To face page 176.
The Temptation of Our Lord deserves somewhat special attention. The scene is represented as taking place upon a conventional mountain-top; and Satan is pointing to a castle with three towers: none other than the Duke’s celebrated Castle of Mehun-sur-Yèvre,[52] described by Froissart as the most beautiful place on earth.
In the Crucifixion, in accordance with the Biblical text, the artists have endeavoured to represent eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon, thus creating for the first time, as early as 1415, that chiaroscuro which later on was so much admired when employed by Rembrandt and Correggio.
The Miracle of the Loaves, within its graceful frame, is also extremely interesting; and not less noteworthy is a Plan of Rome,[53] in which may be observed the old basilica of St. Peter, Santa Maria Maggiore, the Lateran, the Colosseum and the Capitol, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the aqueducts, etc. Nothing is to be seen of the Forum, for at that time no excavations had yet been made.
In conclusion we must mention the exquisite miniature representing Mont St. Michel, with the dragon and St. Michael fighting in the air, a lake and sailing-boats below, and the effigy of the fair Oursine enshrined in the letter B.
Attempts have been made from time to time to trace throughout these beautiful pages the different hands of the three brothers, but no definite conclusion has been arrived at. It is, however, certain that Pol, the greatest of the three, was the leading spirit, and that he was the sole author of the Calendar Months, except that of November, which, as has already been mentioned, was completed seventy years later by Jean Colombe. In this design, and likewise in that part of the book executed by this latter artist, the originality which fascinates us so much in the work of the Limbourgs suddenly vanishes and we find ourselves contemplating mediocrity. In the Pietà (one of Jean Colombe’s miniatures) kneeling figures of the Duke and Duchess of Savoy are introduced. We cannot help wondering what different results might have been achieved had Duke Charles of Savoy, on inheriting the Très Riches Heures, employed Bourdichon or Perréal to complete them—or perhaps Simon Marmion of Valenciennes, who at that very time was painting his celebrated altarpiece for St. Bertin. Unfortunately this prince was not a connoisseur like his august relative the Duc de Berry, and he was unable in consequence to distinguish great art from lesser achievements.
Plate XXXIX.
