Flemish Manuscript Painting in Context

Recent Research

Edited by Elizabeth Morrison and Thomas Kren Based on symposia held at

the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

(September 5-6, 2003), and at

the Counauld lnstitute of An, London

(February 2I, 2004, under the

sponsorship of the Courtauld lnstitute

and the Royal Academy of Arts),

with an additional essay by Margaret Scott

THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES

This publication is based on selected papers presented at twO symposia, one at Front cover
the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (September 5-6, 2.003), the other at the Simon Bening, Saint Luke (detail, fig . 6.1).
Courtauld Institute of Art, London (February 2J, 2.004, under the sponsorship
of the Courtauld lnstitute and the Royal Academy of Arts), and a lecture by Back cover
Margaret ScOtt presented at the Gerry Museum August 7, 2003 . These events Attributed to the Master of the First Prayer Book of
were held in conjunction with the exhibition l/umi1lating the Re1laissance: Maximilian (Alexander Bening?), painted border with drag-
The Triumph of Flemish Mamlscript Painting in Europe, held at the J. Paul Gerry onfly (detail, fig. 13.5).
Museum, Los Angeles, from June 17 to September 7, 2003 , and at The Royal
Academy of Arts, London, from November 2.5, 2.003, to February 2.2., 2.004. Frontispiece
Clockwise from upper left: Master of Edward IV, Mary
Magdalene (detail, fig. 2..n); Master of Fitzwilliam 268,
© 2.006 J. Pau l Getty Trust Herdsmen TityTl<s and Melibeolts (detail, fig. 10. I); Ghent
Associate of the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy, Virgin
Gerry Publications
and Child with jan van der Scaghe and Anne de Memere
12.00 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500
Los Angeles, California 90049-1682 (detail, fig. 1.1); Master of Antoine Rolin, painted border
www.getty.edu with crying eyes (detail, fig. 13.4); Master of James IV of
Scotland, painted border with The Rest on the Flight into
Mark Greenberg, Editor in Chief Egypt (fig. 5.2.2.); Attributed to the Master of the First
Prayer Book of Maximilian (Alexander Bening?), painted
Dinah Berland, Editor border with dragonfly (detail, fig. 13.5); Master of Girart de
Karen Jacobson, Manuscript Editor Roussilon , The Wedding of Girart de Roussilon and Berthe
Kurt Hauset, Designer
(detail, fig. 4.9); Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy, Mary
Anita Keys, Production Coordinator
of Burgundy(?) Reading Her Devotions (detail, fig. 4·5);
Typesetting by Diane Franco center: Rogier van der Weyden, Presentation of the
Printed and bound by Tien Wah Press, Singapore Mallllscript to Philip the Good (detail, fig. 7.1).

Unless otherwise specified, all photographs are courtesy of the institution that Page ix
owns the work illustrated. Master of James IV of Scotland, The Tower of Babel, in the
Grimani Breviary (detail, fig. 13.6).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Flemish manuscript painting in context : recent research / edited by Elizabeth

Morrison and Thomas Kren.
p. cm.
"Based on symposia held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (September
5-6,2.003), and at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (February 21, 2004,
under the sponsorship of the Courtauld lnstitute and the Royal Academy of Arts),
with an additional essay by Margaret Scott. »
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-I3: 978-0-892.36-852.-5 (pbk.)
ISBN-IO: 0-89236-85'--7 (pbk.)
I. lIJumination of books and manuscripts, Flemish-Congresses. 2. Illumination
of books and manuscripts, Renaissance-Flanders-Congresses. I. Morrison,
Elizabeth, 1968- II. Kren, Thomas, 1950- Ill. J. Paul Gerry Museum. IV.
Courtauld Institute of Art.
NDJI7I.F54 2.006
745· 6 '7 0949JI-dc22
CHAPTER 8

