Hours of Jeanne de Navarre

It is recorded as the work of Jean Le Noir and Mahiet. Materials recorded for it are parchment. The record gives 1330 as its date of establishment or first appearance. Recorded genres are religious art. It is recorded in the collection of Bibliothèque nationale de France.

• Illustrator — Jean Le Noir • Pub Date — c. 1336 • Media Type — Book of hours

The illuminated book consists of 271 folios written in Latin. There are 32 illustration miniatures.

The Hours of Jeanne de Navarre features border bars and ivy on the larger illuminations of this book, which is a very similar stylistic approach to other illuminated manuscripts. The ivy included colouring of blue, yellow, and red, which is similar to that of the French Psalterium. A psalterium contains religious lyrics and is used in a religious context by priests for prayer or practice. The ivy is also a religious symbol, mostly connected to the idea of immortality.

This image is the introductory picture to the Office of Passion section of the book of hours. This section is highly important as the Passion focused piety and devotion, which was very important during the medieval period. The composition of the manuscript page is very crowded. All of the figures are overlapping with each other and interacting in some way. Jesus is the man in the middle wearing a red dress robe with a blue shawl covering himself. Peter is shown to the left of Jesus wearing a blue tunic and shawl. Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas, is shown towards Peter's feet, getting his ear cut off. Jesus is seen being arrested by a group of Roman soldiers who are on the right side of the page. Jesus had been betrayed earlier in the day by one of his Apostles, Judas Iscariot. Judas got thirty pieces of silver for his betrayal and led the soldiers to the garden where Jesus and the disciples were on Mount Olive. The figures on the left include Jesus and his disciples, all have golden halos around their heads, which is a sign of divinity. Jesus specifically has golden rays on his halo. In the Gospel of Mark, it has been said that a young man ran away when Jesus was captured; academics have assumed that this is the boy hiding in the bush at the bas-de-page. The Gospel mentions his nakedness, which is not depicted here, however, this interpretation could be that he is looking for his shoes in the bush when he originally fled, as he is no longer wearing shoes.

Jeanne de Navarre is also referred to as Joan II of Navarre. Jeanne de Navarre was the daughter of the French King Louis X and Margaret of Burgundy. Philip VI, who gifted her the book, was Jeanne's second cousin on her father's side and the King of France beginning in 1328. He came to terms with Jeanne and her husband, Philip III, in which they renounced their claim to Champagne and Brie in exchange for the right of Navarre. Together they ruled from 1328 to their respective deaths in 1348 and 1349.

Jean Le Noir was an active illuminator in Paris between 1335 and 1380. He was a student of Jean Pucelle: scholars even assumed Le Noir took over Pucelle's workshop when he passed. Le Noir and his daughter, Bourgot Le Noir, worked for Yolande of Flanders and later the King. In 1364, he worked for Charles V and soon after they worked in Bourges for the Duke of Berry during the 1370s. His title during the time this manuscript was created was Jehan Lenior, enluminieur. Earlier research on this book attributed Jean Pucelle as the creator due to the coloring and the shape of the figures. However, in 1970, it was discovered that Pucelle had died in 1334 before the book was created. The references to Navarre, Evreux, and Burgandy, but not Champagne, point to the book being created after 1336 when Jeanne had given up that title. Research also indicates that four miniaturists were involved in this book process. The first artist would have come from a collective groups of artist studying together and would become the main master of the book. This would have been the role of Jean Le Noir. He would have been in charge of the most pictures in the codex such as the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the Office of Passion.

• Illustration — The Annunciation of the Shepherd • Illustration — Education of Saint Louis • Illustration — St Louis and Blanche of Castille Riding to Reins for the Coronation