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Twelve Masterpieces of Medieval and Renaissance Book Illumination. A Catalogue to theExhibition: March 17-May 17, 1964Author(s): William D. WixomSource: The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 51, No. 3, Twelve Masterpieces ofMedieval and Renaissance Book Illumination. A Catalogue to the Exhibition: March 17-May 17,1964 (Mar., 1964), pp. 43-63Published by: Cleveland Museum of Art

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1 Opening pages for the Gospel According to Saint John.

COVERS: 8 Hours of Charles the Noble.

Front: Page 49, Saint Matthew as a scribe and his symbol by Zebo da Firenze.

Back: Page 570, showing Saint Sebastian by Zebo da Firenze.

Opposite: Page 414, signature of Zebo da Firenze.

The BULLETIN of The Cleveland Museum of Art, Volume LI, Number 3, March 1964. Published monthly,except in July and August, by The Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Boulevard at University Circle, Cleveland

6, Ohio. Subscription included inmembership fee, otherwise $3.00 per year. Single copies, 35 cents, except May issue.

Copyright, 1964, by The Cleveland Museum of Art. Second-class postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio. Museum photog

raphy by Richard F. Godfrey; design and typography byMerald E.Wrolstad.

This content downloaded from 190.136.119.216 on Tue, 25 Jun 2013 17:18:05 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions






Twelve Mastenpieces of MedievaL and Ren

aissance Book ILLumination. A Catalogue to

the Exhibition: March17-May

17/ 1964.

The exhibition of the objects listed and commented

upon in the following pages marks another opportu

nity for visitors to The Cleveland Museum of Art to

partake of the splendor and beauty in great illumi

nated books. Each manuscript is representative of a

particular phase in the long and fascinating development of Medieval and Renaissance book making.Each demonstrates a high point of book design, dec

oration, and illustration. Varying and contrasting

styles are represented, from theOttonian and Roman

esque periods through the Gothic and Renaissance.

Different texts are represented as well: Gospel books,

Missals, Books of Hours, a Bible, a Psalter, and a

Trionfi of Petrarch. Each book contains an exquisiteworld of its own and at the same time has a larger

context in relation to the development of manuscript

painting. Each reflects the patronage and usage ofits time. The short comments provided here are mere

indications and suggested guide lines for an initial

inquiry and appreciation.The fact that the exhibition is a changing one

should be underscored.- The pages of each manuscriptwill be turned each Tuesday and Friday until the

close of the exhibition.I wish to gratefully acknowledge the generosity of

the Trustees of The Walters Art Gallery in lendingseven of the finest manuscripts under their care. I am

especially indebted toMiss Dorothy Miner, Librarian

and Keeper of Manuscripts at the Gallery, for aid

and suggestions. W.D.W.

1 PAGES FROM A GOSPEL BOOK

Vellum, illuminated in tempera and gold, 4 leaves, 12-1/4x 9-1/2 inches. Germany, Westphalia, Valley of the

Weser River, attributed to Corvey, ca.950-975. Lent byThe Walters Art Gallery (W. 751)

Corvey on theWeser River was one of the principal

tenth-century monastic centers of learning in old

Saxony (in present-day northwestern Germany). It

was founded in 822 as one of the outposts of Chris

tianity for the motherhouse of Corbie, one of the

important Carolingian (ninth-century) centers in

Picardie (France). Three manuscripts preserved in

America today are the best known probable productsof the scriptorium which flourished at Corvey in the

third quarter of the tenth century. One of these isshown here in fragmentary form-the remainder of

theGospel Book from which these leaves came ispreserved in theMunicipal Library at Reims (Ms. 10).The manuscripts attributed to Corvey have certain

obvious elements in common: a bold use of color in

which purple is dominant and a predilection for ar

caded palmettes, engrailed borders, leaf patternssometimes

paintedin

reserve, interlace in borderpanels and letters, complex monograms forming the

initial words for each Gospel text, and rectangularframes with accented corners. Sources for this repertoire of ornament may be found in metal work, in

textiles, and in earlier manuscript innovations datingfrom the Carolingian period. Careful repetition, vari

ation, and a refined sense of decorative balance result

in a homogeneity of startling appeal to the contem

porary eye. Each decorated page dramatically con

trasts with, yet at the same time complements, the

opposing page.These pages represent the earliest manuscript, an

altar book, in the present exhibition and the second

earliest European manuscript on view in the Mu

seum. The earliest such work, a double-leaf from a

Carolingian Gradual, may be seen inGallery I. The

use of purple ground in deluxe manuscripts in the

43



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2 Folios 9 verso & 10 recto:

Abbot Berno of Reichenau presenting the volume

to anApostle [probably Saint Peter] and prologue

to theGospel According to SaintMatthew.

ABBREVIATIONS

Measurements: height precedes width.

EXHIBITIONS

Berkeley (1963)-University Art Gallery, University of

California, Pages from Medieval and Renaissance

Illuminated Manuscripts (Berkeley, April 24-June 8,

1963).Los Angeles (1953-1954)-Los Angeles County Mu

seum, Illuminated Medieval Manuscripts (1953-1954).Walters (1949)-Walters Art Gallery, Illuminated Books

of theMiddle Ages and Renaissance (Baltimore, Jan

uary 27-March 13, 1949).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bond (1962)-W. H. Bond and C. V. Faye, Supplementto the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manu

scripts in the United States and Canada (New York,

1962).De Ricci-S. De Ricci andW. J.Wilson, Census ofMedi

eval and Renaissance Manuscripts in theUnited States

and Canada (New York, 1935-1940).

