This splendid Book of Hours was commissioned from the Limbourg brothers by the Duke of Berry and Auvergne, Count of Poitiers and Montpensier, Jean de France, known as the Magnificent (30 November 1340 – 15 March 1416). While not one of the leading political personages of the day, Jean de France was a man of great culture and a leading patron of the arts. He was a keen bibliophile and an expert collector of the works of Antiquity, tapestries, coins, jewels, reliquaries, cameos and portraits of sovereign princes. We know of his collecting activities thanks to the detailed inventory drawn up by the librarian, Robinet d’Etampes.

The book-lover Duke

Jean de France inherited his great love of books from his parents, John II ‘the Good’ and Bonne de Luxembourg, who encouraged their four children to cultivate this interest. With its more than a thousand works, Charles V’s was the most extensive library. However, his brother Jean’s library with its 300 manuscripts or so, included works of decidedly higher quality. Jean’s intense appreciation of the arts and of beauty led him to commission books from the leading artists of the times.

An eclectic collection of books

Jean de Berry’s book collection reflected not only his many interests but also the intensity of his religious sentiment. We find, alongside his romances, scientific manuscripts, and political and philosophical treatises, most notably, the most richly represented class of works – religious books (including as many as 14 Bibles, 16 Psalm books, 18 Breviaries and fifteen Books of Hours, among which Les Très Riches Heures, Les Très Belles Heures (now in Brussels), Les Très Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, Les Petites Heures (Bibliothèque nationale, Paris), the so-called Heures de Turin-Milan, and the splendid Belles Heures (now at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art).