A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XIIThe Hours of Louis XII is the stunning prayer book that Jean Bourdichon painted for the king of France, mostly likely on the occasion of his coronation in 1498. Bourdichon was the court painter to four successive French kings, including Louis and his predecessor, Charles VIII. The manuscript was originally illuminated with twelve large calendar miniatures and two dozen full-page miniatures, but by the seventeenth century the Hours of Louis XII had been dismembered so that the large miniatures could be enjoyed separately as individual paintings. In recent years sixteen of these images have been located, including the portrait of the king that served as the book's frontispiece. This catalogue, which accompanies an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum, to be held October 18, 2005-January 8, 2006, publishes the paintings together for the first time, along with a selection of other books illuminated by the artist, by his teacher Jean Fouquet, and by their contemporaries. Janet Backhouse, who originally assembled the evidence attesting to the existence of this long-forgotten masterpiece, introduces the book and its cycle of miniatures. Thomas Kren considers the book's provocative miniature of Bathsheba bathing within the context of the king's own taste and predilections and within the emerging genre of the female nude in French painting. Nancy Turner examines the important evidence of the painter/illuminator Bourdichon's technique in the Hours of Louis XII in relation to his other work and that of Jean Fouquet. Mark Evans examines the individual histories of each of the surviving portions of the manuscript to reconstruct their peregrinations and to weigh the evidence of the book's place in the history of collecting single illuminated leaves. Lastly, an appendix presents a reconstruction of the book's devotional contents and program of illumination. |
Other editions - View all
A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XII J. Paul Getty Museum,Victoria and Albert Museum No preview available - 2005 |
A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XII Thomas Kren,Janet Backhouse No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Albert Museum Anne of Brittany Annunciation appear bar borders Bathsheba Bathing PL Bibliothèque nationale bismuth blue book of hours British Library calendar miniatures catalogue Charles VIII collection color David and Bathsheba depicted Detail from Plate drapery Duke face fifteenth century FIGURE flesh tone Flight into Egypt France Kneeling François Avril French full-page miniatures gold highlighting gray Hours of Anne Hours of Henry Hours of Louis Hours of Simon Janet Backhouse Jean Bourdichon Jean Fouquet JPGM Katherine Hours Kneeling in Prayer lead white London LOOKING AT LOUIS Louis XII LOUIS XII'S BATHSHEBA manuscript illumination MANUSCRIPT PAINTING TECHNIQUES Mark Evans nationale de France opening text painted gold parallel strokes Paris Paul Getty Museum Penitential Psalms pigment Plate 13 recto Remaining text Royal shadow Simon de Varie surviving TECHNIQUES OF JEAN Temple PL Thomas Kren Valois verso Victoria and Albert Virgin and Child XII of France