Meester van Jean de Ferrières
Master of Jean de Ferrières | Maître de Jean de Ferrières)
Frans boekverluchter, werkzaam in Bourges rond 1490-1500. Hij werkte voor het Franse hof van de Bourbons in Mougins, nabij Bourges. Van deze verluchter zijn thans (2020) slechts 4 handschriften bekend. Hij was goed bekend met het werk van Jean Colombe. Hij ontleent zijn naam aan de door hem verzorgde verluchting van het getidenboek van Jean I de Ferrieres (d. 1497), seigneur de Presles, en zijn vrouw Marguerite of Bourbon (1445-1483), dochter van Jean II (1426-1488), Duke of Bourbon (thans Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library, MS 46825).
Tekst bij BOH 193 in Les Enluminures (2020):
The four full-page miniatures of the Du Breuil Hours can be ascribed to an anonymous artist active in the circle of the well-known artist Jean Colombe (c. 1430-1493). Native of Bourges, youngest brother to the famous sculptor Michel Colombe, Jean Colombe oversaw one of the most successful illumination workshops in fifteenth-century France (for an overview, see Jacob 2013). He may have trained with Jean Fouquet, whose Hours of Jean Robertet he completed around 1465 (New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.834).
At an early stage of his career, he benefited from the protection of Charlotte of Savoy, Queen of France as the spouse of King Louis XI (r. 1461-1483), although it is unclear whether Colombe was ever actually hired to serve her. Louis de Laval was his best client, who commissioned from him the Hours of Louis de Laval(Paris, BnF, MS lat. 920), sumptuously decorated with no less than twelve hundred miniatures, and historical manuscripts such as Sébastien Mamerot’s Passages d’Outremer (Paris, BnF, MS fr. 5594; see Avril and Reynaud 1993, 1 79-180, pp. 328-330).
Jean Colombe worked in Bourges almost his entire life, except for the years 1486-1489 when he was recruited to serve Charles I (1468-1490), Duke of Savoy, at his court in Chambery. The Duke had him complete both the Très Riches Heures of Jean de Berry (Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65), begun by the Limbourg brothers, and the Savoy Apocalypse, begun by Jean Bapteur and Peronet Lamy (Escorial, Royal Library, MS E. Vit. 5).
In the aftermath of Colombe’s death around 1493, his sons Philibert and François ensured the continuity of the workshop, of which at least seventy illuminated manuscripts survive today (for a list, see Seidel 2014, pp. 197-215). Jean Colombe exercised considerable influence on the development of late fifteenth-century French illumination, and his profusely ornamented style spread widely, not only in Bourges, but also in Troyes and Lyons.
The anonymous artist responsible for these four full-page miniatures could be named after a Book of Hours for the use of Rome, illuminated around 1490 for Jean I de Ferrieres (d. 1497), seigneur de Presles, and his wife Marguerite of Bourbon (1445-1483), legitimate daughter of Jean II (1426-1488), Duke of Bourbon (previously Les Enluminures; now Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library, MS 46825; on which see Skemer 2013, vol. 2, pp. 138-140, pl. 11-12).
The Master of Jean de Ferrieres appears to have enjoyed success at the court of Bourbon in Moulins, not far from Bourges, under the regency of Anne of France and Pierre of Bourbon (1483-1491). Indeed, in the same years, Jean de Vienne, seneschal of Bourbonnais (1482-1499), commissioned a Book of Hours for the use of Rome from the same artist (sold in Paris, Drouot, 25 June 2020, lot 2, to the BnF).
Previously unpublished, the Du Breuil Hours is the third known illuminated manuscript of the Master of Jean de Ferrières and the sole in private hands. The prestigious profile of this Bourbon clientele suggests that it may well have been illuminated for Jeanne Toustain and her husband Pierre III Du Breuil, mayor of Bourges in 1500.
The style of the Master of Jean de Ferrières stands out from the most repetitive production of his contemporaries, who usually simplified models stemming from the Colombe workshop. The Master of Jean de Ferrières’ production is easily recognized by the distinctive use of green pilasters and columns in the gold architectural frames of his miniatures, which do not appear in Colombe’s repertoire.
The Pentecost miniature’s frame (f. 1) is best compared to that of St. Luke in the Hours of Jean de Ferrières; Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library, MS 46825, f. 14v). Similarities include the green columns crowned with cabbage-leaf capitals, the arch decorated with twisted leaves of cabbage and topped by a fleuron, trimmed in both miniatures.
The narrow green fluted pilasters of the Annunciation’s frame (f. 37) are reminiscent of those framing St. Matthew in the Hours of Jean de Ferrières; Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library, MS 46825, f. 16).
On the other hand, the profiled entablature and cornice are almost identical to those of the St. Mark miniature in the Hours of Jean de Vienne; Drouot, 25 June 2020, lot 2, f. 15). In his three known manuscripts, the Master of Jean de Ferrières often alternates between architectural frames, plain gold frames, and floral borders.
Yet, no other example of golden frames embellished with jewels and pearls, such as those of the Pietà (f. 27) and David penitent (f. 103) miniatures, is known from his production.
The habit of enclosing the miniature within a gold architectural frame, meant to simulate the metalwork of devotional altarpieces, is itself a hallmark of Jean Colombe’s production, as is the base inscribed with the textual incipit (see e.g. figs. 6-8).
