The Torment of Murderers, Simon Marmion, 1475. The border decoration and central image are further linked by a shared palette of blue, green, and gold. Yet the page itself is a riot of color and light: the border is thick with large, swirling flowers, while a golden aureole of dense rays surrounds Mary. From a book of hours (text in Latin), probably GhentĪt left, attended by music-making angels, the Virgin Mary sits humbly on the ground, a motif that reflects her modesty and purity. The Virgin and Child with Angels, Master of Guillebert de Mets, about 1450–55. The exquisitely tooled checkerboard patterning, or diapering, of the background further demonstrates the technical sophistication of manuscript illumination in Bruges by the mid-1400s.Īudio: Curator Thomas Kren tells the history behind this book. Christ's hair displays exceptional detail, subtle color, and soft light. The different shades of red in Christ's robe were applied in thin, semitransparent layers like the glazes used by oil painters. Although this illumination was executed in tempera on parchment, the artist-probably trained in Van Eyck's workshop-captured the naturalism of the original. The head of Christ depicted here is based on a lost oil painting by Jan van Eyck (Flemish, died 1441). Leaf from the Turin-Milan Hours (text in French), Bruges Centaurs, whose human appearance above the waist belied their beastly nature below, represented hypocrisy.Ĭhrist Blessing, Master of the Berlin Crucifixion or circle, about 1440–45. The bird-women Sirens lured sailors to their deaths with song, and represented worldly temptation. The image above is from a bestiary, a collection of moralizing descriptions of real and mythical beasts, and one of the most popular books of the 1200s in northern Europe. They were created for an international clientele of princes, dukes, cardinals, bishops, and wealthy burghers.
At this time Netherlandish books, especially from Ghent and Bruges, dominated the European market. By the mid-1400s the Burgundians held sway over much of the Netherlands, including the prosperous Flemish towns of Ghent and Bruges (in present-day Belgium) and the Dutch city of Utrecht-all important centers of manuscript production.
This exhibition traces the tradition of Netherlandish manuscript painting from the 12th century to its extraordinary flowering in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its magnificence was expressed in lavish banquets, pageants, and tournaments, as well as luxury goods such as tapestries, paintings, metalwork, and particularly illuminated manuscripts. The splendor of the late medieval court of the dukes of Burgundy evokes the legendary Camelot. From a Bestiary authored by Hugo of Fouilloy, FlandersĪudio: Curator Elizabeth Morrison explains the symbolism behind these creatures. A Siren and a Centaur, unknown artist, about 1270.
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