Le Temps Venra: Establishing Visual Legitimacy in the Petites Heures of Jean De Berry

Jean de Berry’s first-known devotional manuscript commission, the Petites Heures, takes advantage of current visual strategies for personal promotion in order to allow the book to serve a dual function as an object of political propaganda and a tool for individual devotion. Through the use of repeated visual and textual programs present in earlier books, as well as recurring images of princely prayer, the Petites Heures presented Jean de Berry as capable regent and the Valois as the legitimate successors of the Capetian Dynasty. Representative of the duke’s political ambitions, his motto Le temps venra, highlights his readiness to lead France through a campaign of magnificence and opulent splendor. Exploration of the patronage strategies employed within the Petites Heures reveal the role of the visual arts in constructing legitimate identity in France during the tumultuous period of the Hundred Years’ War.