Headstrong Duc de Berry admires the pilgrim’s Book of Hours of the Walk of Wisdom
And suddenly there he was, Saturday afternoon in the Stevenskerk in Nijmegen: the medieval duke Duc de Berry in his brocade blue houppelande. He appeared during the festive gathering of the Walk of Walk of Wisdom where a special pilgrim’s Book of Hours was presented. It is a unique version of the previously released ‘Seasons of Life’, this time with original prints. The designers Anne Louman and Petra van Bloemendaal worked on it for a year and a half. Value of the book: at least 15,000 euros, or ducats, as the duc said.
The wealthy Duc de Berry once commissioned the well-known book of hours ‘Très Riches Heures’ and had to get used to this contemporary variant that Intermedi-Art Kunstzaken has coordinated and published. “Where are the prayers?” he shouted to Walk of Wisdom pioneer Damiaan Messing.
“No, Duke, nowadays people seek their own wisdom and write about it,” Damien replied.
Heleen Wijgers, director of the Stevenskerk and art historian, talked about the cultural-historical significance of books of hours. Joost Langeveld played the anthem of the Walk of Walk of Wisdom on the church organ. Dineke de Velde Harsenhors, singer-songwriter and pilgrim of the Walk of Wisdom, sang her beautiful song The Pilgrim. And there was the presentation of the first page of the second edition of ‘Seasons of Life’, which will take shape in the coming years through contributions from pilgrims.
Dineke wrote the text for that first page. A small part of it:
I don’t remember exactly when | or to whom or what I said it | but I said it | Yes I said | Yes | I am going
(with thanks to Stichting Gebroeders van Limburg for the arrival of the duc)
