LIMBOURG brothers
(b. 1370-80, Nijmegen, d. 1416, Nijmegen)

Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry

c. 1416
Manuscript (Ms. 65), 294 x 210 mm
Musée Condé, Chantilly

The picture shows the illumination depicting the Meeting of the Three Magi.

This miniature from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry in the section of the book following the calendar is taken from the Gospels. The Kings and their retinues arrive from three directions, in a rugged, wintry landscape, to greet Jesus. Their bearded figures, with turbans on their heads, evoke no picture of French chivalry, but the notion of oriental peoples prevailing at that time. The three vivid, animated groups are separated and at the same time connected by a slender Gothic building in the centre of the picture. As if to counterbalance the dynamic composition, the view of a quiet, serene town - among the buildings of which the Notre-Dame of Paris can be seen - has been placed in the left background of the picture.