The debt of the Master of Jean de Ferrières to the Bourges illuminator extends into the miniatures themselves. The most obvious similarities can be seen in the rounded modeling of the Virgin face in the Annunciation (f. 37), with a high forehead and slit-like eyes; in the repeated combination of a lapis blue mantle with a dark blue robe, and in the subtle and nuanced lighting of the folds with gold hatchings and stipples. The white and rounded face of the Virgin Mary, with firmly outlined eyes and eyebrows, red cheeks and conspicuous red lips, is identical to that of St. John in the Hours of Jean de Ferrières (Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library, MS 46825, f. 13). The attitudes of the apostles in the Pentecost (f. 1) also closely resemble Colombe’s mannerisms, especially so in the foreshortening of upturned faces and in the representation of crowds by drawing halos as circles overlapping above the front row of figures. Finally, the landscapes of the Pietà (f. 27) and David penitent (f. 103) miniatures include elements of scenery borrowed from Jean Colombe’s production. These are the tall rock formations and the three overlapping blue hills receding into the distance, itself a motif invented by Jean Fouquet.
The secondary decoration of the manuscript further confirms the relationship of the Master of Jean de Ferrieres to Jean Colombe and the location of his activity in Bourges. The large, rounded initials are ornate throughout with liquid gold on red or blue grounds, and infilled with foliage and floral motifs that are virtually identical to those of other initials illuminated in manuscripts of the Colombe workshop.
These include Books of Hours now in Chantilly (Musée Condé, MS 78), Florence (Biblioteca Laurenziana, MS pal. 241), Paris (BnF, Arsenal, MS 434), Oxford (Bodleian Library, MS Gough liturg. 14), and Sidney (State Library of New South Wales, MS 1/7c), to cite only but a few.
This suggests that the Master of Jean de Ferrières would have collaborated with the same copyists and illuminators as Jean Colombe did in Bourges, such as André Rousseau. These four full-page miniatures witness a singular interpretation and intimate knowledge of various models conceived by Jean Colombe and his workshop in the 1470s and 1480s. The Pentecost (f. 1), with the Virgin enthroned and surrounded by the apostles upon whom rest the tongues of fire, ultimately derives from Jean Fouquet’s composition in the Hours of Etienne Chevalier (Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 71).
Colombe had already simplified this model in the Hours of Jean Robertet (New York, Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.834, f. 126). It was subsequently emulated in a number of Colombe manuscripts, usually with the Virgin kneeling on the floor, and St. John and St. Peter seen in the foreground (see Sidney, State Library of New South Wales, MS 1/7c, f. 65).
The illuminator of the present manuscript may have known an intermediary composition that combined these different features. However, the tripartite division of the church is a hallmark of his own production, comparable both to St. Luke in the Hours of Jean de Ferrières and to the Annunciation in the Hours of Jean de Vienne(Paris, Drouot, 25 June 2020, lot 2, f. 22).
The miniature of the Pietà (f. 27) is based on a well-known model of Jean Colombe, widely spread and reused in most of his manuscripts (New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.330, f. 13). Similarities include the landscape setting at the foot of the Cross, the attitude and garments of the Virgin praying with the Christ lying on her knees, and the figure of Mary Magdalene holding her ointment pot on the right side.
However, the Master of Jean de Ferrières slightly deviates from Colombe as he represents St. Nicomedus instead of St. John, kneeling and holding the head of Christ on the left. Another difference is the inclusion of a man in profile in the background, who could be identified either as St. John or as a stereotyped portrait of a donor, maybe Pierre III Du Breuil.
The Annunciation (f. 37) further reveals the Master of Jean de Ferrières’ thorough knowledge of Jean Colombe’s production. The scene is set in a courtyard, which receding perspective opens onto a landscape in the center. This principle ultimately derives from Jean Fouquet’s Annunciation in the Hours of Jean Robertet (New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.834, f. 29). Jean Colombe knew this miniature as he completed the manuscript and drew on it in the Bureau Hours (Paris, Drouot, 22 November 1977, f. 40), and in the Hours of Jean de Laval (Paris, BnF, MS lat. 920, f. 52), to cite but a few. The Master of Jean de Ferrières combines this concept with another model of Annunciation, invented by Colombe, based on a diagonal receding perspective opening onto a narrow archway.
An example of the latter is found in a Book of Hours for the use of Rome illuminated in the early 1480s (Besançon, BM, MS 148, f. 23; on which see Avril and Reynaud 1993, 185, p. 336). Finally, the figure of David on bended knee (f. 103), praying in full armor in a landscape, probably derives from its counterpart in the Très Riches Heures of Jean de Berry, completed by Colombe around 1485 (Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65).
On the other hand, the landscape setting closely resemble other miniatures of Colombe, with David dressed in a robe, as seen for example in the Hours of Anne de France (New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.677, f. 232v). The iconography narrates the story of the destroying angel, sent to afflict Israel with pestilence in punishment for David’s census, who kneels and claims for mercy.
Interestingly, the Master of Jean de Ferrières reused the same model in an almost identical way in the Hours of Jean de Vienne, but with the giant Goliath instead of David (Paris, Drouot, 25 June 2020, lot 2, f. 22).
Catalogus
Parijs, Les Enluminures
BOH 193 Du Breuil getijdenboek, Bourges, ca 1490-1500
literatuur:
- Site Les Enluminures (2020), BOH 193
Parijs, Tajan, Hotel Drouot (Veilinghuis)
Catalogus 25 juni 2020, lot 2 getijdenboek van Jean de Vienne (verkocht aan: BNF), Bourges, ca 1490-1500
literatuur:
- Site Les Enluminures (2020), in BOH 193
Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library
Ms 46825 getijdenboek van Jean de Ferrières, Bourges, ca 1490-1500
literatuur:
- Skemer 2013, vol. 2, pp. 138-140, plates 11-12
- Site Les Enluminures (2020), in BOH 193
Literatuur
- Skemer 2013, vol. 2, pp. 138-140, plates 11-12
- Site Les Enluminures (2020), BOH 193