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Biography of Van Limburg brothers1375 – 1416Limbourg (also spelled Limburg), three Netherlandish brothers who were the most famous of all late Gothic illuminators. They synthesized the achievements of contemporary illuminators into a style characterized by subtlety of line, painstaking technique, and minute rendering of detail. The sons of a sculptor, Arnold van Limbourg, they were also the nephews of Jean Malouel, court painter to the Duke of Burgundy, and are sometimes known by the name "Malouel." The brothers worked together, and although the most celebrated appears to have been the eldest brother, Pol, it is difficult to distinguish their individual styles. |
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About 1400 the brothers were
apprenticed to a goldsmith in Paris, and
between 1402 and 1404 Pol and Jehanequin
were working for the Duke of Burgundy in
Paris, possibly on the illustration of a
Bible moralisée now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris. Some time after Burgundy's
death in 1404, they entered the service of
his brother, the Duke de Berry, and it was
for him that their most lavishly illustrated
books of hours (the popular form of private
prayer book of the period) were produced.
The Belles Heures (or Les Heures d'Ailly;
now in The Cloisters, New York) show the
influence of the Italianate elements of the
contemporary French artist Jacquemart de
Hesdin's illuminations. |
An uncle helps them to obtain a position at
the court of Philip II the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy, but it is in the service of
another duke they will reach great fame. The
rich and influential Jean de Berry hired the
brothers in 1404, and it was for him they
make their most famous paintings, the lively
decorated Books of Hours. The best known of these illuminated manuscripts are Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (1413-16, not completed, kept in Chantilly, France), and Les Belles Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry (c. 1409), which is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Both books and especially the Très Riches Heures are widely considered as highlights of International Gothic painting, because of the incredible detail and the rich warmth of the colours. |
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In many ways, the Limburg Brothers determine
our view of medieval daily life. Their work
had much influence on later Netherlandish
painters, such as Van Eyck, Van der Weyden
and Van der Goes. Their death, and that of Jean de Berry, coincided with the plague attack of 1416. |