page_title: Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
section_title: Selected miniatures
hierarchical_section_title: Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry / Selected miniatures
caption_attribution_description: English: Jean Le Noir. Miniature from Petites Heurs du Duc Jean de Berry 1372-75 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France.
context_page_description: The Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry is an illuminated book of hours commissioned by John, Duke of Berry between 1375 and 1385–90. It is known for its ornate miniature leaves and border decorations.
  Several artists were employed in the production. It was completed in two separate stages, each with a distinctive style. The earlier leaves were painted by artists influenced by Jean Pucelle, the later by artists working in the vanguard of the International Gothic period of Gothic art. Because of this, the Petites Heures exemplifies the "rupture in style" that occurred in French illumination in the final two decades of the fourteenth century.
  A high-resolution facsimile was published in 1988, with monographs by Avril, Dunlop and Yapp.
context_section_description: Duke of Berry Setting off on a Trip (fol. 288v) is established as by the Limbourg brothers, the third such image commissioned by the duke of a personal itinerary with an angel pointing the way. I was perhaps intended as a talisman; Husband notes that the duke "is clearly an older man, the angel's guidance may not be entirely bound to the earthly realm."
  The Tale of the Three Dead and the Three Living (fol. 282r) is a relatively common form of memento mori, found in both medieval art and poetry (cf. The Three Dead Kings). Berry, "veritably obsessed with self-display", associates himself with the tale in several of his commissions, the images providing an opportunity to display "ostentatious humility". The text is copied from his mother's psalter. Prefaced as a "moult merueilleuse et horrible histoire" ("mournful and horrible history") it describes an encounter between three young men and three dead men in different stages of decomposition. The first apparition says "What you are, we were, what we are, you will be", the second reminds them that death treats rich and poor equally, the third adds that there is no escape from their fate.
  John the Baptist in the Wilderness (fol. 208r) is identified by Meiss as an example of the Passion Master's later style, "which displays a new interest in the problems of relating depth" It is an early example of a new trend in depictions of John, where the harsh desert setting was replaced with a fertile landscape, most probably inspired by Fra Domenico Cavalca's Life of St. John the Baptist (1320–42), in which "the desert was described as a place of great natural beauty, full of flowers, trees, and animals."
  The Calendar for May by Pseudo-Jacquemart. (fol. 3r) is an example of iconography first used by Jean Pucelle in the Belleville Breviary. Each month of the year shows an apostle, representative of the New Testament, and a prophet of the Old Testament. The prophet submits a veiled prophecy which is explained by the apostle as an article of faith, while simultaneously, the prophet gives the apostle a stone from the synagogue, which as the months progress is reduced to a ruin.
  The Harrowing of Hell is thought to have been started by Le Noir and completed by Pseudo-Jacquemart (fol. 166). The Harrowing of Hell is derived from the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed, which state that Jesus descended into Hell before his resurrection in order to save the righteous who had come before his earthly ministry.
caption: Calendar for May
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