Diringer-David Diringer, The Illuminated Book (New

York, n.d.).44



Early Middle Ages may be traced in several examplesin the exhibition and in the permanent collection:

(1) the just mentioned double-leaf from a Carolin

gian Gradual, (2) the Gospel pages from Corveyshown here, (3) the Title Page of Abbot Berno's

"Tonarius," executed at Reichenau ca.1020-30, and(4) Four Gospels, also made at Reichenau for Abbot

Berno ca.1030 (lent from The Walters Art Gallery).The purple used in early Medieval manuscripts is not

a pure purple in the modern sense. Made from a dyederived from the ink-sacs of a shell fish, murex, the

Medieval purple ranged from deep blue to rose and

to brownish red as seen in the present example. The

murex was gathered in the eastern Mediterranean andthus this imported color was rare and considered

precious.

Ex Collections: Chapter Library of Cathedral of Notre Dame,Reims (before French Revolution); Sir Thomas Phillipps,MS. 14122; A. Chester Beatty, MS. 10 (1921-1952). Exhibi

tions: Los Angeles, #4; Queens College, The World as a

Symbol (New York, 1959), #82 (repr.); The Grolier Club,Additions to de Ricci (New York, 1962); Berkeley (1963),

#1, pls.II-III.

Bibliography:E.

Millar,The

Library ofA.

Chester Beatty, a Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manu

scripts, I, no. 10 (London, 1927), 48-49, pls. XXVI, XXVII;

A. Boeckler, Abendlindische Miniaturen bis zum Ausgangder Romanischen Zeit (Berlin and Leipzig, 1930), pp. 51-52;J. J. Tikkanen, Studien uber die Farbengebung in des Mit

telalterlichen Buchmalerei (Helsinki, 1933), p. 299; B. da

Costa Greene and M. P. Harrsen, The Pierpont Morgan Li

brary, Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts (New York,

1934), p. 6, no. 11; Alois Schardt, Das Initial (Berlin, 1938),

pp. 58-61, repr.; Dorothy Miner, "The New Purple GospelManuscript," The Bulletin of the Walters Art Gallery, V (De

cember 1952), 1-3, 4; Meta Harrsen, Central European Manu

scripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York, 1958),

p. 13; Diringer, p. 183, pl. III-25b; Bond (1962), p. 198, no.

567.

2 FOUR GOSPELS

Vellum, Latin written in brown and gold, illuminatedwith tempera and gold leaf, 202 leaves, 9-1/16 x 6-1/2inches. Germany, Lake Constance, Reichenau, ca.1030.

Executed for Abbot Berno of Reichenau (1008-48).Lent by The Walters Art Gallery (W. 7)

Reichenau was one of the foremost monastic scriptoria during the rule of the Ottonian emperors. It

was a crossroads for successive members of this dy

nasty en route to and from Italy. A number of sumptuous volumes were produced for royal use or gift and

for high churchmen in other centers. All of these are

characterized by the combined use of chalky and in

tense colors, burnished gold, simplified shading, flat

tened space, and firm line. The working together of

these means in simplified yet sometimes explosive

compositions resulted in some of themost monumen

tal and expressive pictures and initials ever to grace

the pages of any Medieval book.The present manuscript-an altar book dating ca.

1030-is representative of a late phase of this stylewhich had begun some sixty years earlier. The inten

sity and energy of the earlier Reichenau manuscriptsis here stabilized and contracted. The result is a some

what more subdued effect-the earlier alertness, vi

vacity, and peculiar psychological fervor is restrained.

The hardening of line, simplification of planes, anddevelopment of abstract systems (as in the draperies)

especially suggests and anticipates similar features in

the subsequent Romanesque style which spread

throughout Europe in succeeding generations.An interesting feature concerning the manuscript

from The Walters Art Gallery is that it is closely con

nected with a page in the permanent collection of the

ClevelandMuseum: The Title Page of Abbot Berno's

"Tonarius," Dedicated to Archbishop Pilgrim of

Cologne (CMA Bulletin, XXXIX [September 1952],177-178, 179 repr., 183). The connections reside in

the fact that the same scribes probably worked on

both manuscripts, and also both manuscripts were

made at the behest of Abbot Berno of Reichenau

(1008-48). Abbot Berno ismentioned on the verso

of the "Tonarius" dedication page; his portrait ap

pears in the dedication miniature of the Four Gospels

(fol. 9 verso) where he is shown within an Ottonian

hall church and presenting the volume to an Apostle,

probably Saint Peter.

Abbot Berno's Four Gospels contains five full-page

miniatures, four of them faced by ornamented intro

ductory pages. The volume is prefaced by sixteen

pages of decorated Canon Tables.

Ex collections: Sir Thomas Brooke, Huddersfield, Yorkshire;Rev. Ingham Brooke (Sale, London, March 7, 1913, #8 repr.).Exhibitions: Walters (1949), #12, pl. VII. Bibliography:

Dorothy Miner, "A Late Reichenau Evangeliary in the

Walters Art Gallery Library," Art Bulletin, XVIII (June

1936), 168-185 (where previous literature is cited), figs. 1-13,

15; W. Gernsheim, Die Buchmalerei der Reichenau, Diss.

(Munich, 1934), p. 105; Peter Bloch, "Das Reichenauer

Einzelblatt mit den Frauen am Grabe im Hessischen Landes

museum Darmstalt," Kunst in Hessen und am Mittelrhein,

III (1963), 43.

45



3 FOUR GOSPELS

WITH COMMENTARIES

Vellum, Greek written in brown and gold, illuminatedwith tempera and gold leaf, 428 leaves, 11 x 9 inches.

Byzantium,11th

century.The Cleveland Museum of

Art, purchase from the J.H. Wade Fund 42.152

Each of the Four Gospels begins with a brilliantly il

luminated headpiece similar to the one shown here.

These and the four evangelists' portraits painted in

the margins are exquisitely executed in meticulous

detail. The figure style is derived from classical author

portraits. The ornament distinctively combines clas

sicaland

oriental (Near Eastern)motifs. The

peacock-like birds symbolize the immortality of the soul,and the fountain represents the fountain of life.

