1380s–1416

Manuscript illuminators

Illuminators at the Duke's Court.

The Limbourg Brothers (Pol, Herman, and Jean) were born into a family of artisans in Nijmegen, in the northern Netherlands, and their names were mentioned as apprentices in the goldsmith shop of Alebret de Bolure in Paris as early as 1399. Caught between the rival regions of Brabant and Guelders, they were imprisoned and held for ransom while on their journey home from Paris. Only after the intervention of their uncle, Jean Malouel, a highly regarded painter at the court of Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy, and a generous ransom payment from the duke himself, were they finally freed. Afterwards, they resided at the court of Burgundy long enough to produce an illuminated manuscript for the duke (a Bible Moralisée, or moralized bible), and then they entered into the service of the Philip's brother, Jean...