Limbourg brothers
The Limbourg Brothers (Paul, Johan and Herman) were Dutch miniature painters. They wrote the book of hours Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, but left their work unfinished back, as all three of them in 1416 - as well as her client - died of a plague.
Life
Her grandfather John de Lymborgh probably came from Limburg to Nijmegen, at the time the capital of the Duchy of Geldern. His son Arnold worked as a wood carver at the ducal court. Around 1385 he married Mechtild Maelwael from a family of painters coat of arms. Their children were Herman ( Hermant in French sources, * 1385 ), Paul ( Polleke or Polequin in France, born 1386 or 1387 ) and Johan ( Johanneke or Jacquemin, Gillequin, Jehanequin in France, * probably 1388 ), Rutger and Arnold and a sister, Greta.
To 1398, after the death of her father, her mother sent her to her brother Johan Maelwael ( Jehan Maleuel in French sources ), a coat of arms painter who worked in the French and Burgundian court: Herman and Johan learned in Paris the craft of goldsmith. The end of 1399 they set out on a visit to Nijmegen, but were - it just was war - set in Brussels. Her mother was unable to raise the ransom of 55 gold ecus ( escuz ). The Guild of the Brussels goldsmith began to collect the money, the sum was then but of Philip II Duke of Burgundy, the principal of her uncle paid. The two brothers were released in May to 1400.
Obtained documents show that Paul and Johan were taken in February 1402 by Philip for a four-year contract to exclusively imagine for him a Bible, perhaps the Bible Moralisée, Ms.fr.166, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris which is indisputably an early work of the brothers. Philip died in 1404, before the work could be completed.
Herman, Paul and Johan were working later this year for Duke Jean de Berry, a brother of the late Philip. He was an exceptional art collector, who specialized primarily on books. My first assignment was in the years 1408 to 1409 the book painting of a Book of Hours, which is known as the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry today. This book on vellum, in ink, tempera colors and designed with gold leaf, 24 x 17 cm contains 172 large pages. It is now preserved in The Cloisters, part of Museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Art of Illumination: In 2010, all pages of the Book of Hours in the exhibition were The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry in New York issued.
The result of their work inspired the Duke so much that he entrusted them with a far more ambitious project, another Book of Hours, the Très Riches Heures is called, and is now regarded as the masterpiece of medieval illumination per se. It is located as Ms. 65 in the Musée Condé, Chantilly.
In particular, Paul developed such a good relationship with the Duke that he was the personal attendant ( valet de chambre ) and was gifted with jewels and a house in Bourges. Paul fell in love with a young girl, Gillette la Mercière whose parents, however, the contact disapproved. The Duke in turn held her locked up and left them free only to pressure the king. Nevertheless, Paul and Gillette married in 1411 - Paul was 24 years old, the bride 12 The marriage remained childless.
In the first half of the year 1416 John of Berry and the three Limbourg Brothers died of the plague, the Très Riches Heures remained unfinished.
In the 1440s ( Barthélemy D maybe) an unknown artist worked on the plant, as it apparently was in the possession of René of Anjou, was completed in 1485 by Jean Colombe for the House of Savoy.
The work of the Limbourg Brothers came - because mostly inaccessible - until the 19th century into oblivion. Nevertheless, they set the standard for the next generations of painters, also on the endangered species of miniature painting also.