The Gospel text appears in the larger, heavier

script, and the commentary is given below in a fine

cursive hand. The colophon has disappeared and with

it all record of the book's exact origin and first use.

The present covers of dark leather over wood boards

are old but not the original ones. The Greek words

for Matthew and Luke are painted on the lower fore

edge, a feature which points to the earlier association

of two full-page portraits of these evangelists orig

inally belonging to another Gospel Book. These added

miniatures have been removed and are displayed in

Gallery 1 (CMA Bulletin, XXXIV [March 1947],

50-56 repr.).

Ex collections: Monastery at Trebizond (?): Dikran G.Kelekian. Exhibition: Walters Art Gallery, Early Christian

and Byzantine Art (Baltimore, 1947), #704, pl. XCIX. Bib

liography: Kenneth W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue ofGreek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago,

1937), pp. 122-123, where previous bibliography is given;

William M. Milliken, "Byzantine Manuscript Illumination,"CMA Bulletin, XXXIV (March 1947), 50-56; idem, "EarlyChristian and Byzantine Art in America," Journal of Aes

thetics and Art Criticism, V (June 1947), fig. 2; Charles Diehl,

Byzantium-Greatness and Decline (New Brunswick, New

Jersey, 1957), rep. p. 231; Bond, p. 428, no. 42.152

4 BIBLIA SELECTA

Vellum, Latin written in two columns in light brown, illuminated in tempera and burnished gold leaf, 164 leaves,14-1/4 x 9-3/4 inches. Northern Italy or possibly Sicily,ca.1260. Lent by The Walters Art Gallery (W. 152)

This manuscript in its present form with its 128

miniatures is a fraction of a large and profusely illus

trated Biblical volume, which an unconfirmed tradi

tion tells us was sent in 1267 or 1268 from Sicily to

Conradinus of Hohenstauffen. "It is ornamented in an

extraordinary style, with large marginal figures placed

upon irregularly shaped parti-colored grounds of rose

and blue which are studded with discs of gold. The

drawing of the figures and drapery is flat and Roman

esque, but the heads, greatly influenced by Byzantine

types, are strongly modelled with flesh-tints brushed

with vigorous, broken strokes over a dark greenishundercoat. The colors are strong and include sharpreds and yellows, as well as subdued lavender and

dull rose. The peculiarly restless and decorative page

layout cannot be compared with any other manu

script at present known, but the pictorial style is veryclose to the Epistolarium in Padua that was executed

by Gaibana in 1259. Resemblance to other manu

scripts and to frescos, as well as certain textual de

tails, suggests the region of the Veneto or possibly

Aquileia as the place where themanuscript may have

originated"-Dorothy Miner, 1949.

The Byzantine inspiration for the painter working

in thismanuscript was easily available in the form ofByzantine mosaics inVenice as well as in Sicily. The

differences between the style of the present manu

script and Byzantine manuscript painting may be

clearly seen by comparison with two Evangelists' portrait miniatures painted in Constantinople, ca.1057

1063, on view inGallery I (CMA Bulletin, XXXIV

[March 1947], 50-56 repr.). Byzantine influence in

Italianmanuscript painting may

be seen inmany

examples, also inGallery I.

Ex collections: Comte de Bastard; F. Spitzer (Sale, Paris,

1893, #3030). Exhibitions: Walters (1949), #36, pl. XXIII.

Bibliography: L. Delisle, Les Collections de Bastard d'Estanga la Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris, 1885), pp. 263, 276; A.

and E. Molinier, La Collection Spitzer, V (Paris, 1892), 124

126 and 141-143, no. 28, pl. V; De Ricci, I, p. 764, no. 44.

3Folio

200recto: opening page for Saint Luke.

46



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: SCENES FROM THE BIBLE

Vellum, French tituli in brown, illuminated with temperaand burnished gold leaf, 24 leaves, 5-1/4 x 3-7/8 inches.

William de Brailes, English, active ca. 1220-1240. Lent byThe Walters Art Gallery (W. 106)

Caricature (as in grinning, toothy faces in line-drawn

profiles), restricted color, elongated proportions,striding movement of figures in action, bold bunch

ing of crowds, and flatly-modeled drapery with an occasional deeply-cut fold are elements peculiar to the

paintings of William de Brailes, one of two known

English illuminators working in the thirteenth cen

tury. The limited yet expressive style of William de

Brailes is so entirely personal that historians havebeen able to assign a number of miniatures to him onthe basis of comparison with those manuscript illu

minations which he signed. One such manuscript isan incomplete prayer-book, formerly in the DysonPerrins collection and now in the British Museum, inwhich a tonsured man, represented in two places, appears to be the artist's self-portrait as there are in

scriptions "w. de brail qui me depeint" and "w. debrail." The twenty-seven unsigned scenes bound intheWalters volume may have originally been a partof the missing but expected cycle of Bible illustrations in the Dyson Perrins prayer-book. Seven additional scenes were until recently in the collection of

Georges Wildestein. In all of these scenes, many with

episodes rarely depicted, William de Brailes shows

an unerring and imaginative sense for vivid narrativein spite of the probable fact that he must have had athand earlier models reflecting perhaps an ancient lost

cycle of Bible illustrations.

A single miniature showing the Sacrifice of Isaacwhich was executed by an unknown illuminator

working in a style closely akin to that of William deBrailes may be seen in Gallery I (CMA Bulletin,XXXIII [March

1956],43-44

repr.).

