CHAPTER XIII

_LES TRÈS RICHES HEURES DU DUC DE BERRY_

The Duc de Berry was one of those enlightened and enthusiastic patrons of Art who, by giving numerous commissions to the artists of his time created important centres of Art in Paris and Dijon. It was for him that Jaquemart de Hesdin and his school executed the famous _Très Belles Heures_ (now dispersed), fragments of which are to be found in the Louvre: in the collections of Baron Adolph de Rothschild in Paris; and of Prince Trivulzio at Milan: whilst the largest and most interesting portion, known as the _Hours of Turin_, once treasured in the Royal Library of that city, perished in a disastrous fire in 1904.[35]

It was likewise for the Duc de Berry that the nephews of Malouel, Pol de Limbourg and his brothers, painted these famous _Très Riches Heures_ now at Chantilly. And that the Duke very greatly admired the work of these artists is proved by entries in old _Inventories_, wherein we find that he showered valuable presents upon them--pieces of gold (coins), rings, etc. He moreover presented Pol the eldest and most eminent of the brothers with a mansion at Bourges, where the artist and his wife resided until his death.

The Duc de Berry was also one of those collectors whose taste rose above that of his time; and who, furthermore, proved to be one of the leading spirits in the development of the Art of that period. Besides famous painters he also employed the celebrated architect Guy de Damartin to build and restore his castles. The discovery of a MS. containing architectural sketches of various fortresses (probably drawn by the hand of this architect himself) proves that the Duke had a fancy to have his various castles introduced with the greatest precision into the backgrounds of the miniatures executed for him in this MS. No doubt it was by his express wish that the landscape details in the _Calendar_ of this famous _Book of Hours_ were copied direct from nature and not treated merely conventionally as hitherto.

This remarkable work marks an important epoch in the history of Primitive French Art, inasmuch as its influence extended not only over France, but also to Italy, Flanders, and the School of Cologne. It commences with a _Calendar_ delightfully decorated and illustrating minor passing events in the life of the period, with portraits of the Duke himself, his family, his friends and other personages.

The Month of January[36] begins by showing us a banqueting scene. The Duc de Berry, attired in a richly brocaded mantle and a fur cap, is seated before a screen in conversation with a church dignitary--the only one among the company besides himself who is seated. Three elegantly dressed pages are busy serving a meal, whilst another is playing with some pet dogs; puppies being engaged in eating out of a plate upon the table. Two cup-bearers stand ready with wine and in a prominent position upon the board stands a _nef_. This beautiful example of the goldsmith's art was known as the _Salière du Pavillon_ and its design is attributed to Pol Limbourg himself.[37] In the background may be seen the Ducal guards and one of his castles. The face of the Duke appears to be an excellent likeness if we compare it with a Holbein drawing at the Bâle Museum, which is said to have been copied from a statue of this prince at Bourges. Above this miniature, in a blue and gold lunette, appears the _Chariot of the Sun_ drawn by winged horses--a design repeated several times in subsequent miniatures.

The Month of February exhibits a bright wintry landscape, where a silent village[38] with a church tower lies beneath a mantle of white. The feeling of a cold wintry day is well expressed by the heaped-up masses of snow, against which the wool of sheep cowering in their folds is sharply contrasted. We can almost see the shivers of the man to the right, with his mantle drawn close around him. A haystack, bee-hives, birds picking up crumbs, a peasant girl warming her feet at an open fire, are so delightfully realistic, so free from convention, that we feel that the artist has here given free rein to his imagination.

Then follows March: a peasant is ploughing, whilst behind rises the fortress of Lusignan, the cradle of the Plantagenets. The sky is blue and cloudless, and above one of the towers is a flying dragon, intended to symbolise the fair Melusine. A close copy of this miniature is in the _Grimani Breviary_.[39]

In the Month of April,[40] with the Castle of Dourdan on the River Orge we find a scene characteristic of the period. An exchange of presents--presumably an engagement--is in process between a noble knight and a richly attired lady. The knight is the same personage who is represented in attendance upon the Duke in the banquet scene. Another pair of personages look on with sympathetic interest, whilst two young ladies gather flowers.

