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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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The Four Evangelists
Painter of Etienne Sauderat
Hours of Philippe Billon for Paris use, France, Paris, c. 1450 (Private Collection, f. 13). |
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John on Patmos
Workshop of Robinet Testard
The Couraud Hours for Rome use, France, Angoulême? after 1506, probably 1510 (Private Collection, f. 8v). |
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John Boiled in Oil
Jean Pichore and his Workshop
Printed Horae for Rome use, France, Paris, Guillaume Anabat for Gilles and Germain Hardouyn, [c. 1507, Almanac for 1507-1522] (Les Enluminures, f. A8v). |
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John Boiled in Oil
Master of Anne of Brittany
Printed Horae for Paris use, France, Paris, 8 September 1498, Ulrich Gering and Berthold Rembolt for Simon Vostre (Les Enluminures, f. b2v). |
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Luke Painting the Virgin
Jean Colombe and his workshop
Hours for Rome use, France, Bourges, c. 1480 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.330, f. 9v). |
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Matthew the Evangelist
Workshop of Jean de Montluçon
The Ferrières de Presle Hours for Rome use, France, Bourges, c. 1490 (Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University, Manuscripts Q 46825, f. 16). |
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Ascension
Master of Jacques de Luxembourg
Hours for Paris use, France, Paris, or eastern France? c. 1465 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.1003, f. 18v). |
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All Saints in Heaven and the Four Evangelists
Hours for Rome use, Belgium, Tournai? c. 1440 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.357, ff. 14v-15r). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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The Four Evangelists
Painter of Etienne Sauderat |
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Immediately following the Calendar are the Gospel Lessons. In a tradition that can be traced back to Carolingian Gospel Books, each of these readings usually had an author portrait as a frontispiece. Sometimes a single miniature presents each of the four evangelists with his symbol at the beginning of the Lessons. Here, in the upper left John takes inspiration from an eagle on the isle of Patmos, while the figure of Satan tempts him. Below Luke holds a scroll on his lap and a quill in his hand, his symbol the ox at his feet. In the upper right, Mark sits at a pulpit, a codex before him and his lion resting next to him. Finally, Matthew holds a book on his lap, while his symbol, an angel, appears before him. The order of the short readings is reflected in the order given above: John, Luke, Mark, and Matthew.
The Painter of Etienne Sauderat is named after a copy of the Propriété des choses in Amiens (Bibl. mun. MS 399) executed in 1447 for Jean de Chalon of Auxerre and signed with a long colophon where he identifies himself as both the scribe and the illuminator.
Hours of Philippe Billon for Paris use, France, Paris, c. 1450 (Private Collection, f. 13). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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John on Patmos
Workshop of Robinet Testard |
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In a tradition that can be traced back to Carolingian Gospel Books, each of the Gospel Lessons usually had an author portrait as a frontispiece. This bold miniature introducing the Lesson of John, whose text appears first, depicts the evangelist on the isle of Patmos, where he had been exiled by the Roman emperor Domitian (ruled 81-96). It was there that John received his vision of the Apocalypse and wrote the Book of Revelation. Next to John appears his symbol, the eagle, painted in the same pink-brown colors used for the rocky landscape.
Robinet Testard’s long career began in the early 1470s in Poitiers. In 1484 he attained the title of varlet de chambre at the court of Charles of Valois, count of Angoulême. At the death of the count, he worked for the widow Louise of Savoy, then for Louise’s son who became King Francis I. The final mention of Testard is in 1531 when Francis I settles the accounts of the dead artist.
The Couraud Hours for Rome use, France, Angoulême? after 1506, probably 1510 (Private Collection, f. 8v). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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John Boiled in Oil
Jean Pichore and his Workshop |
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While the Gospel Lessons in most Books of Hours have the traditional author portraits showing the evangelists busy writing their texts, some miniatures depicted scenes from their lives as well. In this miniature, John is boiled in oil. Emperor Domitian directs the torment while John holds his hands in prayer and appears unscathed—miraculously the evangelist survived the experience.
Belonging to a large-format series of printed Books of Hours called the “Grandes Heures” that adopted a model made fashionable by manuscripts of the same era, this imprint harks back to a prototype by Simon Vostre. It is the first to display the new marginal illustrations that Jean Pichore (fl. 1502 to 1520) designed for the brothers Hardouyn. Of the large metalcuts, all by Pichore and his workshop, five display a new, strikingly monumental style, like this one, occupying a full page without architectural borders.
Printed Horae for Rome use, France, Paris, Guillaume Anabat for Gilles and Germain Hardouyn, [c. 1507, Almanac for 1507-1522] (Les Enluminures, f. A8v). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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John Boiled in Oil
Master of Anne of Brittany |
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This extremely rare printed Book of Hours was produced to teach children to read. It is a practical, not luxurious, volume. It is printed on paper, instead of more expensive vellum, and the type font is unusually large, clear, and legible. Secondary texts (antiphons, versicles, etc.) are made slightly smaller, as if to emphasize in a didactic manner, their subordinate role. Decorative line fillers have been done away with. At the beginning of the book, right after the Calendar, is a series of prayers—the Our Father, Hail Mary, Apostle’s Creed, and so forth—that medieval children were taught to memorize (there was no need for these in Books of Hours used for adults).