4 Folio 156 verso: Biblia Selecta.

5 Folio 21 verso: the Ascension.

Exhibitions: Wadsworth Atheneum, The Life of Christ (Hartford, 1948), #174; Walters (1949), #41, pl. XXI; Universityof Minnesota Gallery, Space in

Painting (1952);Los

Angeles(1953-1954), #31, repr.; Temple Emanuel, Houston, Texas,Festival of the Bible (1961); Jewish Museum, New York, TheHebrew Bible in Art (1963); Berkeley (1963), #17, pl. XVI.

Bibliography: De Ricci, I, p. 844, no. 500; Hans Swarzenski,"Unknown Bible Pictures by W. de Brailes," Journal of the

Walters Gallery, I (1938), 55-69; Margaret Rickert, Paintingin Britain-the Middle Ages, Pelican History of Art (Balti

more, 1954), p. 14, 133, note 44, pl. 99b; Pieter Brieger, English Art, 1216-1307, The Oxford History of English Art

(Oxford, 1957), pp. 86 note 2, 89-90, pl. 28; Diringer, p. 27,pl. V-14; Margaret Rickert, La Miniature Anglaise, 13-15

itme siecles (Milan, 1961), pl. 8.

49



6 Folio 153recttheotorinity.

6 Folio 153 recto' theTrinity.

6 PSALTER

For Dominican use. Vellum, Latin written in brown and

red, illuminated with tempera and burnished gold leaf,222 leaves, 5-3/4 x 4 inches. France, Paris, ca.1320.

Atelier of Jean Pucelle. Lent by The Walters Art Gallery(W. 115)

According to the opinion of Mrs. Kathleen Morand,this exquisite Psalter containing eight historiated ini

tials was probably made by one of two artists who

later assisted Jean Pucelle on the famous Belleville

Breviary, ca.1323-1326, in the Bibliotheque Natio

nale. Entries in the Calendar suggest that itmay have

been made for Blanche ofBrittany,

widow of Phil

ippe d'Artois, a proposal also put forward by Mrs.

Morand. In any case, themanuscript typifies the best

in small devotional books created especially for the

aristocratic laymen. Such books are found in increas

ing numbers in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fif

teenth centuries. Other outstanding examples are in

the present exhibition.

A number of the inventions seen in thismanuscriptcontinue to be used in the later fourteenth century,as a comparison with the Gotha Missal of 1375 bears

out. Common to both manuscripts is the basic format

of relatively large historiated initials with diapered

backgrounds of color and gold set into the text which

in turn is framed by a delicate stem work and sparse

yet sprightly ivy leaves. The quality and character of

the figure painting continues in the later manuscriptwith important changes wrought in terms of light and

darkmodeling

andgreater

realism. Some compositions are especially similar; for example, in theTrinity

miniature of the Psalter, the pose of the Father and

Son is similar to that of the Virgin and Christ in the

miniature of the Coronation of the Virgin in the

Missal, and in both miniatures the thrones with their

quatre-lobed panels resemble each other.

Ex collection: Blanche of Brittany (?). Exhibition: Walters

(1949), #67, pl. XXXII. Bibliography: De Ricci, I, p. 774,

no. 105; Diringer, p. 385, pl. VII-8.

7 Folio 11 recto: Gotha Missal.







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7 MISSAL

For Paris use. Vellum, Latin written in two columns in

red, blue and brown, illuminated with tempera and goldleaf, 164 leaves, 10-11/16 x 7-11/16 inches.France, Paris,Jean Bondol and his atelier, ca.1375. Additional leaves

of the fifteenth century appear at the beginning and endof the manuscript. At the beginning of these are twominiatures showing the Trinity and the Resurrection

painted by the youthful Bedford Master ca.1410. The

binding is blind-tooled calf over wooden boards, Paris,second half of the 15th century. The Cleveland Museumof Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 62.287

This sumptuous manuscript, frequently called the

Gotha Missal, may have been commissioned by one

of the great fourteenth-century royal bibliophiles.Internal evidence fully discussed in the bibliography

suggests that itmay have been intended for the private chapel of the Valois king, Charles V of France

(d. 1380). Charles was a great lover of fine books;he is a prime exhibit of what Professor Erwin Panof

sky referred to as "the emergence of a wealthy and

cultured lay society with its concomitants of passion

ate collecting and 'pride of ownership,"' and "demandfor sumptuously illustrated books."

The style and quality of the miniatures in the

Gotha Missal shed considerable light on the high

place it holds within a large group of manuscripts

produced for Charles and within the more select

group of manuscripts accepted today as from the

hand of the Netherlandish artist, Jean de Bruges,called Jean Bondol, the head of the king's own manu

script atelier and also his valet de chambre. Stylis

tically the miniatures in the Gotha Missal may be

divided into two groups of twelve and eleven minia

tures each, even though Bondol may have made the

preliminary and underlying sketches for them all. The

first and finest group of twelve miniatures is charac

terized by an extremely subtle modeling of the fig

ures, their draperies and facial features. This is done

primarily in terms of light and dark with occasionalaccents of color in the shading of the faces. This mod

eling establishes each figure as a convincing mass

within a suggested ambient space. Such plasticity and

painterliness becomes weaker and turns to elegant,

yet more obvious linear means in the second group of

miniatures.

Panofsky's description in Early Netherlandish

Painting of Bondol's miniatures in a Bible in The

Hague could be applied to the finest group of minia

tures in the Gotha Missal:

Figures and objects are rendered with a broad, fluid

brush, a ... pictorial tendency . . .evident throughout.Strong local colors that would tend to separate one

area from the other are suppressed in favor of subduedtonality, and the interest is focused not only on the

plastic form, but also on the surface texture of things:on the specific tactile qualities of wool or fleecyanimals' coats as opposed to flesh, of wood or stoneas opposed to metal.

