The Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XII

"Jean Bourdichon was the court painter to four successive French kings including Louis XII and his predecessor, Charles VIII. Bourdichon painted the Hours of Louis XII for the king of France around the time of Louis' coronation in 1498. Published on the occasion of an exhibition held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, October 18, 2005, to January 8, 2006, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum, February 2 to May 1, 2006, A Masterpiece Reconstructed reproduces the book's sixteen known miniatures together with a selection of other books illuminated by the artist, by his teacher Jean Fouquet, and by their contemporaries." Janet Backhouse, who originally assembled the evidence that revealed this long-forgotten masterpiece, introduces the Hours of Louis XII and its cycle of miniatures. Thomas Kren discusses the book's provocative miniature of Bathsheba bathing within the context of the king's own taste and predilections and within the then-emerging genre of the female nude in French painting. Nancy Turner considers the importance of Bourdichon's painting and illuminating technique in the Hours of Louis XII in relation to his other work. Mark Evans examines the individual histories of each of the surviving portions of the book. Lastly, an appendix reconstructs the book's devotional contents and program of illumination.

Thomas Kren is curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum; in 2004 he was awarded the Eric Mitchell Prize in 2004 for the exhibition catalogue Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe. Mark Evans is senior curator of painting at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The late Janet Backhouse was curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library. Nancy Turner is associate conservator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum.