What did early spring in March look like 600 years ago? In a scene from the medieval illuminated manuscript known as Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, peasants plow rain-soaked fields beneath zodiac signs and a looming castle. The calendar pages in this book of hours blend earthly labor with celestial symbolism. The image reveals how medieval art fused reality, religion, history, and myth into a single page.

Speaker: Dr. Heather Graham

Image: March, in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c. 1412–16), Limbourg Brothers and other artists. Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Spring in France

0:29 A Book of Hours for a Royal Duke

1:08 The Zodiac Signs

1:35 A Castle and the Legend of Melusine

3:07 The Real and the Radiant

Learn more

Discover more about Winter in Art: https://www.artsq.org/winter-season