There are no buildings in the Gotha Missal as there

are inThe Hague Bible, yet space is suggested by fore

shortened pieces of furniture or hints of a receding

ground plane. There is a sense of limited reality, aconvincingness-what Panofsky calls an "honest

straightforward veracity" to Biblical events staged in

an environment with such details as casually hungaltar cloths, crumpled pillows, seats, thrones, lecterns,

altars, chalices, grassy turf, and clumpy trees. All

elements are depicted in an appealing pictorial man

ner and with a sense of visual delight in nuances of

shading and color, tight but convincing space arrangements, fluid draperies, expressive faces, and

subtle contrasts between figures in action and those

whose movement has been arrested.

The debt which Bondol and his atelier of giftedminiaturists owe to Jean Pucelle (active ca.1319

1328) is considerable. Pucelle made pioneering con

tributions in his use of grisaille, plastic drapery,

stage-like space settings, and psychological observa

tion. Bondol learned and utilized a great deal from

Pucelle; in fact, his style must be understood in part

against the Pucelle tradition. However, Bondol

changes and alters this inheritance to fit his own aims,

especially in the direction of greater vigor and in

creased observation of nature including its rustic as

pects. Bondol even takes plastic modeling a step

further inmore consistently including the whole fig

ure. He abandons Pucelle's delicate elegance and

injects new life in place of the waning Pucelle tra

dition of his own day.

Ex collections: Library of the Dukes of Gotha, Germany;

Earl of Denbigh, England; Apsley Cherry-Garrard and Mrs.

Gordon Mathias, England; H. P. Kraus, New York. Exhibi

tions: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gothic Art 1360-1440

(Cleveland, August 8-September 15, 1963), #11, repr. in

color. Bibliography: Rudolf Ehwald, "Uber eine franzosische

Missalhandschrift des XIV. Jahrhunderts," Beitrage zum

52



Bibliotheks-und Buchwesen (Paul Schwenke gewidmet),

(1913), pp. 67-75, pl. 6; Solomon Reinach, in Revue archeo

logique, IV, ser. VII (1906), 351-352; Earl of Denbigh (sale:

Sotheby and Co., London, April 3, 1950, lot 1, repr.); Mrs.

Gordon Mathias (sale: Sotheby and Co., London, June 5,

1961, lot 177, repr., fol. l1r in color); Catalogue 100 (NewYork, H. P. Kraus, 1962), pp. 32-39, pls. XXIV-XXVII and

4-color illustrations on pp. 33, 36-38; William D. Wixom, "A

Missal for a King," CMA Bulletin, L (September 1963), 158

173, 186-187 repr. in color.

8 HOURS OF

CHARLES THE NOBLE

For Paris use. Vellum, Latin text and French calendar

written in brown, red, blue, and gold, illuminated with

tempera and burnished gold leaf, 334 leaves numbered on

both sides 1 to 668, 7-5/8 x 5-1/2 inches. France, Paris,

ca.1410. Illuminated by Zebo da Firenze, an Italian il

luminator, and by the Egerton Master, a Franco-Nether

landish illuminator. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr.

and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 64.40

This newly-purchased manuscript, a Book of Hours,was executed in Paris about 1410 as a private devo

tional book for Charles III (1361-1425), King of

Navarre, also Count of Evreux, and called Charles

the Noble. Charles' coat of arms is repeated beneath

each of the twenty-five, half-page miniatures and in

one place is given an entire page. The decoration of

miniatures and ornament is the result of the collab

oration of two or more artists. The two most important of these reflect the international currents in

French court art in the first decades of the fifteenth

century. We know the name of the first artist from

his signature which appears on page 414: "Zebo da

Firenze dipintore" (cf. p. 43). This miniaturist, an

Italian working inParis, was responsible for twenty of

the miniatures, all twelve of the small scenes of the

labors of the month in the Calendar, sixty-nine his

toriated initials, the heavily foliated and inhabited

borders which surround all twenty-five miniatures,and countless marginal grotesques and droleries in

serted for the amusement and additional delight of

the owner of themanuscript. Zebo, who also worked

for the famed John, Duke of Berry (d. 1416), maybe seen at his best in his miniatures in this book. Here

he shows a careful adaptation of architectural-space

settings most often associated with Italian panel and

9 Page 395: miniature showing the Descent from

the Cross [enlarged] by the Egerton Master.

fresco painting since the time of Giotto (1276-1336).

Inventions of this sort had already reached Paris in

the art of Jean Pucelle (active ca.1319-1328), but

Zebo's work represents a second wave coming at the

height of the International Style, the subject of a

recent special exhibition (see CMA Bulletin, L [Sep

tember 1963 ] ). According to Mr. Porcher of the Bib

liotheque Nationale, Zebo's heavily foliated and flow

ered borders may have inspired the famous Limbourg

Brothers who also worked for the Duke of Berry.

Therefore, Zebo may be considered in part as a con

veyor of Italianate elements into the complex artistic

currents in France when artists from the Netherlands

as well as Italy were gathered to work for various

members of the Valois family, including Charles V of

France (d. 1380), Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy

(d. 1404), and the previously mentioned John, Duke

of Berry.

53

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Zebo is also remarkable for his observation of

nature and of rustic details in landscape settings. In

these he seems to have adapted to his Italian sensi

bility elements from Netherlandish traditions represented byMelchior Broederlam's painted altar wingsinstalled at Champmol in 1399 for the Duke of Bur

gundy.The name of the second artist who worked on the

Hours of Charles the Noble is unknown. Historians

have named him the "Egerton Master" after a groupof his manuscript paintings in the British Museum.

Five of the miniatures in the present manuscript are

by him, and they fall within the Franco-Netherland

ish traditions of the time. The Egerton Master possessed a keen dramatic or narrative sense and an

ability to convey distance in landscapes by atmos

pheric perspective and stippled brush technique. At

his finest moments as in the miniature showing the

Descent from the Cross he conveys an ineffable feel

ing of pathos and tragedy. The Hours of Charles the

Noble will be discussed more fully in a forthcoming

issue of the Bulletin.

