The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, or Très Riches Heures, is the most famous and possibly the best surviving example of manuscript illumination in the late phase of the International Gothic style. It is a book of hours: a collection of prayers to be said at the canonical hours. It was created between c. 1412 and 1416 for the extravagant royal bibliophile and patron John, Duke of Berry, by the Limbourg brothers. When the three painters and their sponsor died in 1416, possibly victims of plague, the manuscript was left unfinished. It was further embellished in the 1440s by an anonymous painter, who many art historians believe was Barthélemy d'Eyck. In 1485–1489, it was brought to its present state by the painter Jean Colombe on behalf of the Duke of Savoy. Acquired by the Duc d'Aumale in 1856, the book is now MS 65 in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.
The Baptism of Saint Augustine, folio 37v
The Nativity of Jesus, folio 44v
Cover of the bound manuscript
John, Duke of Berry
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John of Berry or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. His brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy. He was Regent of France from 1380 to 1388 during the minority of his nephew Charles VI.
Image of John, Duke of Berry from the Très Riches Heures
Joan of Auvergne and Boulogne
John of Berry
John, Duke of Berry was the owner of the Fonthill vase, made in Jingdezhen, China, the earliest piece of Chinese porcelain documented to reach Europe, in 1338.