Built at the end of the twelfth century and reconstructed by the Duc de Berry, this chateau is enclosed in a triange between the waterways, the Clain and the Boivre. The elegant gables on the inner courtyard may be seen, and the layout of the wooden drawbridge provides curious information on the way the military engineers handled this instrument of defense. The harvesters, armed with sickles, are reaping the wheat, while the sheperds are engage in shearing the sheep.
In the Duc de Berry's time, as today, this chateau's keep rose in quadrilobular form over the surrounding countryside. Some peasants are harvesting, others are bathing. Gentlemen and ladies are setting out for the hawking. The falconer, who is on foot, has a decoy hanging from his belt and carries two birds in his hand.
What subsists today of the Chateau de Saumer shows that the complete edifice is represented here with scrupulous accuracy, and gives us confidence in the Limbourgs' paintings of other monuments which have disappeared since their time. Towers are surmounted by fleurs de lys, which are to be seen in the embrasures of the battlement and beneath the call weathervanes. At the left, an enormous pyramidal chimney indicates the position of the kitchens.
Vintagers are gathering the grapes from which the celebrated wine of Saumar is made. September was composed and drafted by the Limbourgs, but the coloring of the foreground is by Jean Colombe.
Source: Verve, the French Review of Art, No 7, Vol 2, April-July 1940. Text by Henri Malo. Small bits of quoted French were translated by me.
The Book of Hours prints come on 11 x 17 cotton rag paper in soft white with archival inks. Soft white is white but the paper has not been treated with bleaches or chemicals that would accelerate the paper's deterioration over time. Without comparison to other whites, it looks white. If you place it next to a brilliant white mass-market print, it will look slightly more cream.
Book of Hours Prints are $108 each, plus shipping.
You can also purchase all three Summer Months together.
You can pay by credit card or use your Paypal account.
Descriptions and links to purchase the other months are here:
Autumn: October, November, December
Winter: January, February, March
You can find Book of Hours Tiles, a more extensive discussion of the individual months, a bestiary, unicorn tapestries, and other medieval art at William Morris Tile
