Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry – Le Château de Chantilly

Staff | Salterton Arts Review | 23rd July 2025

A book of hours was a prayer book that set out religious observances. Written and illustrated by hand, such books were among the most precious of Gothic artworks. The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, completed in 1416, shows “jewel-like landscapes, toiling peasants and frolicking nobles”. Both the commissioning Duke du Berry and the illustrators died when the book was nearing completion. “Absolutely magnificent … better than the Mona Lisa”.