September Duc Du Barie

(Someday I will visit all the castles in the folio of the Duc Du Berry. Until then, I must visit them vicariously. Grin!)


This representation of the grape harvest at the foot of the Château de Saumur is distinctive because it was begun by Paul de Limbourg and his brothers, and completed seventy years later by Jean Colombe.The different styles are evident in the tonalities of color, delicacy of techniques, and nature of the figures. The Limbourgs executed the upper two-thirds.

Traditionally, the background was, in fact, the first part of a miniature to be executed; sky, landscape and architectural decor were then followed by the foreground, figures, and last of all the faces. The Château de Saumur, near Angers, belonged to a nephew of the Duc de Berry, Duc Louis II d'Anjou, who had completed its construction at the end of the fourteenth century. It appears here in all its fresh newness: chimneys, pinnacles and weathervanes crowned with golden fleurs-de-lys thrust skyward.It is drawn in a firm bold line that includes every detail and reveals the sure hand of that one of the three brothers attracted to architectural representations and responsible also for the Palais de la Citè in June and the Louvre in October.

The château stands to this day, although the crowning crenellations have disappeared, and is easily recognizable in this miniature by the buttressed towers, battlements, glacis, and general arrangement of the buildings.On the left we glimpse a belfry that might belong to the church of Saint-Pierre; next is a monumental chimney with secondary stacks undoubtedly belonging to the kitchen and comparable to those at the nearby abbey of Fontevrault; and last, a drawbridge entrance from which a horse walks while a woman with a basket on her head approaches.The harvest scene itself was executed by Jean Colombe. He probably worked over a sketch by the Limbourgs since miniatures were completely and lightly drawn before being painted.

We can see the gathering of the grapes in the famous Angevin vineyard. Aproned women and young men pick the purple-colored clusters of grapes and fill baskets to be loaded into hampers hanging from the mules or into vats on the wagons. One of the mules burdened with baskets is in the section painted by the Limbourgs and was probably executed by them.


(from the Wikipedia) The Château de Saumur sits high on a spur of the tall cliff looking down on the Loire River at the mouth of the Thouet River. Constructed as a fortified stronghold, after its destruction in 1067 the chateau was rebuilt by a member of the powerful Plantagenet family. In the first part of the 20th century, the city of Saumur acquired the chateau and began a restoration program to house the museum of the decorative arts. In line with the Saumur area's equestrian tradition and its famous Cadre Noir, the chateau also serves as a Museum of the Horse.
Saumur has ancient ties to the military, going back to the 18th century when the cavalry school was founded here; this school is now the school of armored cavalry. The Musée des Blindés is dedicated to the history of tank warfare and the Musée de la Cavalerie has cavalry history and depictions of battle scenes and old uniforms.

Please click on the images to see them in all their glory.