January (Books of Hours, by the Limbourgs)

We have two January pages from Books of Hours by the Limbourg brothers, done in the early 1400s for the Duc de Berry.

The January page from "Les Belles Heures" was illuminated in about 1405. It is about 9-1/2 inches tall and about 6-1/2 inches wide. Like most calendar pages, it has three parts:

1: Top: In the quatrefoil at the top of the page, a young man and an old man sit back to back, a Janus-like allusion to the beginning and end of the year.

2: Middle: January's feast days.

3: In the quatrefoil at the bottom, the figure of Aquarius is shown as a powerful man wearing only a loincloth. He is pouring water from a jug supported on his shoulder and braced by his hip-planted arm.

The border for this page is quite elaborate. It includes an additional quatrefoil at each side, with one of the duke’s emblems, his arms in a shield supported by a swan.

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The Tres Riches Heures is more colorful, less restrained, and generally more sumptuous than the Belles Heures. It is in fact the most famous Book of Hours in history.   It was made in about 1418, mostly by the Limbourg brothers.  Each leaf is approximately 9 inches high and 5.5 inches wide.   

The 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 January page shows the two former components:

At the top, the "zodiacal tympanum" shows its appropriate hemisphere with a solar chariot, the signs and degrees of the zodiac for January, Capricorn the goat and Aquarius the water-bearer. It also contains numbers reflecting the days of the month and the martyrological letters for the ecclesiastical lunar calendar.

The main picture, immediately below, shows the household of Jean, Duc de Berry, exchanging New Year gifts, a January custom. The picture is full of interest -- there appears to be an abbot or bishop; there are a couple of huntsmen; there are two small animals (kittens?) on the table; and a handsome white dog on the floor. Jean de Berry himself can be seen on the right, wearing a brilliant blue robe!