Savoy Hours
As an enchanting book of hours with particularly rich furnishings, the Savoy Hours had a style-forming effect in the history of book illumination and significantly advanced the development of the book genre as a template. It assembles 50 miniatures framed by quatrefoils and 106 historiated initials on its 52 pages, which enchant the beholder with slender figures in front of picturesque backgrounds. The manuscript in two sections was commissioned by Blanka of Burgundy (1295–1326) in the 1330’s. The first part was probably made between 1334 and 1348 by the successor of the workshop of the famous Parisian book painter Jean Pucelle (ca. 1300-ca. 1334), and the second part was added between 1370 and 1378 by the Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy.
Savoy Hours
Although only a small part of the once very comprehensive Savoy Hours is extant after almost 600 years, it fascinates the beholder with its princely illumination. The precious manuscript originated in two parts: the first part was probably made between 1334 and 1348 by the successor of the workshop of the famous Parisian book painter Jean Pucelle (ca. 1300-ca. 1334), and the second part was added between 1370 and 1378 by the **Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy. Its 50 surviving miniatures and 106 historiated initials allows us to surmise how complex and inventive the book of hours for private devotion, which was composed in Latin and French, once was.
Marvelous Scenes in Tasteful Frames
It can be assumed that the Savoy Hours were furnished with 187 miniatures and 24 calendar vignettes of a very large format. An impression of this opulence is already apparent in the remaining 52 pages with picturesque depictions of fine figures in front of creative backgrounds. A tricolor quatrefoil surrounds the miniature in each case so that they become small paintings, which additionally explain the text for the reader. These masterpieces correspond to original colored pen drawings of drolleries and small birds, which artfully play around the text.
Early Portrait Painting
In the 1330’s, Blanche of Burgundy (1295–1326), the Countess of Savoy and the granddaughter of King Louis IX of France, commissioned the unique book of hours. She had herself depicted 25 times in the surviving 50 miniatures alone. In one place she appears kneeling gracefully before a saint, and in another she appears on the same level as him. What is astonishing about these portraits is the particularly fine rendering of the feminine features of her face.
Style-Forming Effect for French Gothic Illumination
The diverse Savoy Hours has not only shaped our perception of the French Gothic, but also had a great influence on the development of illumination and the book of hours itself. When Charles VI gifted the manuscript in 1409 to his uncle John, Duke of Berry (1340–1416), it aroused a passion for precious books in him. It is supposed that the book of hours had a great influence on the works that he himself later commissioned (Petites-, Très Belles-, and Très Riches Heures inter alia).
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Savoy Stundenbuch
- Size / Format
- 52 pages / 20.1 × 14.7 cm
- Origin
- France
- Date
- 1334–1348 and 1370–1378
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Script
- Gothic Textura
- Illustrations
- 50 medium-sized miniatures in decorative frames, 106 golden ornamental initials, some with fleuronnée trim, and several ornate tendril continuations with fanciful marginal illustrations
- Content
- Fragment of the Book of Hours
- Patron
- Blanche of Burgundy, Countess of Savoy
- Artist / School
- The successors of Jean Pucelle's workshop
Additional decoration by the Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy - Previous Owners
- King Charles V
Jean, duc de Berry
Savoy Hours
Portrait of John the Evangelist
Flanked by his symbolic eagle, John’s red tunic and blue cloak have a stylized fall of folds and exposes his bare feet. He holds a stylus in one hand and a pen knife in the other and is depicted as a beardless youth – such feminized depictions were possibly intended to make him more relatable to women, especially in works like this intended for female patrons. The scene is presented before a patterned tendril background within a quatrefoil frame of gold, red, white, and blue.

Savoy Hours
Blanche Kneeling Before the Trinity
The patron, Blanche of Burgundy, is pictured 25 times in this manuscript praying to various figures within a quatrefoil, which in this case is blue, white, and red. Along with the text, it is in turn framed by a Gothic bar border with ivy leaves, grotesques, birds, a dragonfly, and a rabbit. The image is dominated by expensive red and blue paints, as well as gold leaf.
The background is patterned with her heraldic devices – the royal fleur-de-lys and the Burgundian “bendy of six, or and azure, a bordure gules”. The graceful figures of the miniature have delicate faces, fine contours, harmonious proportions, and elegant gestures. The trinity is represented by God the Father holding up the crucified Jesus with a dove representing the Holy Spirit.

#1 Savoy Hours
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