On Relationships between Netherlandish Drawing

and Manuscript Illumination in the Fifteenth Century

Ste ph ani e Bu ck

WHEN CONSIDERING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EARLY NETH-

erlandish drawing and manuscript illumination, one has to face a well-known
but nevertheless serious problem: the scarceness of drawings still preserved
today.! In northern Europe, drawings do not seem to have been collected as
works of art during the fifteenth century.2 Thus, the large majority of them are
lost. Most of the few hundred sheets from the fifteenth century that have been
preserved 3 -works on paper or parchment, usually mounted on cardboard-
are executed in a rather detailed manner, as they were used as workshop pat-
terns and thus had to show clear, recognizable, and repeatable images. Among
these only a small number can be linked to manuscript illumination in some
manner, meaning that they were either created by illuminators or were used as
patterns in illuminators' workshops and thus played a role within the produc-
tion of miniatures. 4
The term drawing may, however, refer not only to these individual
objects but also to the manuscript illumination itself. s As I see it, three differ-
ent aspects can be distinguished. First, in miniature painting, as in panel paint-
ing, drawing marked a specific step in the work process. This " underdrawing"
was meant to be covered up with paint and was thus not expected to be visible.
Second, drawing can be seen as an integral element of miniature painting in
the sense that the linear structure, the modeling with hatches and so on, is a
visible part of the illumination as it appears in its finished state. "Drawing" in
this sense is understood as the graphic language that depends on Line and Lin-
ear structure, as distinguished £rom "painting," in which areas of color are
blended in order to create the illusion of continuously modeled forms . Third,
there are book illuminations that are actually finished drawings and do not
differ from " individual" drawings. Their appearance is manifold. Jonathan
Alexander refers to a variety of techniques of finished drawings in medieval
manuscripts: colored ink drawings, illustrations with Light washes, grisaille
with coLor tinting, and even combinations of fully painted miniatures and draw-
ings on a single page. 6
No matter what type of drawing one refers to, there are essential char-
acteristics shared by early Netherlandish drawing and manuscript illumination
that establish a relationship that by nature is particularly close, closer than the
one between drawing and contemporary panel or glass painting. These charac-
teristics are the same support-parchment or paper-the same working
tools-pen or brush and ink, sometimes colored 7 -as well as the small scale,
and they have an important effect on the work's artistic character.
-
104 BUCK

Figure 8.1 By looking closely at examples of these different types of drawing, \

Master of the Dresden Prayer Book.
ca n ga in a better understanding of their respective relationships to book illum.-
Virgil1 alld Child Crowned by all Angel,
in a book of hours. Berlin, Staarliche nation. I will begin with an exa mple of spontaneous underdrawing cover
Mu een Preugi cher Kulturbesi tz, with paint that was applied in a technique of an explicitly linear character, mer
Kupfe rstichkabinett, Ms. 78 B J 4, look at drawings as miniatures in manuscripts, followed by individual drawin
fol. :>2Iv.
used as models for finished illuminations, and conclude with an example ma-
Figure 8.2 combines drawing and miniature painting in a single image.
Infrared photograph of Virgin alld Child As is well known, underdrawings can often be found in books, i
Crowlled by 01/ AI/gel (detail , fig. 8.1).
unfinished illuminations. s Whereas these drawings are visible to the naked ere.
underdrawings covered with paint in finished miniatures may be detected wi
the help of infrared photography and reflectogra phy.9 Their documentation can
be of considerable interest for research not only on book illumination but al
on individual drawings. For example, among the illuminations in a book
hours in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett is a fuLl-page miniature by the Masre
of the Dresden Prayer Book from around r485, representing the half-leng
image of the Virgin and child crowned by an angel (fig. 8.r).1 0 Typical for his
painting- or rather drawing-technique, this illuminator hardly blended the
colors but rather indicated outlines, drapery folds, facial features, as well as the
Virgin's ha ir with individual lines and then modeled with short hatches. The e
are also dominant in the background. This " modeling drawing," which charac-
terizes the final painted image, is somewhat disorganized and lacks concentra-
tion; at the same time it covers the surface rather densely.
 C HAPTER 8: NETHERLANDISH DR AWIN G AND M A NU SC RIPT ILLUMI N ATI ON 105