Bibliography: Jean Porcher, Manuscrits et livres precieuxretrouves en Allemagne (Paris, 1949), Pt. II; Otto Pacht, in

Burlington Magazine, XCVIII (1956), 115, n. 24; Millard

Meiss, "The Exhibition of French Manuscripts of the XIII

XVI centuries at the Bibliotheque Nationale," Art Bulletin,

XXXVIII, 3 (September 1956), 194-195, fig. 7; Jean Porcher,French Miniatures from Illuminated Manuscripts (London,

1960), pp. 58-59, fig. 61; Millard Meiss, "French and Italian

Variations on an Early Fifteenth-century Theme: St. Jerome

and His Study," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, VIe Per., LXII(September 1963), 159, fig. 17.

9 MISSAL

For Carthusian use. Vellum, Latin written in two col

umns in brown and red, illuminated in tempera and gold

leaf, 250 leaves, 10-5/8 x 7-1/2 inches. Netherlands,

Utrecht or Guelders, ca.1430-5. Illuminated by theMaster of Zweder van Culemborg. Contemporary

stamped calf over wooden boards. Lent by The Walters

Art Gallery (W. 174)

9 Page 49: Hours of Charles the Noble,

Saint Matthew as a scribe and his symbol

by Zebo da Firenze.

titraf bt ft al tm ' bur .

T T

s as

tnAmtfe

Vim

uthe Mrtym Sa-inAgnes

lyte f d va Cl

iatures and fifty-nine historiated initials, is one of the

finest monuments of Netherlandish manuscript paint

A _#0

cai i' cad

9 Folio 180 verso: miniature showingthe Martyrdom of Saint Agnes

by theMaster of Zweder van Culemborg.

This Missal, profusely illustrated with fifty-six min

iatures and fifty-nine historiated initials, is one of the

finest monuments of Netherlandish manuscript paint

ing preserved today in America. The manuscript was

made ca. 1430-5 for Everardus von Greifenklau

(1400-1489), deacon at the Cathedral of Mainz and

canon atUtrecht. It was illuminated for themost part

by a painter known as the Master of Zweder van

Culemborg after his work in another Missal com

pleted around 1425 for Zweder, Bishop of Utrecht.

Dorothy Miner has pointed out that this master

should be considered more in terms of a painter than

55







aminiaturist despite the fact that all of his acceptedwork appears on the restricted scale of theminiatur

ist. His painterly interests can be seen again and

again in the way he builds up mass and models

drapery, flesh, and facial features in terms of minute

yet vigorous strokes and variations of color and light.We can see how much more expressive and subtle

the Zweder Master can be in this respect when we

compare his work with that of a contemporary

countryman, theMaster of Otto van Moerdrecht. A

fine example of the latter artist may be seen in the

large frontispiece for the Canon of the Mass ex

cerpted from a Missal on view inGallery I (CMA

Bulletin, L [April 1963], 58-64, repr. in color). TheMoerdrecht Master ismore decorative and economi

cal in his use of color and brush, and the result lacks

the expressiveness and profundity of the Zweder

Master's best miniatures.

Another vital aspect of the Zweder Master's ex

pressiveness and his painterly interests, lies in his

depiction and use of space. Miss Miner has also

shown that after about 1430 hebegins

to utilize a

device invented by the Master of Flemalle (active

ca.1410-1440) which accents the interior enclosure

of a room by opening a window upon a vista beyond.This device, coupled with suggested architectural

foreground settings, makes possible a sense of implied

space inmany otherwise crowded compositions.The Zweder Master's landscape spaces rarely de

pict settings available to him in his native country.

Rather they depend on inventions current in the min

iature painting of Netherlandish artists working in

Paris of twenty-five years earlier. The use of rolling

and rocky terrain in providing vistas on distant towns,

fortresses, and other episodes related to the primary

action may be seen, for example, in some of themin

iatures painted by the Egerton Master in the Hours

of Charles the Noble on view in the present exhibi

tion. The Zweder Master builds creatively on thisinheritance by his use of dramatic and varied light

ing of these landscape vistas. Miss Miner observes

that "the apparent fitfulness with which the light

picks up now the plants in the foreground or the

active figures, now a bare crag of rock, now a far-off

pasture with its sheep or a half-discerned tower,

endows the scene with amood of apprehension and

significance."

Ex collections: Heffner-Alteneck, Munich (sale April 6, 1904,

#500); J. Rosenthal, Munich. Exhibitions: Walters (1949),

#128, pl. XL1X; Rijksmuseum, Middeleeuwse Kunst der

Noordelijke Nederlanden (Amsterdam, 1958), #154, figs. 78

80. Bibliography: De Ricci, I, p. 776; K. de Wit, "Das Horar

ium der Katherina von Kleve .. ."; Jahrbuch der Preussischen

Kunstsammlungen, LVIII (1937), 122; A. W. Byvanck, La

Miniature dans les Pays-Bas septentrionaux (Paris, 1937),p. 66, n. 3; idem, "Kroniek der noord-nederlandsche Minia

turen," Oudheidkundig Jaarbock, 111 (1940), 36-37; Charles

Sterling, La peinture fraincaise (1942), p. 17, no. 10; A. W.

Byvanck, De middelseenwse boekillustratie in de noordelijkeNederlanden (Antwerp, 1943), p. 285; Erwin Panofsky, "Guel

ders and Utrecht," Konsthistorisk Tidskrift XXII, nos. 3-4

(December 1953), 97-99; idem, Early Netherlandish Painting

(Cambridge, Mass., 1953), pp. 102 (n.4), 103; Dorothy

Miner, "Dutch Illuminated Manuscripts in the Walters Art

Gallery," The Connoisseur Year Book, 1955 (London, 1955),

pp. 70-74; Diringer, p. 443, pl. VII, 30d.

