I’ve been looking at the Très Riches Heures a lot over the past couple of days, and one of the questions I’ve been asking myself is why the last couple months of the calendar (completed by a different artist) are considered problematic. I guess it’s just because the brothers who did most of the work didn’t live to complete it, and people are sad for the sake of their vision. That’s all I can do to account for it, because November and December appeal to me more the other plates.
Of course, my personal preference has nothing to do with their worth as judged by art historians and critics. But from my own experience I can say that these two illuminations remind me more of more modern paintings. Their shadowy nature, the encroaching woods, the dark backgrounds and red clothing, and peasants featured as protagonists all remind me a little of Dutch and German renaissance paintings.
You know, things kind of like these. November and December aren’t nearly as sophisticated, but they’re closer, I’d say, to later art than the rest of the Très Riches Heures. That might make them a poorer example of a medieval manuscript (and I will admit that they aren’t nearly as colorful), but it doesn’t make them poorer artworks. It’s to the credit of the artist that he branched out.
Julia,
I agree with you about the similarity between the November and December calendar depictions and the work that succeeded the Très Riches Heures. Of course, thinking about the term ‘sophisticated’ always requires a consideration of the context of the time period. These two foreground the peasants over the aristocracy and not solely in a way that would show an aristocrat how well his estate is being handled. November goes as far as accentuating the personality of the worker; his stance is expressive with his arm crossed over his chest gallantly. This shifts the focus from a broader depiction of servants to an individual portrait. This individuality was emphasized later in Europe, during the Baroque period. Some works in the 17th century contain up close portraits of people of the lower classes, others depict figures in very dramatic poses and scenes that characterized the Baroque period. I could see how November especially might fit into these future artistic styles better.