The Teenage Limbourg Brothers’ Illuminated Work ‘The Annunciation’

In 1405, three Flemish teenage brothers—Herman, Pol, and Jean of Limbourg—began a commission that would alter the art of illumination and painting.

Prince Jean, the Duke of Berry and the third son of King Jean II of France, was an extravagant art patron. He commissioned the brothers to create “The Beautiful Hours of Jean of France, Duke of Berry.”

Many hands worked on the 172 illuminations in the manuscript, which took up to four years to finish. The duke dedicated a scribe to write each of his books of hours (of which he had 14 at that time). Two artists created the borders and another made the historiated initials, which are the illuminated letters at the beginnings of sections or paragraphs.

In every book of hours, artists made the illuminations of the Virgin Mary the most opulent. Working in the duke’s court afforded the brothers rich and rare pigments that they’d grind down to make jewel-colored tempera. “The Annunciation” is a grand example of these pigments put into practice, and it is the only leaf in the “Beautiful Hours” that the brothers completed themselves.

The illumination is rich in both color and meaning. The angel Gabriel holds three lilies (each in a different stage of bloom) representing Mary’s purity. Both Mary and Gabriel have their arms crossed, showing their humility. Gabriel points his index finger at Mary, symbolizing that he is speaking, and God in heaven above holds his hand in the blessing gesture. Golden rays (symbolizing the Word of God) rain down on Mary as a dove (symbolizing the Holy Spirit) hovers over her head.

Their illuminations exemplify the International Gothic style, a courtly style that matured in the 1400s when the French and Italian styles of painting converged. In this style, “Elegance of line, delicacy of color, and a jewel-like sharpness of definition were prized above all,” according to “A World History of Art” by Hugh Honour and John Fleming.

The brothers painted using perspective, and they painted truer to life by incorporating solid figures and architecture, and even by introducing shadows. But the figures still took on the more elongated look that was characteristic of the International Gothic style of painting.

Despite the brothers all dying before they were 30, they left a lasting legacy. For instance, art historian E.H. Gombrich in his book “The Story of Art” said of the preeminent 15th-century Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck: “He rather pursued the methods of the brothers Limbourg, and brought them to such a pitch of perfection that he left the ideas of medieval art behind.”

Van Eyck left medieval art behind, and the Limbourg brothers’ work continued to inspire Northern Renaissance artists. For instance, in “The Beautiful Hours,” the brothers placed figures, objects, and buildings in their compositions to show depth of field, which was pioneering at the time, and something that 16th-century Flemish artists developed further in their landscape and genre paintings. Some of these artists copied the figures in the illuminations, and some even went so far as to replicate the entire compositions.