An unpublished fifteenth century illuminated manuscript: The "Heures du Chancelier Guillaume Jouvenel des Ursins" and Parisian painting

The Bibliotheque nationale de France has recently acquired an unpublished f ifteenth-century illuminated manuscript which is of considerable historical interest: the Livre d'heures du chancelier Guillaume Jouvenel de Ursins. T he book was illuminated by the Master of Dunois, who after the English occu pation, from 1435 until 1455, was in charge of the most active workshop in Paris and much appreciated by the court milieu. The manuscript is adorned w ith elegant dem-grisaille miniatures, a technique which the Master of Dunoi s had brought into fashion. The iconography of this manuscript can be compa red with other books of hours by the same artist, in particular a Last Judg ement, of which an identical image can be seen in a painting probably produ ced by the same workshop (Paris, Musee des Arts decoratifs). What makes the Heures de Guillaume Jouvenel so distinctive are the borders, which exalt t he chancellor's impressive display of heraldic devices and emblems. An altarpiece which depicts the Trinity with praying canons (Paris, Ecole d es Beaux-Arts) was produced by the same group of artists and is one of the rare fifteenth-century Parisian paintings still extant. The motif of the Th rone of Mercy with the Father holding his Son's body, a modest borrowing fr om Robert Campin, was introduced into France by the Master of Dunois, who w as the last exponent in Paris of the courtly style before the triumph of Fl emish realism.