Scenes of the Season

In this image, Gabriel, carrying lilies, gestures toward the Holy Spirit, which descends on golden rays toward the Virgin. The text reads: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will tell forth thy praise. God, come to my aid." Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). The Annunciation, folio 30r. Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1a,b). 

«The Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, is an extraordinary illuminated manuscript and one of the great treasures of The Cloisters Collection. It is also relevant to the holiday season, as a few of its astonishingly beautiful illuminations depict scenes from the Christmas story.»

The Belles Heures is a book of hours, a prayer book made for private devotion to the Virgin Mary. Its decoration was completed entirely by the famed Limbourg brothers between about 1405 and 1408/9, when the three brothers were still in their teens. The lavish manuscript was commissioned by Jean de France, the son, brother, and uncle of three kings of France. He was also one of the greatest art collectors ever known; he collected and commissioned jewelry, antique coins and cameos, precious objects of goldsmiths' work, and manuscripts. The presence of gold and the rich colors used in the paintings in the Belles Heures have rightly been compared with gemstones and enamelwork. The manuscript was unbound for conservation treatment and study, making it possible to exhibit all of the illuminated pages separately in the 2010 special exhibition The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry. The manuscript was rebound and returned to exhibition in time for our seventy-fifth anniversary in 2013.

The folio depicting the Annunciation (folio 30r), shown above, is the opening image for the Hours of the Virgin. Also known as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this section of the manuscript is composed of psalms, lessons, prayers, hymns, and various phrases of praise and pleas for intercession. It is divided into eight sections, each corresponding to one of the eight canonical hours of the day. Each of the illuminations in the Hours of the Virgin has a special border, but the grandest frame is seen in the Annunciation, the most important section of the book. Each hour was traditionally introduced by an image from the life of the Virgin and the infancy of Christ, and the standard sequence is followed in our manuscript: in this post, I share just the folios of the Annunciation (Matins), the Visitation (Lauds), the Nativity (Prime), the Annunciation to the Shepherds (Terce), the Adoration of the Magi (Sext), and the Flight into Egypt (Compline), but I encourage you to learn more about the entire manuscript at your leisure (see the exhibition publication).

Elizabeth approaches and reaches toward her pregnant cousin, dressed in a matching luminous blue mantle. The text reads: "O God, come to my aid. O Lord, hasten to help me. Glory be to the Father and the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." The Visitation, fol. 42v

The Virgin holds the Christ Child within the meager shelter of an open-framed shed. Joseph leans against the left frame of the image, while two shepherds arrive to witness the scene at the right. The text reads: "O God, come to my aid. O Lord, hasten to help me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." The Nativity, fol. 48v

Two shepherds are precariously supported by their staffs as they look upward to a trio of singing angels who announce the birth of Christ. The text reads: "O God, come to my aid. O Lord, hasten to help me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." The Annunciation to the Shepherds, fol. 52r

The Virgin holds the Christ Child and Joseph kneels at the left, while the three splendidly attired Kings kneel, offering their gifts. The text reads: "O God, hasten to help me. O Lord, come to my aid. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." The Adoration of the Magi, fol. 54v

The calm reserve embodied in the opening scene of the Annunciation is contrasted with the Virgin's tender, protective embrace of the struggling Christ Child and Joseph's anxious expression. An angel directs the family toward safety. The text reads: "Turn thine eyes upon us O God of our salvation, and turn away thy wrath from us. O God, hasten to help me." The Flight into Egypt, fol. 63r

Related Links
The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry (March 1–June 12, 2010)
Exhibition Blog: The Art of Illumination