintings of real life but are composed scenes as requested by the patron. Thus, though they are naturalistic they are not necessarily completely realistic.

The Christus Rex facsimile, whilst it contains vastly inferior low-res copies of the images, has written descriptions/interpretations of each image and notes of which illustrator worked on which page. This is invaluable considering the illustrations were made over a 77 year span. However, bear in mind that the interpretations of the costume have not been made by someone with a knowledge of medieval costume and thus are occasionally highly dubious.