# Les Quatre États de la Société [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BOURDICHON, Jean]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Manuscript \(Mn.mas 90-93\) ## Commentary Les Quatre États de la Société 1505-10 Manuscript \(Mn.mas 90-93\) École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris The exact date of the secular manuscript Quatre états de la société is not known, but judging by its style and the figures' costumes it must have been executed at roughly the same time as two other secular manuscripts by Bourdichon, Le Voyage de Gênes \(c. 1508, Bibliothèque National, Paris, MS. fr. 5091\) and the Epîtres des poètes royaux \(c. 1510; National Library, St Petersburg,MS. fr. F.v. XIV, 8\). The picture shows four leaves irregularly cut out around the gilded frames of the miniatures. Their original location remains unknown, but they may have formed part of a book, possibly a collection of moralizing poems. The miniatures are clearly by Bourdichon's hand: they have his characteristic figures, drapery, gold tooling, colours, effects suggesting sunset or night and his descriptive taste for interiors and furnishings. They were surrounded by the usual graded violet-hued background imitating the shadow cast by their flat gilded frames. ## Related artworks - [Book of Hours of Henry VII]() - [Grandes Heurs d'Anne de Bretagne]() - [Grandes Heurs d'Anne de Bretagne]() - [Grandes Heurs d'Anne de Bretagne]() - [Les Quatre États de la Société: Artisan State]() - [Les Quatre États de la Société: Poor State]() - [Les Quatre États de la Société: Rich State]() - [Les Quatre États de la Société: Rich State]() - [Les Quatre États de la Société: Wild State]() - [Missal of Jacques de Beaune]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()