The fifth miniature (which the Duc d'Aumale designates as _La Reine de Mai_)[41] is one of the most charming of the series, for May Day was at that time an occasion of much festivity at the Court of France. A gay cavalcade is passing through a wood, headed apparently by a Prince of the Blood--perhaps even the Sovereign himself--and amid those in attendance the knight of the last picture again appears, his head bound with a chaplet of bay-leaves. He is turning back to gaze at his bride, who rides beside him on a white horse. She wears the same ornaments as in the previous picture, and it is by these that we can identify her. In the background, silhouetted against the horizon, is the Castle of Riom, pleasantly situated in its park and gardens. This picture displays with much effect the gaiety of the persons represented, who all seem to be engaged in animated converse. Pol de Limbourg evidently approaches in this picture his highest capabilities; and becomes more and more independent of convention.

In the Month of June[42] the Palais de Justice of Charles V with the Sainte-Chapelle are visible in the rear. The reapers shown in this composition and the two graceful peasant girls busy amid the fresh-cut grass have aroused great enthusiasm amongst modern connoisseurs; and we involuntarily recall the paintings of François Millet and the Barbizon School--a school which, after nearly four centuries, has revived the art of realistic landscape-painting in France.

In the Month of July[43] the lofty towers of the Castle of Poitiers, which not long before had been restored by the Duc de Berry, appear in the background. And just as the winter landscape of the Month of February arouses the impression of winter's snow and ice, so this brilliant composition, in which the sunshine blazes upon the cornfields, makes one dream of the burning days of summer. The sheep, in February huddled together in their pens, are now grazing in a meadow, whilst a young peasant woman is busy plying her shears upon their fleecy coats and a youth watches her with marked interest.

The Month of August[44] presents a hawking party. Two cavaliers mounted on richly appointed steeds, their ladies mounted on pillions behind them, are carrying hawks. One lady is, however, courageous enough to manage her own palfrey, and holds a hawk upon her left wrist. Behind, labourers are pursuing their toil and bathers are sporting in a stream. At the back rises the Château d'Estampes which the Duc de Berry had recently bought from his brother Louis of Anjou. The landscape is here treated with admirable freedom. The artist has painted what he saw, just as it really was, and the outlines of the château are represented with remarkable fidelity.

The Castle of Saumur appears in the September miniature, where a vintage is proceeding with life and vigour.

October[45] brings with it ploughing, whilst a man scatters seed only to be devoured at once by flights of hungry birds. In the rear various groups of figures parade up and down upon a quay before the old Palace of the Louvre.

The Month of November is a disappointment. It is conjectured that the artist intended to present the Tour de Nesle, the Duke's stately town-residence, but that through his sudden death the page was left unpainted until a century later, when Jean de Colombe undertook to fill it in. It represents a swineherd with his pigs who are grubbing for acorns; but the landscape is only a feeble attempt to imitate the earlier work. The lunette, however, was evidently painted by the Limbourgs.

In December[46]--the last of the series--a hunting-scene is presented, with a pack of hounds careering through a spacious park, in the background of which is the Keep of Vincennes, the Duke's birthplace. This miniature, which somewhat differs in conception from the earlier ones, was probably executed by one of the brothers of Pol Limbourg.

The fascinating landscapes and the graceful architecture of these _Calendar Months_ excite our keenest admiration; for we must remember that at this early date (1415) landscape-painting had hitherto been treated as mere decoration, without any attempt at reality or probability.[47] Their special charm lies very largely in their truthfulness to nature, and the Duc de Berry himself added still further to this element when he insisted upon the introduction of accurate representations of his own castles and their surroundings.