10 FRANCESCO PETRARCH:

TRIONFI

Vellum, Latin written in dark brown, red, blue and gold;illuminated in tempera and gold, 70 leaves, 8-1/4 x 5-1/2inches. Italy, Rome, ca.1480. Written by BartolommeoSanvita. Six full-page miniatures faced by six openingpages with historiated borders, illuminated by a Paduanartist and by the Florentine brothers Gherardo (ca.14441497) and Monte (1448-1529) di Giovanni, known as

Fora. Lent by The Walters Art Gallery (W. 755)

In the later fifteenth century Padua and Rome wit

nessed the development of a refined and handsome

group of humanistic manuscripts. In these, the styleof the title page and chapter beginnings were de

signed to suggest the illusion of pseudo-antique archi

tectural monuments made in the Mantegnesque

manner, of reliquary frames pre-figuring the style of

Riccio bronzes, of imitations of antique intaglios, and

of other fanciful and intriguing devices used as "gate

ways" to the text itself which was humanistic, too,

being in part a revival of Carolingian minuscule, the

script inwhich many classical texts had been found.The present manuscript is one of the finest ex

amples of such books produced in Rome. The scribe

10 Folio 23 recto: opening page for the

Triumph of Chastity, illuminated byan anonymous Paduan artist.

56



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10 Folio 59 verso: frontispiece for

the Triumph of Time illuminated by

Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni (Fora).

was Bartolommeo Sanvita. The text is the famous

Trionfi by Petrarch (1304-1374), the earliest andone of the most revered Italian humanists. Each

"Triumph" isbegun with a splendid frontispiece illus

tration and an opening page with borders in fully-de

veloped "antique" style. This style in actuality was

not ancient Greek or Roman but a new creation,

being a tasteful and imaginative combination of ele

ments from many sources. A very fine, anonymousPaduan artist executed the first

groupof these decora

tions whereas the remainder of the book was deco

rated in a similar but more colorful manner by two

well-known Florentine brothers, Gherardo andMonte

di Giovanni, known as Fora. As a group these dec

orated pages have a delicacy, intimacy, and fanciful

ness which is a delight to behold and must have certainly pleased the cultural sensibility of the humanists

of the time.

The Cleveland Museum owns several superb singleminiatures which display similar phases of the Italian

Renaissance. Most notable is a miniature attributed

toMantegna (1431-1506) and another by Attavante

degli Attavanti (1452-1517) which may be seen in

Gallery 18 (CMA Bulletin, XXXIX [September1952], 172-174, repr. p. 169 in color).

Ex collections: Sir George Holford (sale, Sotheby, July 29,

1929, lot 6, plates II, III); Harvey Frost. Exhibitions: Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of Illuminated Manu

scripts (London, 1908), #194 and pl. 23. Bibliography: Bond

(1962), p. 199, no. 571.

11 FOUR GOSPELS

Vellum, Latin written inblack, illuminated with temperaand gold leaf, 216 leaves, 9 x 6-1/2 inches. Germany,

Middle Rhine, ca.1480. Miniatures by theMaster of theHausbuch. Contemporary blind-stamped leather binding.The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. andMrs. William H.Marlatt Fund 52.465

Each of the four Gospels is preceded by a portrait

miniature of the appropriate evangelist. These miniatures were painted by the celebrated Master of the

Hausbuch (Housebook), who made the volume of

lively drawings in the possession of Prince Waldburg

Wolfegg-Waldsee. The artist is also responsible for

some ninety copper engravings preserved chiefly in

Amsterdam and therefore has been called on occasion

theMaster of the Amsterdam Cabinet. He was also a

panel painter. He was active chiefly in the MiddleRhine.

The style of the miniatures in this manuscript is

characteristically German late Gothic in its expressive use of angular drapery and semi-realistic detail.

However, each portrait miniature bears all the hall

marks of the Hausbuch Master's own hand. The

walled-off space setting for each figure, the interest in

thehomely

details of furniture construction andthe58



Ii I

11 Foliosm 85lms & 86 :!ct opening pagesor ai ':

dbA.1m3t88S6W psihhdaydididg eyesd -

jru

"i.t.4idw WSO

with frontispiece portraity theMaster of theHausbuch.

artist with humor, although he is not as wild here as

he is in his youthful drawings in the Hausbuch

proper. Yet his illuminations in this Gospel Book

avoid the severity of his panel paintings which verge

on harshness. Here his expressive style has been

given a certain restraint and more subtle color.

The decoration of the remainder of the book, the 4pen work, tracery and vine scrolls, as well as the

handsome large initials must be attributed to other,

bo ~~rulr ~OPS~~r)~~t~~miiht?~~77

r" D~lff)3~nlklC?I~Uj: r~~~~~~~b~~~b-ow

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handsomelarge initialsmust be attributed o other, CIB "



(E go . I

11 Folio 2 verso: frontispiece portrait ofSaint Matthew by the Master of the Hausbuch.

but still capable, hands. The script itself is a fine late

Gothic hand, regular and clear throughout. As a

book thismanuscript has a remarkable cohesive bal

ance between picture, text, initial, and margin which

in no ways belies the skill and taste of earlier Medi

eval book productions.

The binding is the original one, a superb examplewith blind-stamped leather covers with old brass

clasps.

Ex collections: Chartreuse of Coblentz; Count von Renesse,Schloss Burresheim, Kreis Mayen; Otto Wertheimer, Paris;Heinrich Eisemann, London. Bibliography: William M. Mil

liken, "An Illuminated Manuscript by the Master of the

Hausbuch," CMA Bulletin XL, pt. 1 (June 1953), 121, 122;

repr. 116 and 117; Alfred Stange, Deutche Malerei der Gotik

(Munich and Berlin 1955), pp. 105, 120, repr. pl. 286.

