(click on the image to see it in all its glory!)
It is harvest time; scantily clad peasants wearing hats mow the wide meadow in unison. Every detail of the operation is carefully observed and rendered. The freshly mown area stands out brightly against the untouched grass, and the already fading shocked hay is still different in color. In the foreground two women rake and stack the hay. The grace, one might even say the elegance, imparted by the fragility and flexibility of these simply dressed reapers is typical of the mixture of perception and charm that characterizes the Limbourgs' genius.The view, from the Hôtel de Nesle (the Duc de Berry's Paris residence and the present site of the right wing of the Institut de France which now houses the Bibliothèque Mazarine) encompasses the fields on either side of the Seine and the inner facade of the Palais de la Citè.The slate roofs of the Palais rise against a blue sky, providing a large dignified background for this rustic scene; the minutely recorded details of this interior facade are particularly precious.We find ourselves before the buildings whose roofs were represented in the month of May: the corner pavilion, the Conciergerie towers, the Tour de I'Horloge, the double nave of the Grand Salle, the Tour Montgomery, and the Sainte-Chapelle in all its refined splendor.Before this facade, we glimpse trees in a garden partially hidden by the enceinte. These walls terminate at the left in a curious door opening onto the Seine. A boat on the river bank completes this scene of the month of June, to which the artists imparted both rustic grace and grandeur.
Copyright Christus Rex et Redemptor Mundi and Michael Olteanu, MS,
The whole site can be viewed here....http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/berry1.html
The Hotel du Nesle is famous. A story about it and the three young ladies you saw in the previous month of May is here. Be advised, all stories about the Hotel du Nesle are a little risque, and almost always revolve arount the tower, the famous Tour du Nesle.
http://www.paris.org/Kiosque/feb00/nesle.html
A print of the clock tower is found here.....which shows how it looked in 1852. http://www.relewis.com/meryonclocktower.html
And of course, the history of the Montgomery Tower is diverse and remarkable... http://www.ca-paris.justice.fr/cour/fr/visite/uk/page/c_histoire_royal.html
Have a nice June!
5 comments:
That's the nice thing about your blog, every time I come here I feel like I've learned something new. :D
Come by to visit from Pirate's...uh...blog. Not like it is a blog these days but oh, well!
I LOVE the two women in the foreground, the dress color, the line of their necks and shoulders, the color of their skin! Beautiful!
Why THANK YOU for visiting, that was VERY kind of you. I hope that you like what I do here. Its a little of this and a little of that...mostly revolving around either history, military, or armour making (that is my trade y'see! No really!)
The Tres Richeurs was painted a long long time ago, and is in my opinion, everything that was right about the Middle Ages!
I was required to take an ancient art class for my undergrad degree years ago and LOVED it and worked my way all the way up to modern art. No expert, but it certainly opened my eyes to many new ways of seeing! Glad you stopped by my place.
Simply beautiful. And educational, too!
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