The underdrawing has a different appearance (fig. 8.2). The infrared

photograph shows that the illuminator first planned two angels flanking the
Virgin's head and holding the crown. Later in the work process these two were
given up to make space for the one centrally located angel finally executed in
paint. The underdrawing is limited to fluent brush lines that indicate the forms,
such as the angels' wings and heads or some of the main drapery folds; the
crown is merely roughly outlined as a rectangular form. It demonstrates the
illuminator's creativity in blocking in the final composition and introduces
another facet of his draftsmanship, which is not limited to the slightly shaggy,
confused "modeling drawing" in paint visible on the miniature's surface.
As most individual fifteenth-century Netherlandi~h drawings are more fully
worked out copies, this sketchy underdrawing is welcome as another of the rare
examples of fluent and spontaneous freehand drawing. ll As such it suggests
that the small-scale sketch on parchment or on paper was well known to
Netherlandish artists.
In the case ot drawings that are illuminations, or vice versa, works exe-
cuted on colored grounds are especially interesting. Depending on their func-
tion, as either an end product or a work meant to help produce another one,
and also depending on the particular department of the museum or library
where the works are preserved today, these images are categorized either as
drawings or as illuminations. Especially in the case of very early individual
drawings dating from the late fourteenth and the early fifteenth centuries, how-
ever, this categorization is rather artificial, as becomes evident when reading
Cenruno Cennini's Libro dell'arte. Although Italian, this manual gives impor-
tant information on working procedures in the north as well.
In the very beginning Cennini emphasizes that drawing is the starting
point of the artist's education: "As has been said, you begin with drawing. "12
After explaining how to prepare a small wooden panel with a ground and how
to draw with a silverpoint on it, he describes in great detail how to draw on
heep parchment or on paper and shade with washes: "On the parchment you
may draw or sketch with this style of yours .... If, after you have drawn with
the style, you want to clear up the drawing further, fix it with ink at the points
of accent and stress. And then shade the folds with washes of ink .. . . And you
may likewise work and shade with colors and with c10thlets such as the illumi-
nators use."1 3 He obviously distinguished between illumination and drawing,
but the borderlines are fluid.
After practicing metalpoint drawing for a year, the young artist could
\ ork with the pen and finally start drawing on paper or parchment tinted
in various colors in order "to start trying to discover the entrance and gate-
way to painting. " 14 Early Italian examples of this type of drawing on a tinted
ground are Giovanni da Milano's Crucifixion from around 1365/7015 and
Lorenzo Monaco's Visitation from the beginning of the fifteenth century
(fig. 8.3).16 Pen, brush, dark ink, some wash, and white gouache for the high-
lights are used. Monaco's drawing is fully worked out and presents itself as a
omplete image-the composition is even surrounded by a picture frame. Still
Cenniill certainly considered works like this as drawings, as we do today
because of the obvious graphic qualities, evident when focusing on the elabo-
rate system of hatching.17
106 BUCK

Figure 8.3
Lorenzo Monaco. The Visitation. Pen and
brush, brown a nd black ink heighrened
with white tinted with blue and yellow
goache on paper, 25 .7 x 18.9 em
(TO I/ s x 73/ 8 in. ). Berlin , Staarliche
~1useen Preugi scner Ku !turbesitz,
Kupferstichkabinett, inv. Kd Z 608 .

Figure 8.4
Jaq ues Da liwe. Pilgrims by a Town, in
Liber Picttlratus. Si lverpoi nt, parrly
retouched with l11etalpoi nt and brush on
white prepared boxwood, 8.8 x 13 em
(35 x 5 IJs in. ). Berlin , Staarliche
Museen Preuf.lischer Kulturbesi tz,
Staatsbiblio thek, Ms . A 74, lib.
 C HAPTER 8: N ETH E RLAN DI S H DRAWI NG A N D MA NUSC RIPT ILL UMI NATIO N 10 7

Figure 8.5
An onymo us. John Mandeville Travels to
Constantinople, in The Travels of Johl1
Mandeville. London, British Libra ry,
Add Ms. 24189, fo!' 4v.

