THE Duc de Berry was one of those enlightened and enthusiastic patrons of Art who, by giving numerous commissions to the artists of his time created important centres of Art in Paris and Dijon. It was for him that Jaquemart de Hesdin and his school executed the famous Très Belles Heures (now dispersed), fragments of which are to be found in the Louvre: in the collections of Baron Adolph de Rothschild in Paris; and of Prince Trivulzio at Milan: whilst the largest and most interesting portion, known as the Hours of Turin, once treasured in the Royal Library of that city, perished in a disastrous fire in 1904.[35]
It was likewise for the Duc de Berry that the nephews of Malouel, Pol de Limbourg and his brothers, painted these famous Très Riches Heures now at Chantilly. And that the Duke very greatly admired the work of these artists is proved by entries in old Inventories, wherein we find that he showered valuable presents upon them—pieces of gold (coins), rings, etc. He moreover presented Pol the eldest and most eminent of the brothers with a mansion at Bourges, where the artist and his wife resided until his death.
The Duc de Berry was also one of those collectors whose taste rose above that of his time; and who, furthermore, proved to be one of the leading spirits in the development of the Art of that period. Besides famous painters he also employed the celebrated architect Guy de Damartin to build and restore his castles. The discovery of a MS. containing architectural sketches of various fortresses (probably drawn by the hand of this architect himself) proves that the Duke had a fancy to have his various castles introduced with the greatest precision into the backgrounds of the miniatures executed for him in this MS. No doubt it was by his express wish that the landscape details in the Calendar of this famous Book of Hours were copied direct from nature and not treated merely conventionally as hitherto.
Plate XXXIII.
Photo. Giraudon.