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February 27, 2010
I guess I have to go to NYC for Spring Break to see the disbound Belles Heures at the Met.
Look at this. Yikes. 172 folios, displayed floating in air? This kind of show is rare - when a book has been disassembled for conservation work or rebinding you can see both sides of all the pages at once. More usually, when you visit the Cloisters you see whatever 2 page spread the books happen to be open to at the time. This is a really big deal - and the sweetener, if you needed one, is the display of mourners. From The Art Newspaper story:
Works created under the aegis of two of the greatest art patrons of the period--Jean de France, duc de Berry (1340-1416) and the second Duke of Burgundy, Jean sans Peur (the Fearless, 1371-1419), will fill the Robert Lehman Wing and the Medieval Sculpture Hall. "The Art of Illumination" presents the first, and most likely the last, chance for visitors to see both sides of all 172 folios from the duc de Berry's richly illustrated Book of Hours.This is the only completed manuscript by the Dutch illuminators to survive.
The folios were removed from their bindings as part of a decade-long conservation project and this is the last chance to see all of them simultaneously before they are rebound. "Our biggest challenge was finding a way to present the folios in a way that conveys that they are part of a book rather than just mounted pictures," says curator Timothy Husband.
Conservators devised a new method of display, floating the folios with silk thread strung through the holes made by the original binding. "The Belles Heures is unique...its grandeur and ambition escalates as it goes on.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at February 27, 2010 6:35 PM