Patricia Lovett MBE

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Tag Archives: Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry

May in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry

The usual Labour of the Month for May is hawking, but it can also be courtly love. Neither is obvious in the illustration for May in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry by the Van Lymborch Brothers – no birds, and no obvious hands being held, or loving and longing glances being exchanged, but there are certainly beautifully well dressed young men and women on horses forming a procession and ‘bringing in the may’. May 1st was a special day in France and celebrated at the French Court; this image certainly emphasises that.

The procession is preceded by trumpeters and buglers announcing the richly dressed men and women behind them. The musicians are all blowing lustily and some of their brass instruments are bedecked with ultramarine blue flags. They are wearing garlands of green leaves to commemorate the special day.

The women wear robes of bright green, the colour of spring and of fairies. It’s also the shade of green called ‘vert gai’ which Charles VI liked to give to his favourites at this time of year. Their hair, and the white headdress of the woman riding a white house at the front are decorated with garlands of green leaves which they may well have picked from the forest they have just left.

The painting of that white horse is exquisite with tiny brush strokes of a darker grey used to outline and to create the form and shadows of the animal. The green and gold horse trappings are also meticulously painted, even to the extent that they actually work – a narrow band passing under the horse’s tail which anchors the strap into place.

The men are no less luxuriously dressed, in fact, their clothes look every richer than those of the women. In the foreground, one man wears a gloriously deep ultramarine blue cloak decorated with what look like gold teardrops and arrow heads, and a rich, wide gold collar; he is looking towards another man wearing the colours of the King of France – half black and white and half red. It has been suggested that this could be the Duc de Berry himself. Green leaved garlands adorn the men as well as the women.

If it is the great man, then the two little dogs in the lower right of the picture will be the same ones as on his table for the Christmas feast (see here) Certainly they’d be a lot safer on a table top than they are here on the ground in too easy range of getting trodden underfoot by the horses!

As with most of the images for each month, this one also features one of the Duc de Berry’s many castles and châteaux. This time it’s the Palais de la Cité in Paris, with the Sainte-Chapelle and the Tour de l’Horloge clearly visible in the background, and thus giving an invaluable record of the skyline of Paris in the 15th century.

As with all these Labours of the Month pages, this is topped by a blue and gold semi-circle showing the astrological signs for this time of year. Here Taurus the Bull is giving way to Gemini the Twins, with the chariot of the sun being pulled by winged horses across the sky.

Yet again, this is a real triumph of skill and artistry which underline the title given to this manuscript – the Très Belles Heures.

For more Labours of the Month from the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry see here: July, August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April

This entry was posted in Blog, Books, Calligraphy and lettering, Illumination, Interesting stuff, lettering, Lettering, Manuscripts and tagged Books of Hours, Duc de Berry, Labours of the month, May, Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry on 14 May 2026 by Patricia.

April in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry

April is the month for engagements in the Trés Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry, and shown here is a very elegant group dressed in rich fabrics with the happy couple giving and taking the engagement ring. The striking blue of the cloak of the man on the left, the woman sitting, that of the sky, and the semicircles above completely balances in the painting.

At the top of the image, as with all of these Labours of the Month in the Très Riches Heures, is a semicircle with repeated fine shell gold lines encasing two wide blue borders. The sun in its winged chariot and pulled by horses – picked out by shades of blue and highlights of gold – are in the inner one, and in the outer one are the astrological signs for the month – Aries the Ram and Taurus the Bull.

On many such pages the Van Lymborch Brothers include one of the Duc de Berry’s castles and houses, and that is the case here. This time it’s the Château de Dourdan with it’s fine red tiled roof, high walls, and many conical towers.

Below the castle are the tiniest of boats, two of them, each containing a man rowing. Between them the floats for a net attached to each of the boats are shown by tiny dots, and to the left is what looks like a weir.

Carefully and exquisitely painted is the edge of a stone building with four diamond leaded light windows, and a walled garden with well-kept beds and fruit trees in blossom – appropriate for the month. Some plants are being trained up the back wall – espaliers – and there is a trellis separating parts of the garden.

