The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers

A book. No more than ten inches high. The illuminations send tingles down your spine. You can’t believe how small and perfect it is. A precious relic from half a millennium ago. The intensity of the colouring, the abundance of gold leaf. This is the Belle Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry. One of the most astonishing pieces of art to come out of the Northern Renaissance and one that will be celebrated in all its glory in this talk. A testament to the Limbourg Brothers, their obsessive patron, and a new age for the ‘medieval’ illuminated manuscript.