About the Exhibition
The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
On view in the Robert Lehman Wing
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
March 2–June 13, 2010
The Belles Heures (1405–1408/9) of Jean de Berry, a treasure of The Cloisters collection, is one of the most celebrated and lavishly illustrated manuscripts in this country. Because it is currently unbound, it is possible to exhibit all of its illuminated pages as individual leaves, a unique opportunity never to be repeated. The exhibition will elucidate the manuscript, its artists—the young Franco-Netherlandish Limbourg Brothers—and its patron, Jean de France, duc de Berry. A select group of precious objects from the same early fifteenth-century courtly milieu will place the manuscript in the context of the patronage of Jean de Berry and his royal family, the Valois.
Related Events and Exhibition
A variety of educational programs is scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition, including a “Sunday at the Met” lecture program on April 11 and a series of film screenings, gallery talks, and family programs. See the calendar for a list of all upcoming programs. The special exhibition The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy features sculpture from the tomb of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, who was the nephew of Jean de Berry.
Audio Guide
Selected images on this site include samples from the exhibition Audio Guide. The complete Audio Guide is available for rental in the exhibition galleries.
The Audio Guide is sponsored by Bloomberg.
Exhibition Organizers
The exhibition is organized by Timothy B. Husband, Curator, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, with Wendy Stein, Research Associate. Conservation of the manuscript was undertaken by Margaret Lawson, Yana van Dyke, Akiko Yamazaki Kleps, Martin Bansbach, Rebecca Capua, and Marjorie Shelley, all of the Museum’s Department of Paper Conservation. Exhibition design is by Michael Langley, Exhibition Design Manager; graphics are by Sophia Geronimus, Graphic Design Manager; and lighting is by Clint Ross Coller and Richard Lichte, Lighting Design Managers, all of the Museum’s Design Department.
The exhibition is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Michel David-Weill Fund.
The related publication is made possible by the Michel David-Weill Fund.
Director Thomas P. Campbell and Timothy B. Husband, curator, discuss one of the great treasures of the collection, the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry.