AUGUST.
Pol de Limbourg.
From The “Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.”
To face page 166.
This remarkable work marks an important epoch in the history of Primitive French Art, inasmuch as its influence extended not only over France, but also to Italy, Flanders, and the School of Cologne. It commences with a Calendar delightfully decorated and illustrating minor passing events in the life of the period, with portraits of the Duke himself, his family, his friends and other personages.
The Month of January[36] begins by showing us a banqueting scene. The Duc de Berry, attired in a richly brocaded mantle and a fur cap, is seated before a screen in conversation with a church dignitary—the only one among the company besides himself who is seated. Three elegantly dressed pages are busy serving a meal, whilst another is playing with some pet dogs; puppies being engaged in eating out of a plate upon the table. Two cup-bearers stand ready with wine and in a prominent position upon the board stands a nef. This beautiful example of the goldsmith’s art was known as the Salière du Pavillon and its design is attributed to Pol Limbourg himself.[37] In the background may be seen the Ducal guards and one of his castles. The face of the Duke appears to be an excellent likeness if we compare it with a Holbein drawing at the Bâle Museum, which is said to have been copied from a statue of this prince at Bourges. Above this miniature, in a blue and gold lunette, appears the Chariot of the Sun drawn by winged horses—a design repeated several times in subsequent miniatures.
The Month of February exhibits a bright wintry landscape, where a silent village[38] with a church tower lies beneath a mantle of white. The feeling of a cold wintry day is well expressed by the heaped-up masses of snow, against which the wool of sheep cowering in their folds is sharply contrasted. We can almost see the shivers of the man to the right, with his mantle drawn close around him. A haystack, bee-hives, birds picking up crumbs, a peasant girl warming her feet at an open fire, are so delightfully realistic, so free from convention, that we feel that the artist has here given free rein to his imagination.
Then follows March: a peasant is ploughing, whilst behind rises the fortress of Lusignan, the cradle of the Plantagenets. The sky is blue and cloudless, and above one of the towers is a flying dragon, intended to symbolise the fair Melusine. A close copy of this miniature is in the Grimani Breviary.[39]
In the Month of April,[40] with the Castle of Dourdan on the River Orge we find a scene characteristic of the period. An exchange of presents—presumably an engagement—is in process between a noble knight and a richly attired lady. The knight is the same personage who is represented in attendance upon the Duke in the banquet scene. Another pair of personages look on with sympathetic interest, whilst two young ladies gather flowers.
Plate XXXIV.