The Hours of Jean de Montauban

The lavish Hours of Jean de Montauban are a radiant highlight of French Gothic book illumination. Every page of the manuscript is opulently illuminated – the only exception being four unfinished pages. The picture program is not only exceptionally complex and visualizes biblical stories, theological content as well as contemporary everyday scenes, but also has some iconographic peculiarities, such as an unusual picture cycle based on apocryphal texts on the life of Adam and Eve. A total of 37 picture pages, each composed of several miniatures, and 63 bas-de-page miniatures accompany the prayer texts, whereby foliate borders enlace most of the pages. The magnificent calendar at the beginning of the codex captivates with historiated initial ligatures and medallions containing the signs of the zodiac. It is not surprising that the anonymous master of this gold-decorated jewel is named after it. He created the manuscript for Jean de Montauban (1412–1466), who, as Admiral of France and ambassador to Castile, was a close confidant of the French kings Charles VII and Louis XI. He presented the codex to his sister Isabeau de Montauban as a wedding gift a few years after its completion when she married Tristan du Périer in 1436.