But the main focus is the engagement with the four main figures in the foreground. Their clothes are rich and colourful, the ultramarine blue of the man on the right offering the engagement ring is particularly striking, especially in contrast to his gloriously plumed red hat! His bride-to-be looks suitably modest as she accepts the ring; she’s wearing a paler blue gown decorated with a regular deeper blue pattern, which so cleverly changes according to the folds lower down as she hitches up the skirt. Behind them are probably her parents, her mother in a rather sombre black dress but with bright red sleeves for contrast, looks as if she is encouraging her daughter to accept, and her father on the left, in a subdued grey gown with gold trim, is supporting his wife. His gown may be sombre but note that extravagant black hat and those red stockings!!

Two women one in a pretty pink dress clinched at the waist with a gold belt, her flaxen hair loose and falling in waves to her waist, wears a circlet of gold roses, on her head, and her companion, with a rather strangely shaped ultramarine blue hat decorated with pearls and a gold medallion, has a deep blue dress and a black and white over-tunic. It looks as if they may be picking flowers perhaps to create bouquets on such an auspicious day.

Yet again the Van Lymborch brothers have created a wonderfully joyful page, full of details and painted exquisitely.

For more Labours of the Month click on these links: July, August, September, October, November, January, February and https://www.patricialovett.com/march-in-the-tres-riches-heures-of-the-duc-de-berry/

This entry was posted in Blog, Books, Historical building and buildings, Illumination, Manuscripts and tagged April, Books of Hours, Duc de Berry, Labours of the month, Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry on 11 April 2026 by Patricia.

March in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry

This ‘miniature’ (it’s quite big!) for March in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry is one that was not finished by the Van Lymborch Brothers. It is their original drawing, and they painted a portion of the Château of Lusignan over five years from 1411 to 1416 (no doubt working on many other paintings at the time!), but it was completed by Barthélemy d’Eyck around 1446. The Labours of the Month for March as depicted here are ploughing, pruning vines, sowing seed and grazing sheep.

As an aside: The painting in the Très Riches Heures above by Barthélemy d’Eyck is not of the best and certainly not up to the standard of the Van Lymborch Brothers. This is not because d’Eyck wasn’t competent, as it is thought that he was the Master of the Aix Annunciation and Master of René d’Anjou – the titles alone being evidence of excellence – and this painting on the left shows that he certainly had the highest of standards, so it is likely that this miniature, too, is unfinished by him.

The main figure on the foreground is the ploughman, who certainly does not look happy in his work! His grey outer tunic is frayed at the hem, and has also been patched with a square of red fabric. His stockings too have big holes in the knees. His black hat pulled low over his brow covers a red scarf. The rich ultramarine blue of his under-tunic, though, suggests either a level of wealth not obvious in his other clothing, or a need to introduce this precious pigment perhaps as a balance to the glorious blue of the semi-circle of the heavens at the top. This and the red really do make this figure pop in a rather dull beige area, drawing the eye downwards.

The depiction of the plough is particularly fine with the metal coulter making the vertical cuts clearly shown as well as the mouldboard which lifts and turns the soil. The contrast between the ploughed and non-ploughed field is well marked.

An indication that even d’Eyck didn’t finish this large miniature is shown by the two oxen pulling the plough. They have no heavy collars to attach them to the plough and only the flimsiest of one rein joining them to the ploughman – certainly not enough to control two strong animals.

At the crossroads of the intersection is a carved stone monument. the stepped hexagonal plinth leads to a hexagonal column on which are carved figures, three can be seen. Above that on a carved stone platform are more figures and the pillar is topped by a decorated spire.

The section of figures pruning vines is particularly sketchy and is clearly not completed. There is also a confusing area which at first could be thought to be a figure half-buried using a mattock, but on closer examination the tool is sitting on the ground beside a black hat and a piece of white cloth.

The depiction of the Château of Lusignan is also incomplete, lacking the precision and detail shown in other months of the year. With round towers, one topped by a golden dragon, stout walls and dwellings inside it is very much a castle, but without the finishing touches and finesse of those depicted in other months.

As with all the Labours of the Month, the main image is topped by the precisely drawn shell gold and rich ultramarine blue semicircles of the appropriate signs of the Zodiac, here Pisces is giving way to Aries. Inside the semicircle, the Sun is being pulled by winged horses.