Singulariter afficitur … ad gloriosissimum lignum crucis: Jean duc de Berry and the Cross

Jean duc de Berry is perhaps the best known of the four sons of John II of France, largely owing to the 127 manuscripts surviving from his library, his documented patronage of the de Limbourg brothers, and the survival of their most famous, albeit unfinished, commission, Tres Riches Heures (Musée Condé, MS.65). In conjunction with three extant inventories made of the duke’s possessions between 1401 and 1416, these manuscripts allow us to reconstruct a vivid picture of the objects with which he surrounded himself. Yet, the image of the duke cultivated by historians has often been one simply of a man obsessed with luxury, driven by acquisitiveness and jealousy. This emphasis on his appetite for beautiful things has obscured other aspects of his personality and patronage.

This talk reconsiders the duke through one particular aspect of his devotional life: his fascination with the True Cross. Bringing his most personalised books of hours into dialogue with inventories and surviving objects, it traces how an interest initially rooted in shared Valois devotional practice developed into something more individualised and historically inflected. It examines the ways in which Jean’s devotion to the Cross was expressed through collecting, manuscript illumination, and antiquarian interests. In doing so, it argues that the Cross became a privileged site where, for the duke, history, relic, image, and object converged.

Organised by Dr Tom Nickson, Reader in Medieval Art; Architecture, the Courtauld Institute, as part of the Medieval Work-in-Progress Series. This series is generously supported by Sam Fogg.