Around 1400 northern artists worked in the same manner, evident

In model books like the ones by Jacquemart de Hesdin 18 and Jaques Daliwe
(fig. 8.4)1 9 or the Bohemian Vademecum. 2o It is also manifest in manuscripts
such as The Travels ofJohn Mandeville (fig. 8. 5 ). 21 In all of these cases the tech-
nique corresponds exactly to the one Cennini recommended for drawings on
tinted paper or parchment, and the graphic structure is always manifest. Thus,
not only the model book drawings executed on wood but also the illuminations
in the manuscript may as well be considered drawings-that is, illuminations
and drawings need not be distinguished.
In the period around 1400 contemporaries did not in fact necessarily
distinguish between drawings and book illumination in regard to their
"nature"-that is, their aesthetic value, function, appearance, and technique.
This is demonstrated by a remarkable manuscript in the Wiesbaden
Hauptstaatsarchiv dated in the colophon to 410 and illustrated with about
forty images.22 Astonishingly, most of these works-executed by different
artists-were produced in the late fourteenth century as individual drawings
on paper and parchment. Only later, when the manuscript was put together as
a miscellany of religious texts, were the already existing drawings glued in and
thereby adapted as text illustrations. The drawings' function thus changed. As
Marta Renger stated in 1987, they were understood as suitable devotional
images that occasionally refer to the text. 23
,08 B UC K

Figure 8.6
Anonymous. Adoration of the Magi, in a
miscellany of religious texts. Wiesbaden,
Hauptsraarsarchi v, Ms. 3 004 B 1 0 ,
fol. 24 v.

A particularly interesting example is The Adoration of the Magi

(fig. 8.6).24 This scene was created by pasting together four drawings, all attrib-
uted by Renger to the Andre Beauneveu group.2S The three drawings showing
"Kaspar," "Balthasar," and the Virgin are silverpoint drawings heightened
with white. The figures of the two kings were executed on green prepared
paper, while the white ground of the drawing with the Virgin and child has a
yellow tint. "Melchior" on the other side is not only slightly taller than the
other two kings but is also executed in pen and ink on a white ground and is
not heightened with white. After the pasting together, a draftsman who worked
with brush, pen, watercolor, and ink tried to make the figures appear to belong
to a homogeneous composition. Thus he enlarged the Virgin's throne bench to
the left, added a continuous grassy ground, retouched the figures with red, and
reinforced contourS. 26
Those early works executed on tinted paper, many of them heightened
with white; show the closest possible relationship between drawing and illumi-
nation. The rise of the individual drawing on paper, as we think of that phe-
nomenon today, can be observed over the course of the fifteenth century. The
technique in which tinted grounds were used and white highlights were applied
seems to have become less important for the production of early Netherlandish
individual drawings in the second and third quarters of the fifteenth century
however, while book illuminators continued working in a similar technique
when they executed grisaille miniaturesP
In the last quarter of the fifteenth century the technique appears to
have again become popular in Netherlandish drawing. It is probably not by
pure chance that a group of these small-scale individual drawings executed on
gray tinted grounds are linked to manuscript illumination. Two fine examples
are The Holy Family at the Inn (fig. 8.7)28 and Fourteen Male Heads
(fig. 8.10).29 The format of the drawings, with borders indicated with straight
lines, and the fact that the motifs coincide with miniatures in several Flemish
manuscripts from the last quarter of the fifteenth century prove the connection
to book illustrations. The drawings differ from the illuminations, however, in
that the latter are fully painted miniatures while the drawings are executed with
pen, brush, and black ink, heightened with white gouache. Questions of the
 C H A PTE R 8: NETH E RLANDI S H DRAW IN G A ND MANU SCR IP T ILLUMI NATIO N 109

drawings' attribution, of their precise function, and of their status as original

