One of the most extraordinary monuments of fourteenth century art is a prayer book in the Cloisters in New York City. The inventories identify the book as "The Hours of Pucelle," and is described as being "illuminated in black and white for the use of the Preachers. The rubric beneath the miniature of the Arrest of Christ states that the manuscript is made for the " usum predicatorum " or the "use of the preachers Dominicans.
The preciousness of this book is suggested by its inclusion in the inventory of jewels and not as part of the Charles V's library. This entry also reitterates that the book was made by Pucelle and that it had been commissioned by her husband Charles IV who reigned between and In all likelihood, Charles presented the book to the fourteen year old Jeanne as a wedding present in This documentary evidence does not only serve to identify the Cloisters book as the Hours of Queen Jeanne d'Evreux, but it also intimates at how it was appreciated as extraordinary during its own period.
The direct reference to Pucelle in the will of Jeanne d'Evreux written nearly forty years after the book was produced and the reappearance of Pucelle's name in the inventories of Jean de Berry are extraordinary at this period. A major shift we will see during the art of the Northern Renaissance is the emergence of the artist as a name associated with a distinct style from the anonymity of the Medieval tradition.
Jean de Berry who was the major patron of fine books at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century was clearly aware of the authority of Pucelle's works. One of the earliest Books of Hours made for the Duke of Berry, the Petites heures , as we will see, contains works by a close follower of Pucelle painted nearly fifty years later than the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux.
The Duke's continued interest in the art of Pucelle can be seen in the borrowings from Pucelle evident in the Duke's Grandes Heures produced about Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, folio Grandes Heures, made for John of Berry, folio Examination of the book itself reveals that it is a tour de force. The small size of the book and the use of the grisaille technique are also highly unusual at this date. Whereas we will see that manuscripts were regularly the product of collaboration with different specialists responsible for the scribal work, decoration, and the illustration, the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux was largely the work of Pucelle.
