Limbourg brothers

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The Limbourg brothers (active ca. 1399-1416) were Netherlandish illuminators in the service of the French Duke of Berry. They are the most famous of all medieval miniature painters and among the foremost exponents of the International Gothic style.

Though commonly referred to as the Limbourg brothers, the correct surname of this trio of Netherlandish artists is Maelwael (probably a nickname meaning "paint well"), and their given names are Pol, Herman, and Jehanequin. Pol is assumed to be the oldest and the leading master of the group, though their painting styles are inseparable. They began their career, prior to 1399, as apprentices to a goldsmith in Paris, which may account for the delicacy and ornateness of their precise manner of painting. In 1402 the younger brothers entered the service of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Philip died 2 years later, and nothing is known of the three brothers until 1410, when they were established at the court of Jean de France, Duke of Berry. There they enjoyed such favor that they could play a practical joke on him: in 1411 they gave him a New Year's present of a counterfeit illuminated manuscript made of a painted piece of wood.

The Limbourgs were well acquainted with the major currents in contemporary art, which they synthesized without losing their originality. They shared with their predecessor at the Duke of Berry's court, Jacquemart de Hesdin, an enthusiasm for Italian art, and their works reveal many borrowings from Florentine, Sienese, and northern Italian painting.

Probably the earliest work attributable to the Limbourgs is the Moralized Bible, commissioned by Philip the Bold; only the first 24 folios were illustrated by the brothers. These illuminations, which were completed sometime before 1410, are sketchy and not fully painted, with delicate washes of color applied to figures viewed through framing arches. The famous frontispiece depicting St. Jerome in his study is a detailed pen-and-ink drawing of great beauty, particularly in the enframing Gothic architecture with its myriad of simulated sculptures. A boxlike room with the front wall removed, an Italianate device, reveals the consuming interest in perspective - still poorly achieved - that was a leading feature of the painting of the International Gothic style about 1400.

Books of Hours

The atelier of Jacquemart de Hesdin had produced four sumptuous manuscripts, all Books of Hours, for the Duke of Berry, and the Limbourg brothers produced two more, the Belles Heures du duc de Berry (also known as the Heures d'Ailly) and the Très riches Heures du duc de Berry. The Book of Hours was the most important religious book in the hands of the laity. In it normally was to be found a church calendar, prayers from the offices, or hours, of the Virgin (from matins to complines), psalms, and other prayers. The book could be plain and unillustrated or a luxury object, ostentatiously and very expensively illustrated, as are these commissions of the Duke of Berry.

The Belles Heures (9 by 6 inches in size), completed about 1410, has a full complement of superb miniatures on vellum whose fresh and brilliant colors have not changed with time. The full-page "Annunciation" (the picture for matins) is especially splendid. It is marked by many Italian borrowings, including rich acanthus rinceaux for the borders instead of northern ivy leaf tendrils.

Très riches Heures

The Très riches Heures, by far the most famous illuminated manuscript ever made, was begun in 1413, left unfinished in 1416 at the death of the Duke of Berry and of the Limbourg brothers, and completed about 1485 for a subsequent owner. The justly famous calendar received for the first time elaborate, full-page illustrations: the 12 large scenes are all landscapes, except for the January picture, which shows the duke banqueting in a tapestried hall (instead of the customary medieval representation of King Janus at table). The remaining occupations of each month make a sharp distinction between the nobles and the poor, with the farmers doing all the work and the elegantly attired courtiers doing the hunting and lovemaking.

In February, for example, the peasants perform their chores in a snowy landscape, the first snow landscape in all painting. In March a farmer plows his field before the duke's castle of Lusignan; this is one of the calendar's nine remarkable "architectural portraits," mostly of the duke's many châteaux. In this picture the figures cast pronounced shadows, the first such touch of realism in art since Hellenistic times. The activity in April is that of courtiers joyfully partaking of the pleasures of a spring landscape. The picture for June shows haymaking outside the wall of Paris, with the Seine and the Ste-Chapelle; and the months continue, each concept a novel one. Many other large illustrations, for example, a "Zodiac Man" as frontispiece, "The Fall of Man in Paradise," and "Hell," are included in this oversize Book of Hours, and there are many pages of beautiful floral decoration.

Three stylistic elements are blended in this chief monument of the International Gothic style. First is Italian idealization, plus individual motifs which reveal the brothers' knowledge of specific Italian works of art. Second is the tendency toward a mannered elegance of form, with an emphasis on calligraphic lines and excessive refinement of proportions and dress of the figures. And third is the new element of naturalistic observation.

The work of the Limbourg brothers ended the period of Italian influence and dependence in painting north of the Alps. Not for almost a century did Italian ideas again have the strength to dominate the northern spirit.

