Limbourg brothers [key], fl. 1380–1416, family of Franco-Flemish manuscript illuminators. The Limbourg brothers, Pol, Jan, and Herman, were trained as goldsmiths. They succeeded Jacquemart de Hesdin in 1411 as court painters to Jean, duc de Berry. Their masterpiece is the magnificent book of hours known as the Très Riches Heures (c.1415; Musée Condé, Chantilly). This is filled with exquisite illustrations of the daily life of the aristocracy and peasantry, including a series of calendar illuminations that are considered the finest extant examples of the International Gothic style (see Gothic architecture and art). The Limbourgs' influence upon Flemish painting, especially in landscape and genre subjects, was profound and extensive.
See T. B. Husband, The Art of Illumination (museum catalog, 2009).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: European Art to 1599: Biographies
