During the Hundred Years' War against the English and beyond, French kings from Charles VII (1422-61) to François I (1515-47) had their court in the Loire valley. It was there that they built many of their finest residences. Jean Fouquet worked there, presumably after having done his apprenticeship as a miniaturist in Paris. A journey he undertook to Rome provided him with further inspiration, which he incorporated into his illustrations with great ingenuity. Most significant are the miniatures for the Book of Hours for Étienne Chevalier (c. 1410-1474), secretary and finance minister to King Charles VII of France (reigned 1422-1461). He was one of those bourgeois court officials who because of their great capabilities and loyalty, had risen in rank and influence in Paris and had as a result acquired considerable wealth. The creator of the miniatures in his Book of Hours was Jean Fouquet, with whom French 15th-century painting attained its undisputed zenith. Here we see landscapes typical of the early Italian Renaissance, along with depictions of palaces and castles typical of the Limbourg brothers or the Parisian School.

Originally this Book of Hours was a sumptuous manuscript rivaling the most beautiful manuscripts of the 15th century. Yet, it has suffered a sad fate. In the 18th century it was divided up into sections, with the loss of all the text pages except two. The illuminated pages were scattered in all directions in the 19th century. From the surviving 47 illuminated folios 40 are kept in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, 2 in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1 each in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, British Library, London, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Wildentein Foundation, London, and a private collection.

With Fouquet, who worked for the French ruling house together with other artists from Tourain, the great age of French illumination came to an end. The appearance of Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden meant that the centre of gravity of European art shifted to Flanders and the Netherlands.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. 71), 201 x 148 mm Musée Condé, Chantilly
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript, 209 x 143 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (M.I. 1093), 92 x 118 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Ms. nouv. acqu. lat. 1416), 201 x 148 mm Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
	Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier 1452-60 Manuscript (Additional Ms. 37421), 201 x 148 mm British Library, London