Belles Heures: The Duke of Berry on a Journey (fol. 223v) was created by the Limbourg brothers between 1405 and 1409 using tempera, gold, and ink on vellum. This illuminated manuscript page forms part of a French Book of Hours commissioned for Jean, Duke of Berry, a notable patron of the arts in early fifteenth-century France.

The work is a prime example of the International Gothic style and represents a significant achievement in the careers of the Limbourg brothers. The miniature depicts a procession led by a richly dressed figure on horseback, identified as the Duke of Berry, departing from a fortified castle with blue-roofed towers. The figures are rendered with fine detail, their garments highlighted with vibrant reds, blues, and golds. The castle’s architecture is carefully modeled, and the landscape recedes to a distant castle set against a patterned blue and gold sky.

The border is elaborately decorated with gold ivy leaves and blue and red flowers, framing the central scene and the Latin text below. Commissioned by the Duke of Berry, the Belles Heures is renowned for its lavish decoration and innovative narrative imagery. The manuscript remained in private hands for centuries before entering the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is preserved today. The Belles Heures is widely regarded as a masterpiece of medieval illumination, and its pages are frequently exhibited and studied for their artistic and historical significance.