April is one of the most active times of the year
historically. There is reason for this. In the past, before airplanes and other
modern conveniences became available, April marked the end of winter and the
roads became passable. New conflicts arose and old ones resumed. Just look at
our own American history; which is fairly recent in the grand scheme of things;
and you will see the pattern.
The Revolutionary War began in April, with the landing of
the Kings troops in Boston and the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Our Civil
War may have technically begun in January, but it wasn’t prosecuted in full
until the Battle of Bull Run in the spring. The war also ended in April, just
in time for General Lee’s troops to return home and try to coax a harvest out
of their war ravaged land.
The picture above is “April”, or “Avril” from “Les Très
Riches Heures du Duc de Berry”, which is translated as The Very Rich Hours of
the Duke of Berry.” I ran across this beautiful collection of French Gothic Art
while looking up some information for this post. The complete work consists of
12 panels, each one representing a month of the year. This panel shows a couple
exchanging rings.
Now, I could continue on with what would be a very
boring piece about the importance of the weather in history; which is what
makes April so significant in regards to the amount of historical events
contained in any single month. Or, I can tell you about these new paintings I just
“discovered.” I’ll take the latter option.
Apparently, at the dawn of the 15th Century;
about 1400 A.D.; there was a Frenchman who had some money and wanted to
chronicle the months of the year in paintings which also represented his
lifestyle. To that end he commissioned the Limbourg Brothers to create a 12
panel set. The work was begun in 1412 but by 1416 the two brothers; as well as
the Duke of Berry; were all dead. The paintings then passed on to his
relatives, where it languished for several decades.
In 1845 an heir of the Dukes decided to have the work
completed. He chose Jean Colombe to finish the set. Though his paintings are in
many ways distinguishable from the original ones completed by the Limbourg
Brothers, the spirit of the project remains wholly intact. Upon first viewing
it would appear that these paintings were the result of one unbroken effort on
the part of the Limbourgs, rather than a project which was completed years
later by another artist.
You can see all of the paintings; as well as read about them
here;
This is one of the best things about blogging. I am always
learning things. When I look up one thing I bump into another. It’s endless;
underscoring just how much there is to learn in the short time which we are
given to learn anything at all. Now, that’s a sobering thought…
As far as my post about April; there was one part in which I
was going to explain how the name represents an “opening”, or “blooming” of a
new season. Also, in many Asian countries April 15 is celebrated as the New
Year, which coincides with the spring planting. There were lots of other boring
things I was going to relate; like the Titanic going down, etc. But they all paled in comparison to these
wonderful paintings which I had never seen before.
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