inventions or copies are still unsettled. It only seems clear that they were used
as preparatory material for the production of miniatures.
A. E. Popham and Otto Pacht attributed the Holy Family at the Inn to
the Master of Mary of Burgundy. Although G. I. Lieftinck and Anne H . Van
Buren questioned that attribution,30 Thomas Kren provisionally attributed the
London drawing to the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy.31 The image was
obviously very successful; Kren states that at least eight Flemish manuscripts
show the same or similar motifs. The earliest seems to be the miniature in the
Voustre Demeure Hours (fig. 8.8), now attributed to an assistant of the Vienna
Master of Mary of Burgundy and dated to about 1475- 80.32
The attribution of the drawing to a particular book illuminator is a
thorny question, as not a single sheet can be firmly attributed to one of the
numerous illuminators from that group. Thus there is no starting point for a
stylistic analysis. The drapery style is not of much help since the forms may
have been copied after a model and thus resemble one another closely in the
several manuscripts dating not only from the last quarter of the fifteenth but
also from the early sixteenth century.33 The drawing technique-with its reduc-
tion of color to black, gray, and white-gives the drawing an appearance that
is completely different from that of the miniature, although there are possibili-
ties for comparison with the Voustre Demeure Hours, as the illuminator of that
manuscript relied heavily on a grayish tone for the city and landscape. This is
particularly important, as the tiny size of the figures means that the heads are
only about three millimeters high, making it difficult to recognize the hand of a
specific master based on modeling, expression, and physiognomic features.
Despite such uncertainties, an attribution of the drawing to the Vienna
Master of Mary of Burgundy seems most unlikely if we expect this illuminator
to be the creative, innovative mind who ingeniously invented new composi-
tions. 34 A copy should thus not be attributed to him but rather be interpreted
as a work from his workshop or his circle.
This seems to be the case with the London sheet. Despite its abraded
condition, there is enough detailed information that indicates clear misunder-
standings of the original composition. The artist first drew the inner rectangu-
lar space reserved for the text block in a manuscript. Those straight lines were
ruled imprecisely, however, as the draftsman corrected the right border line.
The lower border of this inner frame was not drawn in black but only slightly
indented. This might indicate that the artist did not really construct the border
but copied its format from an existing image.
The draftsman did not clearly understand the system of light impor-
tant for the miniatures of the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy, as is obvi-
ous in the Voustre Demeure miniature (fig. 8.8). There are rwo light sources:
the "natural light" falls from the left; in the bas-de-page it causes the figures
and objects to cast strong, clear shadows, which are indicated with tiny strokes.
Because of this light falling from the left, the figures are modeled with white on
their left sides, both in the miniature and in the drawing. A second light source
is the heavenly light that the angels emit as they announce Christ's birth to the
shepherds (fig. 8.9). The stable on the right border is glowing because Christ
was born there. The savior's heavenly light affects the surroundings - the rwo
shepherds, seen from the back approaching the stable from the left, are thus
110 BUCK

Figure 8.7
Wo rkshop or circle of the Vienna Master
of Mary of Burgundy. The Holy Family
at the Inn. Pen and brush a nd black ink
heightened with white on gray prepared
paper, II x 7.9 em (4 3/8 x 3 V8 in .).
London, British Museum, inv.
1883.7.14.7 8.

lit only from the right in the miniature. Their backs are dark. In the draw in~ .
however, the shepherd on the left is highlighted from the back-a clear m' -
understanding of the original highly refined lighting system, manifest in th
Voustre Demeure miniature. In this respect the composition of the upper bor-
der with the Annunciation to the Shepherds is even less convincing in rh
London drawing. In the miniature the annunciatory angel is all glowing beca
he is the one who announces the heavenly message. As in the case of the sta bl
this light affects the shepherds camping on the left side of the upper border. Th
draftsman thus highlights those figures with some white. The reason for
heavenly glow is not clearly indicated, however, as the annunciatory angel hir:l-
self is hardly highlighted and does not glow at all.
Misunderstandings are also manifest in regard to the spatial consrr --
tion of the houses of Bethlehem on the left border, where the gables are su
imposed without much understanding of the houses' construction and th -
placement in the picture space. The same is true for the diagonally placed ho
behind the pregnant Mary, which seems to float in the air on the lower bor
All of these peculiarities di stinguish the draftsman as a copyist w
sometimes lost track of the composition, probably because he had to " tr
late" a colored miniature into a black-and-white image.3 5 The identificati on
the London sheet as a copy helps us to better understand its most striking
 C HAPT ER 8: NET HERLANDI H DRAWING A D MANUSCR I PT IL LUMINAT I ON 111

