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The style and quality of this manuscript's decoration is typical of deluxe Parisian books made for aristocratic or royal patrons. Most of the book's decoration appears to be the work of the Master of the Boqueteaux, an artist active at the court of King Charles V (died 1380). His style was apparently shared by a number of book illuminators working in and around Paris. It is very possible that the <em>Gotha Missal</em> belonged to Charles V, but is not provable because the manuscript has no royal portraits and lacks a colophon. Given the book's magnificent decoration, however, it would seem that it was produced for a Valois prince, if not for the king himself. The manuscript receives its name from the German dukes of Gotha, its later owners.
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; blind-tooled leather binding
Codex: 27.1 x 19.5 cm (10 11/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Four or six squares of this luxurious two-color silk were originally sewn on a linen tunic, two positioned above the hemline in the front and two in the back, and possibly two more at the shoulder. The folded edges are still visible, including a silk sewing thread on the right side. The brittle condition is evident in the numerous crisp breaks.
Egypt or Syria(?)
Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)
Overall: 18.3 x 17.8 cm (7 3/16 x 7 in.); Mounted: 27.9 x 26.7 cm (11 x 10 1/2 in.)
Did you know...
Originally designed in Byzantine Egypt or possibly Syria, patterns like this were woven throughout a period of two to four centuries.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.
Flanders, Ghent and Bruges, late 15th century
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Codex: 22.5 x 15.2 cm (8 7/8 x 6 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
The brilliant, jewel-like surfaces of this small folding triptych (three panels hinged together) are characteristic of painting in enamel on copper which was a specialty of Limoges. The vibrancy and surface richness possible with this technique made it attractive for decorating personal objects. They had to be fairly small because of the relatively small sheets of copper then available.
Pénicaud was a great enamelist and the founder of a successful workshop carried on by his heirs. Like many contemporary enamelists, however, he did not compose the religious images he executed. This scene is based on a woodcut published in Paris in 1505. The French woodcut was, in turn, derived from a German engraving. Originality was not as important then as it is today; what mattered most was the quality of the product. This exquisite triptych was clearly held in high esteem as it was the model for several others.
French
framed: 13 3/8 x 20 1/4 x 7/8 in. (34 x 51.5 x 2.2 cm)
plan view: 17 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (44.5 x 13.4 cm)
medium: painted and gilded enamel on copper
style: Renaissance
culture: French
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
The horse was a favorite artistic subject in ancient Iran, where horsebreeding flourished. This muscular Sasanian stallion was descended from the royal and sacred Nisean breed of the Achaemenian Persians. Although Sasanian horse-trappings were elaborate, they did not include stirrups for mounting. In this rendition, the steed lies still, as camels in the Near East do today, waiting for its rider to mount. The medallions on each shoulder contain busts, perhaps of rulers of different parts of the Sasanian Empire, holding their rings of authority.
Iran, Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE)
silver, partially gilt
Overall: 12 x 10.8 x 32.7 cm (4 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund
The Paris firm of Gruel and Engelmann was known for its deluxe bookbindings. In this Gothic Revival example, the celebrated Paris jeweler Alexis Falize (1811-98) has created a relief showing the Adoration of the Magi, surrounded by fantastic animals derived from the amusing, marginal decoration found in some medieval manuscripts. The filigree and granular work is of exceptional quality. Since the binding does not contain a book, it may have been produced solely for the firm's display at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878.
H: 6 7/8 x W: 4 3/4 in. (17.5 x 12 cm)
medium: black morocco leather, gilt on silver, enamels
style: Gothic Revival
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest [1]
[1] not accessioned to the Walters Art Museum until April 1991
An enameled gold pomander, the round base with a mottled grey crouching monkey chained to a tree trunk, an apple in his paw, within a vari-colored wreath of raised sprigs of fruit and flowers, the hinged pierced back with a flat wreath round a central rosette "en suite," containing the pad which was impregnated with musk and other aromatic substances. Four hanging chains attached to a corona with four applied cinquefoils and a suspension loop.
The pomander retains its original box 73.6.
Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm)
medium: gold, enamel, gem
Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1913, by purchase, Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
This print is part of a bound volume of works illustrating the a narrative of the Apocalypse, taken from the Revelation of Saint John in the Bible. The 23 engravings in the series occupied the artist for a number of years and represent his greatest artistic achievement. The museum's volume is one of only seven known complete sets. Jean Duvet was one of the first major printmakers in France and one of the most original artists of the 1500s. Although he worked mostly in the provincial city of Langres, he became aware of Italian art through the circulation of prints—notably those of Marcantonio Raimondi. His solidly modeled human figures reflect the influence of the Italian High Renaissance. Duvet, however, developed an idiosyncratic, highly artificial style with crowded compositions that ignore rational space in favor of ornamental surface patterns.
France, 16th century
engraving
Gift of the Hanna Fund