A Pilgrimage to Chantilly: Encountering the Très Riches Heures
This was a long-awaited trip—my visit to the Château de Chantilly and the Musée Condé to see one of the greatest treasures of France: the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Universally regarded as one of the most celebrated and important illuminated manuscripts in existence, it is not only a masterpiece of French art but arguably the single most treasured object created in medieval France. It is an icon.
Many consider it the pinnacle of artistic achievement in medieval Western Europe and it’s hard to disagree. To immerse oneself in this manuscript is to enter a universe of images: scenes of daily labor and aristocratic leisure, of devotion and ritual, all rendered with exquisite delicacy and imagination. It is, in many ways, a museum of images contained within a single book.
Like many students, I first encountered the Très Riches Heures in an introductory art history class, where it was held up as the apogee of medieval European art. That first glimpse was formative and it lit a spark that led me on a path into the world of manuscripts, images, and the enduring beauty of medieval art.
The exhibition is at the Salle du Jeu de Paume on the grounds on the Château de Chantilly.
Incredible! The curators - Mathieu Deldicque, Lead Heritage Conservator, Director of the Condé Museum and Marie-Pierre Dion, Principal Conservator, Libraries - did an exceptional job with the presentation of the exhibition. Bravo!
Now, as of June 7th, a major exhibition devoted to the Très Riches Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, is open to the public at the Château de Chantilly. Following a recent conservation campaign, the manuscript is presented in its full splendor—including the complete sequence of its legendary calendar miniatures by the Limbourg brothers, a cornerstone in the history of Western art. Remarkably, this marks only the third time the manuscript has been publicly exhibited since its 19th-century acquisition by the Duc d’Aumale.
That alone would warrant a pilgrimage for scholars, students, and enthusiasts of medieval art. But the exhibition offers far more. Among its highlights is the gisant of the Duc from Bourges, accompanied by sculptural works by Jean de Cambrai and André Beauneveu. The show also offers a sweeping view of the Duc’s intellectual and artistic world, through his historical, philosophical, and astronomical manuscripts.
The painting for January in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.
The painting for April in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.
The Anatomical Zodiac Man in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.
Most impressively, the exhibition reunites all the major volumes commissioned by the Duke from the leading artists of his time, including Beauneveu, Jacquemart de Hesdin, and the Limbourgs for the first time since his death in 1416. It also explores the manuscript’s later continuation by Barthélemy d’Eyck and Jean Colombe, and its enduring influence on manuscript painting over the many generations.
Below are views of many of the manuscripts in the Duke’s library.
To stand before the Très Riches Heures and its companion works was not simply a visit to an exhibition—it was a moment of return. A return to the source of inspiration that first drew me into the world of illuminated manuscripts. For anyone with a love of medieval art, this exhibition is more than just a rare opportunity. It’s a profound and unforgettable encounter with one of the great masterpieces of Western art.
The exhibition runs until October 5th, 2025. There is a beautiful scholarly catalog available in French and English.
More info here: https://chateaudechantilly.fr/en/evenement/les-tres-riches-heures-du-duc-de-berry/