12 HOURS OF FERDINAND V

AND ISABELLA OF SPAIN

Vellum, Latin written in red and dark brown, illuminatedin tempera and gold, 298 leaves, 8-7/8 x 6-1/8 inches.

Flanders, Ghent-Bruges School, ca.1492-1504. Miniatures attributed toAlexander Bening and Gerard Horenbout. The Cleveland Museum of Art, purchase, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Bequest 63.256

This manuscript is the third royal manuscript in the

permanent collection of The Cleveland Museum of

Art. The coat of arms on folio 1 verso is that of Fer

dinand and Isabella when both were sovereigns of all

their kingdoms and after the conquest of Granada.

This suggests that the manuscript was ordered andstarted between 1492 and 1504 when Isabella died.

The character of the script and the decoration pointsto a Flemish origin. The decoration, including fortynine full-page miniatures and thirty-four smaller

miniatures, was created by two of the best painters of

the Ghent-Bruges school, notably Alexander Beningwith the assistance of Gerard Horenbout. These

painters continued in the tradition of the great Flemish panel painter, Hugo van der Goes, active inGhent

beginning in 1467 and died in 1482 near Bruges.Such dependence upon the larger media of panel

painting reverses the situation found in earlier periodsof manuscript painting. There is no lessening of

quality, however, in key manuscript monuments of

this later period. It is important to note the developments of

space

and

modeling

and thechange

in the

character of the enframing borders. The miniatures

themselves show a succession of space recessions

even into the far distance. The figures which peoplethese intervals are three dimensional and move easilyin the space. Some, as one of the Shepherds in the

Nativity scene (fol. 126 verso) or the soldiers in the

Massacre of the Innocents (fol. 146 verso), seem to

even catapult themselves through space. The enfram

ing borders are decorated with the realistically yet

exquisitely painted flowers, foliage, and insects. These

are depicted as if they casually lay on the surface of

the page itself, so that for the first time we can see

enacted on the page, to quote Dr. Otto Pacht, "two

kinds of illusion: the illusion of the picture frame

and the illusion of the picture recession." Facingthese pages are pages with similar or contrasting

borders which enclose blocks of text. The balance is60



? L.1i ..' 1 ILi (.I : !'

A d.hl x IItfoIll

till

12 Folios I verso & 2 recto: Coat of Arms of Ferdinand V and Isabella of Spain and calendar for January.

one of brilliant contrast of motive, color, and texture.

Recent scholarship has proposed that the much dis

cussed but anonymous Master of Mary of Burgundywas in actuality Alexander Bening, sometimes called

Sanders Bening. This identification is based on cer

tain documents and circumstances concerning Alex

ander Bening which strongly correspond with ele

ments in the art and activity of the formerly anonymous Master of Mary of Burgundy. Alexander

entered the Ghent painters' guild in 1469. He had the

backing of Hugo van der Goes, who had joined the

same guild in 1467, and Joos vanWassenhove (Justus

van Ghent). Alexander married Catheleen van der

Goes, Hugo's niece, in 1480. Catheleen died in 1519.

This marriage produced a son, born in 1482 or 1483,thewell-known illuminator Simon Bening, who often

repeated the inventions of the Master of Mary of

Burgundy, whose workshop he probably inherited.

The inventions and style of the Master of Mary of

Burgundy in turn were strongly dependent on that of

Hugo van der Goes. Thus Alexander Bening and the

Master of Mary of Burgundy can be considered tenta

tively as one and the same person.The present manuscript holds a high place within

the larger group of manuscripts produced by artists

of the Ghent-Bruges school. In fact, it is comparablein quality to two of the most famous of these, the

Breviary in the Mayer van der Bergh Museum in

Antwerp and the Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal in

the Morgan Library in New York. The Cleveland

manuscript must antedate both of these, especiallybecause of its style. For example, many more echoes

61



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12 ABOVE' Folios 126 verso& 127 recto: showing the Nativity.

LEFT: Folio 146 verso: Massacre of the Innocents and Flight into Egypt.

and adaptations of the inventions of Hugo van der

Goes are found in its miniatures. The scene of the

Adoration of Shepherds or Nativity (fol. 126 verso)

derives in part from Hugo's paintings of this subject,the Portinari Altarpiece in Florence and another

composition preserved in Berlin. In 1962 Dr. Fried

richWinkler suggested that after the death of Hugo,Alexander started to follow his uncle's more expan

sive figure style. Winkler states that Alexander'sminiatures took on larger relative dimensions than

before as in the Prayer Book ofMaximilian inVienna

or the Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal inNew York.

The Cleveland manuscript seems to come at the point

just as this transition was getting under way. It con

tains on the one hand themore miniature-like scenes

associated especially with Dr. Otto Picht's more re

stricted view of theMaster of Mary of Burgundy and

on the other, the large-scale figures of the artist's later

or second period proposed byWinkler. Indeed, cer

tain inventions seem to be the early prototypes for

compositions which are repeated later, either byAlexander himself in his later phase or by one of his

assistants such as Gerard Horenbout, or by his son,Simon. This manuscript will be the subject of more

detailed study in a forthcoming issue of the Bulletin.

Bibliography: Jos6 Lazaro, "Le manuscrit du British Museum

initule 'Isabella Book' ou breviare d'Isabelle la Catholique,"Actes du Congres d'Historie de 'Art, Paris, September 26

October 5, 1921 (Paris, 1924), p. 280; idem, Un SuppuestoBreirario de Isabel la Catolica (Madrid, 1928), p. 7, no. 3.

WILLIAM D. WIXOM

Associate Curator of Decorative Arts

63





wixom twelve masterpieces of medieval and renaissance book illumination a catalogue to the...

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