Immediately after the _Months_ we come upon a strange miniature, which, since it also displays the escutcheon of the Duc de Berry, may be assigned to the years 1415-16 and is therefore presumably the work of the Limbourgs. Two nude figures, classical in conception, are presented propped back to back against one another. As in the case of the statue found at Porto d'Anzio, doubt has recently arisen with regard to their sex.[48]

It has been suggested that these two figures were inspired by the _Three Graces_ of Siena; that they are not meant to represent the _Dioscuri_, as had been hitherto supposed; but that they are two tall slender women such as we find in early Renaissance Art inspired by Greek originals. Their tresses are arranged in the characteristic Greek knot and their slender bodies exhibit the Astrological and Horoscopical connection between the various members of the human organism and the Signs of the Zodiac. We do not find amongst the illustrations of the Middle Ages anything analogous to this curious painting, so that it may be reckoned amongst the many entirely original ideas peculiar to this interesting Codex.

This curious design is followed by small but exquisite miniatures of the _Four Evangelists_ and of the _Tiburtine Sybil prophesying to Augustus_. Our attent ion is then drawn to a large design representing the _Terrestrial Paradise_. Four different scenes are shown on the same plane: _Eve receives the apple from the Serpent_; _she offers it to Adam_; _the Almighty interrogating the offenders_; and _their expulsion from Paradise_ through a Gothic gateway by a stern-looking angel with scarlet wings. This miniature, out of the entire number of not less than 206, is the only one which exhibits a marked Flemish influence and reminds us of the fact that the Limbourgs were nephews and pupils of Malouel, Court-Painter to the Duke of Burgundy. All the other miniatures in this Codex which can be assigned to these artists are pre-eminently French in feeling and sensitiveness, showing only occasionally a trace of the influence of Simone Martini: as, for example, _Christ bearing His Cross_.

The scenes from the _Life of Christ_ commence after traditional fashion with the _Annunciation_ and end with the _Crucifixion_. The _Annunciation_ is perhaps one of the most attractive of the series. It no longer expresses merely Mediæval symbol but seems rather to simply represent a story; so that we feel that we are already on the threshold of the Renaissance. The Virgin kneels before a fald-stool in a Gothic chapel, whilst the Holy Dove hovers above her head. Smiling with gentle content, she welcomes the salutation of the Archangel--a handsome youth who bears in his hand a branch of lilies. Tastefully grouped around the central composition are angels singing and playing on musical instruments, and the whole is executed in most vivid colours. The armorial bearings of the Duke, a _fleur-de-lys_ displayed between a bear and a swan, have given rise to the canting word _Oursine (ours-cigne)_, which is said to have been the name of the Duke's favourite mistress. They occur frequently in this MS.

The _Adoration of the Infant Saviour_, with choirs of rejoicing Angels around the roof of the stable and Joseph--an Oriental-looking personage with a long beard--in deep contemplation, is a representation full of novelty and charm. A shepherd, followed by his flock, draws near to gaze in awe upon the Divine Babe.

On the next page a number of shepherds are pointing to a choir of angels who are singing and making melody in the air, whilst in the distance rises a majestic Gothic cathedral, probably intended to represent the Temple at Jerusalem. In the foreground is one of those conventional hillocks so often met with in old mosaics; but the fountain of running water which rises upon it and from which the sheep are drinking is realistically conceived. It is interesting, therefore, to note the admixture of symbolic tradition with realistic feeling.

The _Procession of the Magi_, again, is an example of the Limbourgs' facility in applying new forms to conventional conceptions; and it is worth observing how anxious they evidently were to study the special wishes of their patron the Duke. We learn from the _Inventory_ of this Prince that he was an ardent collector of medals, and that he had bought from a Florentine dealer a medal of the _Emperor Constantine_. The figure of the most prominent of these three Magi on the left of the scene appears to have been copied from this very medal.[49] In the background may be noticed the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the Sainte Chapelle. Again two bears are introduced in allusion to the Ducal device. In the centre of the picture is a tabernacle of pure French Gothic style adorned with figures of prophets and saints. These tabernacles were used in the fourteenth century (the Duc d'Aumale observes), as halting-places between Paris and Saint-Denis and were called _Montjoies_.

