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TIMOTHY B. HUSBAND, The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. Distributed by Yale University Press, New Haven and London. Pp. xii, 376. isbn: 978-1-58839-294-7 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); 978-0-300-13671-5 (Yale University Press). $65.
Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name-recently on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum and opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in September 2009-The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry provides an in-depth look at the manuscript's stunning illuminations. Curator in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, Timothy B. Husband notes that he has advantages that earlier scholars lacked: unlimited access to the manuscript and the use of binocular microscopy. He is thus uniquely suited to offer insights into the Limbourgs' extraordinary creation.
After establishing the importance of the Belles Heures in the Limbourgs' artistic evolution, Husband introduces the work. He explains the function and the usual contents of a Book of Hours and reveals what sets the Belles Heures apart: its unusually large number of illuminations-172-and seven 'picture book' insertions.
In the next two sections, Husband furnishes biographical information for Jean de France and the Limbourg brothers. Husband discusses in particular...