DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45257#0254
162 french illuminated manuscripts
to a sudden standstill; and in consequence of that
prince’s debts—which arose chiefly from his expen-
sive artistic tastes—a sale of his property immedi-
ately took place. The Due de Bourbon and the Comte
d’Armagnac (the husbands of his two daughters
and co-heiresses) were making war upon one another
on account of the murder of the Due d’Orldans
by Jean Sans Peur—a war known in history as the
War of the Armagnacs and the Burgundians. Amid
these disturbances there was scarcely time to think
of illuminated MSS. ; for which reason the work of
Pol de Limbourg and his brothers was suspended,
and was not resumed until the year 1545, long after
their death—unfortunately by a far inferior hand—
that of Jean de Colombe. By that time the volume
had come into the possession of Charles of Savoy and
his wife Blanche of Monferrat. It is not difficult
to explain how this Breviary came into the House
of Savoy—a fact which is proved by the armorial
bearings and two miniature portraits of Charles—
because both husband and wife were descendants in
direct line from Bonne de Berry (one of the daughters
of the Due de Berry), who had first been married
to a Count of Savoy. In 1501 the MS. passed to
Margaret of Austria, wife of Philibert of Savoy,
a Royal patroness of the Arts who corresponded
with Jean Perr^al regarding the tomb of her hus-
band in the church at Brou. By her this MS. was
provided with a velvet cover and a silver padlock;
and she no doubt took it to Flanders with her after
her husband’s death.
to a sudden standstill; and in consequence of that
prince’s debts—which arose chiefly from his expen-
sive artistic tastes—a sale of his property immedi-
ately took place. The Due de Bourbon and the Comte
d’Armagnac (the husbands of his two daughters
and co-heiresses) were making war upon one another
on account of the murder of the Due d’Orldans
by Jean Sans Peur—a war known in history as the
War of the Armagnacs and the Burgundians. Amid
these disturbances there was scarcely time to think
of illuminated MSS. ; for which reason the work of
Pol de Limbourg and his brothers was suspended,
and was not resumed until the year 1545, long after
their death—unfortunately by a far inferior hand—
that of Jean de Colombe. By that time the volume
had come into the possession of Charles of Savoy and
his wife Blanche of Monferrat. It is not difficult
to explain how this Breviary came into the House
of Savoy—a fact which is proved by the armorial
bearings and two miniature portraits of Charles—
because both husband and wife were descendants in
direct line from Bonne de Berry (one of the daughters
of the Due de Berry), who had first been married
to a Count of Savoy. In 1501 the MS. passed to
Margaret of Austria, wife of Philibert of Savoy,
a Royal patroness of the Arts who corresponded
with Jean Perr^al regarding the tomb of her hus-
band in the church at Brou. By her this MS. was
provided with a velvet cover and a silver padlock;
and she no doubt took it to Flanders with her after
her husband’s death.