Monday 1 April 2013

April - Très Riches Heures

As near to the beginning of each month until March 2014 I hope to show the current calendar month from the illuminated manuscript, Très Riches Heures created for John, Duc de Berry by the three brothers Paul, Hermann, and Jean Limbourg between 1412 - 1416. All three brothers died in 1416 before the work was completed. They were all under 30 years of age and died from an epidemic. The Duke also died later in that same year. The manuscript was further embellished by an anonymous painter in the 1440s whom many art historians believe to have been Barthélemy d'Eyck. In 1485 -1486, it was completed to its present state by the painter Jean Colombe on behalf of the Duke of Savoy. It currently resides in the  Musée Condé, Chantilly, France. 
April
April shows the arrival of spring, hope and new life - the grass is green and a newly betrothed couple are exchanging rings accompanied by friends and family. The building in the background is Château de Dourdan one of many belonging to the Duc de Berry. The blue tympanum at the top of the painting shows the zodiac signs of Aries - the goat and Taurus - the bull. In the centre of the tympanum is the chariot of the sun as it makes it yearly cycle through the heavens. 
via wikipedia
Château de Dourdan today - built by Philip ll Augustus of France in 1220s - Essonne department of France
 Très Riches Heures for the month of May here

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Just as we departed on our holiday this wonderful book arrived in the post from Gina of the beautiful blog - Art and Alfalfa.
It is the most glorious celebration of Victoria Women botanical painters - the page edges shine with gold, and I love it - thank you so much Gina♥

Lastly the tote bag winner is comment No. 38 which is..............

Erica from the blog Parvum Opus which shows exquisite musings on desk accessories, books and decorative arts.

True Random Number Generator  38Powered by RANDOM.ORG

6 comments:

  1. Fabulous post with beautiful pictures! I missed out on your draw, I adore that tote bag! I am thinking it is a design of your son and his brilliant work! Suzy x

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    1. You are right Suzy - the linocut is one of the latest designs done by my son.

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  2. This is a series of posts i wouldn't want to miss, Rosemary. I adore the Tres Riches Heures.

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    1. Same here Perpetua - all of the details and colours are exquisite. For some reason this post did not publish properly, so I had to tag it on to the procession post, I do not understand why.

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  3. Dear Rosemary,

    Wow! I feel so lucky to have had my number 'come up' to win the beautiful tote bag--thank you! It really is so lovely-- your son is a great talent!

    I love the idea of beginning the coming months with posts featuring illuminations from Tres Riches Heures-- I adore these exquisite pieces! I shall look forward to reading your posts about them, just as I do the rest of your wonderful posts!

    With thanks and warm regards,
    Erika

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    1. Dear Erika - thank you for your very generous comment - do hope you enjoy the tote bag and find it useful.

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