Further Reading

The Limbourg brothers are discussed in Millard Meiss, French Paintingin the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourg Brothers (in press), and in the facsimile edition of The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry (1969), with a preface by Millard Meiss. D. Diringer, The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production (1958; rev. ed. 1967), is recommended for general background.

Très riches heures du Duc de Berry: Juin (June) (1412-16)
Illumination on vellum, 22,5 x 13,6 cm

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The Limbourg brothers, or in Dutch Gebroeders van Limburg (Herman, Paul, and Johan; fl. 1385 – 1416), were famous Dutch Renaissance miniature painters from the city of Nijmegen. They were active in the early 15th century in France and Burgundy, working in the style known as International Gothic. They created what is certainly the best known late medieval illuminated manuscript, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

Contents 1 Heritage 2 Uncle Malouel 3 Work on the Bible 4 Jean de Berry 5 Possible Plague 6 References 7 External links

Heritage

The brothers' grandfather, Johannes de Lymborgh probably came from Limbourg on the Meuse to Nijmegen, then the capital of the duchy of Gelre. Johannes son, Arnold, was a wood carver who worked for the ducal court. Around 1385 Arnold married Mechteld Maelwael or Maloeul, the daughter of a well-to-do family of heraldic painters. Herman (Hermant in French sources) was the eldest child (born about 1385), followed by Paul (Polleke; or Polequin in French sources: 1386 or 1387), and Johan (Johanneke; or Jacquemin, Gillequin, or Jehanequin in French sources: probably 1388). There were two younger brothers, Rutger and Arnold, and a sister, Greta.

Uncle Malouel

Around 1398, after their father's death, the brothers were sent for by their uncle Jean Malouel (or Johan Maelwael, Jehan Maleuel in original French sources), the most important painter for the French and Burgundian courts of the time. Herman and Johan learned the craft of goldsmithing in Paris. At the end of 1399 they were travelling to visit Nijmegen but, due to a war, they were captured in Brussels. Since their mother could not pay the ransom of 55 gold escuz, the local goldsmiths' guild started to collect the money. Eventually Philip the Bold paid the ransom for the sake of their uncle Malouel, his painter. The two boys were released in May, 1400.

Work on the Bible

From surviving documents it is known that in February 1402 Paul and Johan were contracted by Philip II to work for four years exclusively on illuminating a bible. This may or may not have been the Bible Moralisée, Ms.fr.166 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, which is indisputably an early work by the Limbourg brothers. Philip II died, in 1404, before the brothers had completed their work.

Jean de Berry

Herman, Paul, and Johan later in 1404 came to work for Jean de Berry, a brother of the dead Philip. He was an extravagant collector of arts and especially books. Their first assignment was to illuminate a Book of Hours, now known as the Belles Heures du Duc de Berry; it is preserved in The Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

This work was finished in 1409 much to the satisfaction of the duke, and he assigned them to an even more ambitious project for a Book of Hours. This became the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, which is widely regarded as the peak of late medieval book illumination, and possibly the most valuable book in the world. It is kept as Ms.65 in the Musée Condé in Chantilly, France.

Paul especially was on good terms with the duke, and received a court position as valet de chambre or personal attendant (his uncle had had the same position with the Duke of Burgundy). The duke gave him jewelry and a big house in Bourges. Paul was attracted to a young girl, Gillette la Mercière, but her parents disapproved. The duke had the girl confined, and released her only on the king's command. In 1411 Paul and Gillette married anyway, but the marriage remained childless (the girl was 12, her husband 24 at the time).

Possible Plague

In the first half of 1416, Jean de Berry and the three brothers Limbourg (all three less than 30 years old) died of unknown causes, the closeness of the deaths suggesting plague, and the Très Riches Heures remained unfinished. An unidentified artist (possibly Barthélemy van Eyck) worked on the famous calendar miniatures in the 1440s when the book apparently was in the possession of René d'Anjou, and in 1485 Jean Colombe finished the work for the House of Savoy.

The work of the Limbourg brothers, being mostly inaccessible, became forgotten until the 19th century. Nevertheless they set an example for the next generations of painters, which extended beyond miniature painting. They worked in a Northern European tradition, but display influences from Italian models.

References

• Rob Dückers and Pieter Roelofs (eds.), The brothers van Limburg. Exhibition catalogue, Ludion, Nijmegen 2005. ISBN 90-5544-576-2
• Husband, Timothy B., The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry. The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0300136715

External links

• Website of the 2005 exhibition in Nijmegen
• Website of the annual medieval festival dedicated to the Limbourg brothers in Nijmegen
• Limbourg Brothers Works at Artst.org

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