The second set of cuts designed by the Master of Anne of Brittany is used here. This artist is alternatively named after the Très petites Heures d’Anne de Bretagne (Paris, BnF, n.a.l. 3120) or the Master of the Hunt of the Unicorn after designs for tapestries he furnished (New York, Cloisters). He is sometimes also known as The Apocalypse Master (Jean d’Ypres? fl. in Paris, c. 1480-1510) because he provided the designs for the famous Apocalypse Rose of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris ordered by the French king Charles VIII (reigned 1483-1498).
Printed Horae for Paris use, France, Paris, 8 September 1498, Ulrich Gering and Berthold Rembolt for Simon Vostre (Les Enluminures, f. b2v). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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Luke Painting the Virgin
Jean Colombe and his workshop |
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When the miniature marking Luke's lesson is not a portrait of the evangelist writing, it sometimes shows him as artist. According to medieval legend, Luke executed a portrait of the Virgin from life. Depicted on the wall of Luke's studio is a painting or relief of the Annunciation, the subject of the reading.
Native of Bourges, Jean Colombe established a most prolific atelier there, illuminating a multitude of manuscripts from the 1460s to the 1480s. Although influenced by both Jean Fouquet and Barthélemy van Eyck, Jean's style is distinctively his own. His finer works exhibit a delicate, engagingly fastidious brushwork, even though in his more modest productions, such as this Horae, the painting is less fussy and forms are more abstract.
Hours for Rome use, France, Bourges, c. 1480 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.330, f. 9v). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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Matthew the Evangelist
Workshop of Jean de Montluçon |
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Seated at a reading lectern in a spacious Renaissance loggia, the white-bearded Matthew writes on a scroll held by his symbol, an angel. Two putti hold up a scroll of text with the beginning of the Lesson, which appears to float illusionistically in space. This Book of Hours was made for a member of a family in the royal circle, Jean I de Ferrières (d. 1497), who was the Seigneur of Presle and married the daughter of Jean II, duke of Bourbon. At the beginning of the manuscript, the presence of “abcs” and prayers from which children learned to read suggest that the manuscript was made for one of their children.
Jean and Jacquelin de Montluçon were active from 1470 to 1500 in Bourges, where they worked, in a style influenced by Jean Colombe, for distinguished seigniorial and royal officials.
The Ferrières de Presle Hours for Rome use, France, Bourges, c. 1490 (Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University, Manuscripts Q 46825, f. 16). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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Ascension
Master of Jacques de Luxembourg |
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In addition to evangelist portraits and scenes from their lives, miniatures for the Gospel Lessons sometimes depict events described in the Lessons themselves. Mark's reading speaks of Christ's appearance and exhortations to his apostles following his Resurrection, and his Ascension. The latter--the concluding event in the Savior's terrestrial life--is illustrated here. While the Virgin and a group of disciples kneel and look up, the blue clouds part and admit Christ into the golden glow of heaven. Below sits the evangelist Mark with, however, the wrong symbol; Matthew's angel instead of Mark's lion accompanies him!
The Master of Jacques de Luxembourg is named after the much less elaborate Book of Hours he painted for that patron, which is now in Los Angeles (J. Paul Getty Museum, Ludwig MS IX.11). The illuminator's work has an earthy quality and a strong narrative component that point to his familiarity with Flemish art. Indeed, his work has sometimes been confused with that of Simon Marmion.
Hours for Paris use. France, Paris, or eastern France? c. 1465 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.1003, fol. 18v). |
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| 2. |
Gospel Lessons |
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All Saints in Heaven and the Four Evangelists
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As often happens in Flemish Horae of the fifteenth century, the Gospel Lessons in this manuscript are given a single quadripartite miniature including all the evangelists. They are shown composing at their desks except John, who writes in exile on the isle of Patmos. Each author is accompanied by his symbol, and to John's distraction is added a mischievous devil who attempts to steal his ink.
Unusual in this book is the facing miniature depicting the court of heaven. The picture forms a kind of pictorial table of contents: it includes all the dramatis personae who will play important roles in the devotions to follow. In the bottom rung, St. Ursula with some of her 11,000 virgins sheltered beneath her cloak. Above are more female martyrs such as Apollonia holding her tooth, Agatha her breast, Barbara her tower, and so forth. The other rungs are inhabited by male confessors, male martyrs, the apostles with John the Baptist at their center, and, finally, Christ and the crowned Virgin Mary flanked by archangels Michael and Gabriel.
Hours for Rome use, Belgium, Tournai? c. 1440 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.357, ff. 14v-15r). |
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