Les belles heures du duc de Berry

Book of hours made in the first decade of the fifteenth century. Between 1405 and 1409 it was illuminated by the Van Limburg brothers. The title means "The beautiful hours of the duke of Berry". It was commissioned by John, duke of Berry (1340-1416). The brothers were in his service. Berry was a province in central France.

The book contains 225 loaves of parchment; the pages are 24 by 17 centimeter. Amongst others it contains a calendar, several prayers, texts from the gospels, and descriptions of the lives of Catholic saints. The descriptions are composed as cycles of interrelated images.

The belles heures now are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.