The arts patrons of today could learn something from Jean, the Duke of Berry. The third son of John II, the king of France from 1350 to 1364, Jean had a treasure chest of disposable income, which never hurts. But he had something more important than money—incredible taste. Around 1410, the duke commissioned an object that is a splendor of human history, recently described by the Financial Times as the “world’s most beautiful book.”
In the horse country north of Paris, at the Château de Chantilly, the exhibition “The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry” opens today. For this show, the book’s luminous pages have been removed from their bindings so that they can be viewed panoramically.
