Something Beautiful

Illuminated Manuscripts (at the NGA)

Inspired by yesterday's post, I've been looking around the newly revamped NGA site. The NGA has always, in my opinion, been a little stingy with its images. That is still true in some areas, but now much less so in others. Here is a page full of wonderful, zoomable images from illuminated manuscripts. There are 16 images in the top half of the page. Don't miss the additional 19 images further down.

October 1st (Limbourg brothers)

I'd like to start a new tradition here at S.t.B. of posting one or more "calendar pages" from a medieval book of hours at the beginning of each new month.

Such pages often had three parts: an illustration of an activity common in that month; a list of the month's feast days; and its astrological sign.

The first October page (f. 11r) for today has all three of these components. It comes from Les Belles Heures of the Duc de Berry, illuminated by the Limbourg brothers in about 1405.  

- At the top, a bearded man holds up his apron to form a pouch holding seed, which he sows with the other. He is flanked by a large sack of seed and a tiny harrow, the tool used to create furrows in the earth.

- The list of feast days for October appears in the middle of the page.

- At the bottom is a scorpion, the astrological sign for the later part of October. 

* * *

The next October page comes from the renowned Tres Riches Heures, made in about 1418, mostly by the Limbourg Brothers. The more sumptuous Tres Riches Heures uses a two-page format for each month, with astrological signs and activities on one page and the list of feast days on another.

This page shows the two former components:

- At the top are Libra and Scorpio, the two astrological signs for October.

- Next come the main activities for this month, the tilling and sowing of seed. In the background is the Louvre, at that time Charles V's royal palace in Paris (now a world-famous museum).

Jean Poyer, miniaturist

The Morgan Library in New York City has placed on its website two works that were decorated by the well-known miniaturist Jean Poyer (fl. 1483 - c. 1503). They are:

Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne, late 1400s; and the

Hours of Henry VIII, c. 1500.

August activities (Books of Hours)

The early pages of a Book of Hours will usually contain a multi-page calendar of the year's feastdays. In an elaborate book, the calendar for each month will begin with an illustration of activities typical of that month and, oddly, the month's astrological sign.

Activities for August usually have to do with the harvest -- harvesting the wheat, binding the sheaves, and threshing. Swimming and falconry are other possibilities. The zodiacal sign for August is the Virgin, Virgo.

Here are the August illustrations from four different Books of Hours:

August, c. 1405, from Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry, illuminated by the Limbourg brothers;

August, c. 1412, from the Tres Riches Heures, by the Limbourg brothers;

August, c. 1500, from the Hours of Henry VIII, illuminated by Jean Poyer;

August, c. 1515, from the Da Costa Hours, illuminated by Simon Bening.

Les Belles Heures: Calendar

The Belles Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, have twelve leaves setting out the yearly calendar at the very beginning of the manuscript. You can read a little about them here and see them all, one by one, here:

January: Youth and Old Age, Aquarius (f. 2r)
February: Man Warming his Hands, Pisces (f. 3r)
March: Cultivating Vines, Aries (f. 4r)
April: Courtier Smelling a Flower, Taurus (f. 5r)

May: Falconing, Gemini (f. 6r)
June: Scything Hay, Cancer (f. 7r)
July: Harvesting Wheat, Leo (f. 8r)
August: Threshing Wheat, Virgo (f. 9r)

September: Treading Grapes, Libra (f. 10r)
October: Sowing, Scorpio (f. 11r)
November: Feeding Pigs, Sagittarius (f. 12r)
December: Slaughtering a Boar, Capricorn (f. 13r)

Les Belles Heures

I've mentioned Les Belles Heures of the Duc de Berry once or twice in the past. In recent days I've been looking more closely at the blog entries made during the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition in 2010.

There's quite a lot to say on the subject and I'm not quite ready yet. In case you'd like a preview, though, you could take a look at this page of thumbnails which covers all the sides containing a miniature.

Compare those to a typical text page (f. 166r) in order to appreciate the artistry of the miniaturists.

One of the things I've learned in the last week is that, in addition to the standard contents, the Belles Heures of Jean de Berry also includes seven “picture book” cycles that tell stories through a set full-page illuminations. On these pages the text is limited to a few lines in alternating red and blue ink. The brief texts included on the pages are not devotional, like the texts in a typical book of hours, but rather relate stories from the lives of the saints.

Different pages have different-sized miniatures. There are two main sizes:

One-quarter page illustrations, e.g., Angel Destroys David's Enemies (f. 66r); St. Michael the Archangel (f. 158r); St. Benedict (f. 175r).

Full-page miniatures, e.g, Annunciation to the Shepherds (f. 52r); Descent from the Cross (f. 80r); Pentecost (f. 84r); Heavenly Host (f. 218r); The Duke on a Journey (f. 223v).

More rarely, a page might come in one of these two forms:

Two one-quarter page illustrations, e.g, Trinity and Duchess at prayer (f. 91v); Pentecost and the Trinity (f. 155r);

One-half page illustrations, e.g, Duc de Berry at prayer (f. 91r).

Les Tres Riches Heures

There are several sets of leaves from Les Tres Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry on the Web. They aren't, however, generally of very good quality. To date, the best selection seems to be at Wikipedia.

Ingeborg Psalter

The Getty Museum owns the Ingeborg Psalter and displays several of its leaves on its website. The Getty's site is not overly generous in terms of size, and I always feel frustrated that I can't see the images better. Still, I'm glad to be able to see even these smallish versions of the Psalter's folios.

Elsewhere, however, we can see at least the Pentecost illumination in much greater detail.

Les Tres Riches Heures

Have you seen this? It's an astonishing collection of high-resolution images from the sumptuous Tres Riches Heures. Simply amazing!

The Art of Illumination

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presented an exhibition of Les Belles Heures earlier this year. The exhibition has closed, but the accompanying website, The Art of Illumination, lives on. And it is quite remarkable. If you like illuminated manuscripts, it is not to be missed!