The _Fall of the Rebel Angels_[50] which comes next is one of the loveliest pages of the series. God the Father, surrounded by Cherubim and Seraphim, is enthroned above the golden rays of the Sun. From amongst the ranks of the Angels--who are seated around in a semicircle--the rebels are being cast headlong to Earth. As Lucifer in his fall strikes his handsome head and diadem upon the ground fire bursts from him, producing a marvellous colour-effect of gold, blue and green.

Although this composition is otherwise entirely symbolical, a body of French soldiers clad in armour of that period, with long staves, are introduced striking down the angels as they fall from above. This wonderful little design, although not more than 10 inches wide, is so full of action that it has been compared to the Signorelli frescoes at Orvieto; and this not without reason, for these miniaturists have, even on so tiny a scale, produced very much the same forcible effect.

In direct contrast to this awe-inspiring composition is _The Coronation of the Virgin_[51] shown here with a fine combination of grandeur and elegance in style. Our Lady's mantle is rainbow-hued and her dress of pure white is powdered with golden _fleur-de-lys_. Angels bearing her crown descend from above, whilst Our Lord Himself raises His hands in blessing. On the right are the Apostles and a group of female Saints, one of whom is said to be a portrait of _Oursine_ herself. On the left is a bishop attended by monks. This miniature seems to be a prototype of a painting by Enguerrand Charonton, executed about half a century later and now at Villeneuve les Avignon.

_The Temptation of Our Lord_ deserves somewhat special attention. The scene is represented as taking place upon a conventional mountain-top; and Satan is pointing to a castle with three towers: none other than the Duke's celebrated Castle of Mehun-sur-Yèvre,[52] described by Froissart as the most beautiful place on earth.

In the _Crucifixion_, in accordance with the Biblical text, the artists have endeavoured to represent eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon, thus creating for the first time, as early as 1415, that _chiaroscuro_ which later on was so much admired when employed by Rembrandt and Correggio.

_The Miracle of the Loaves_, within its graceful frame, is also extremely interesting; and not less noteworthy is a _Plan of Rome_,[53] in which may be observed the old basilica of St. Peter, Santa Maria Maggiore, the Lateran, the Colosseum and the Capitol, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the aqueducts, etc. Nothing is to be seen of the Forum, for at that time no excavations had yet been made.

In conclusion we must mention the exquisite miniature representing _Mont St. Michel_, with the dragon and St. Michael fighting in the air, a lake and sailing-boats below, and the effigy of the fair Oursine enshrined in the letter B.

Attempts have been made from time to time to trace throughout these beautiful pages the different hands of the three brothers, but no definite conclusion has been arrived at. It is, however, certain that Pol, the greatest of the three, was the leading spirit, and that he was the sole author of the _Calendar Months_, except that of _November_, which, as has already been mentioned, was completed seventy years later by Jean Colombe. In this design, and likewise in that part of the book executed by this latter artist, the originality which fascinates us so much in the work of the Limbourgs suddenly vanishes and we find ourselves contemplating mediocrity. In the _Pietà_ (one of Jean Colombe's miniatures) kneeling figures of the Duke and Duchess of Savoy are introduced. We cannot help wondering what different results might have been achieved had Duke Charles of Savoy, on inheriting the _Très Riches Heures_, employed Bourdichon or Perréal to complete them--or perhaps Simon Marmion of Valenciennes, who at that very time was painting his celebrated altarpiece for St. Bertin. Unfortunately this prince was not a connoisseur like his august relative the Duc de Berry, and he was unable in consequence to distinguish great art from lesser achievements.