Briçonnet Book of Hours

Briçonnet Book of Hours

This stunning book of hours is the first manuscript attributed to the master illuminator Jean Poyer, one of the greatest artists of the French Renaissance. Produced in Tours ca. 1485, the manuscript is adorned with 25 full-page miniatures of the highest quality. Although its patron remains unknown, it was likely Guillaume Briçonnet (1445–1514), a member of the French royal court who served two kings. Regardless of who commissioned it, the pages of the work are filled with overwhelming colors and miniatures that resemble panel paintings in terms of both their artistic quality and their realism.

In the Employ of Three French Kings

Although his exact life dates are not known, Jean Poyer was active in Tours from 1465 to 1503 and was commissioned with great artworks for three kings of France and their queens: Louis XI (r. 1461–83), Charles VIII (r. 1483–98), and Louis XII (r. 1498–1515). Aside from being a painter, Poyer also planned various festivals, spectacles, pageants, and royal funerals. Anne of Brittany (1477–1514) was queen consort to both Charles VIII and Louis XII and was the recipient of one of his most splendid works, the Great Hours of Anne of Brittany. It is stylistically similar to the work at hand with full-page miniatures in golden frames and an unbelievably rich color palette. Although the precise year of his death is not known, Jean Poyer’s influence continued after his death. After his workshop collapsed, some members refused to join the workshop of his rival in Tours, Jean Bourdichon, and instead moved to Paris where they continued in a “pseudo-Poyer” style. The Master of Claude de France is the only painter that is considered to be Poyer’s true artistic heir.

Marvelous and Mysterious

The full-page miniatures of this manuscript are comparable in quality to contemporary panel paintings and furthermore, are intentionally presented that way using trompe l’oeil decorative frames, which is unique. Their splendid color palettes and gold leaf overwhelm the senses while the depiction of facial features and human figures, garments and architectures, interior spaces and landscapes is exemplary. The work ignores the typical structure of a book of hours so as to place the emphasis on the art – this manuscript appears to have been commissioned more as a show piece than as a practical religious devotional manuscript. Nonetheless, the presumably very wealthy and sophisticated patron of this manuscript remains uncertain, which is rare for a work of such beauty from such a famous master. A small coat of arms in a “C” initial on fol. 10v belongs to the Briçonnet family, and it is theorized that Guillaume Briçonnet, a French minister who would have been a bishop at the time, may have commissioned the book as a gift to his wife. However, it still cannot be said for sure who the patron was.