ment, that is, the exact repetition of the figures of Mary and Joseph in the space Figure 8.8
reserved for the text. If they had been drawn by the inventor of the figures, one Vienna Ma rer of Mary of Burg und y or
assisrant. The Holy Family at the !till
might expect some variations in the drapery and posture. An artist who copied and Al/l/ul/ciatiol/ to the hepherds, in
in order to practice, however, might well have repeated a model as exactly as rhe Vousrre Demeure Hours. Madrid,
possible. Thus it seems plausible that the two pairs of figures were executed by Bibli oreca aciona l, Ms. Vir. 25-5,
fo l. 68 .
different hands,36 and that the artist responsible for drawing the border copied
the figures that another draftsman had drawn in the center of the sheet as a Figure 8.9
model. Although the differences between the figures are minor, they do in fact The Holy Family at the I I/II (derail, fig . 8.7).

exist. Clearest might be the differentl y arranged beltlike strip of cloth around
Joseph 's waist, which is in fact the long tail- the cornette- of his hood: in the
" model " that band falllng from the neck to the hip is dynamically drawn, while
it lacks an analogous tension in the border design (fig. 8.7). An identification of
tile two draftsmen is difficult to propose; we may only assume that the London
sheet was produced in the workshop or the circle of the Vienna Master of Mary
of Burgundy.
The Berlin Fourteen Male Heads (fig. 8.ro) poses different problems
when it comes to the question of attribution. There are no signs that indicate
that the sheet is a copy, and here, in contrast to the London drawlng, the heads
do not appear in an identical manner in manuscript illuminations. The heads'
tntricate arrangement on the picture plane, the large variery of types, and the
112 BUCK

Figure 8.10
Master of the First Prayer Book of
Maximilian (?) . Fourteen Male Heads.
Pen and brush and black ink heightened
with white, touched with red on gray
prepared paper, 7.4 x 11.1 em
(2 7/ 8 x 43/8 in. ). Berlin, 5taadiche
Museen PreuBischer Kulturbesitz,
Kupferstichkabinett, inv. KdZ 125 I 2.

subtlety of the different expressions noted by Kren vividly speak for the draw-
ing's high quality. Kren suggests an attribution to the Master of the Hough ro
Miniatures, whose work is characterized by crisp, precise draftsmanship.3 The
attribution is based on close parallels in type and particular facial feature oi
various heads on the drawing to those in several of the Houghton Master'
miniatures: similar mouths and noses, with lines that run from the nose to the
mouth, the suggestion of bags under the eyes, strong arches of the brows, and
hair drawn with individual wiry curls.
Despite these clear similarities, the proposed attribution seems prob-
lematic because of a crucial difference in modeling: the miniatures of the
Houghton Master appear to be executed in exquisitely thin layers of color and
resemble watercolors, even in places where much gray is used. 38 The illumina-
tor avoided strong, black contour lines but drew in extraordinary thin outlines.
The facial features were achieved in the same manner. The modeling was then
done with fine hatching and tiny parallel strokes. Highlighting with white,
strong daubs of white on foreheads, on the tips of noses, and so on seems to
be completely avoided . This, however, is characteristic for the Berlin heads-
a good example is the bald, bearded man farthest to the right in the middle
row. Considering the heads ' small sizes, these daubs of white are deft and
thickly applied. This might be explained by the reduced color scheme, which
somehow forced the draftsman to work with white. There was no need to
reinforce the fine outlines of the busts and heads, however, as the draftsman
did, for example, in the case of the upper contour of the bald head referred to
above or the thick outline of the neck of the man turned to the left and placed
in the drawing's center. This initial fine drawing is very similar indeed to the
drawing of the Houghton Master. The " broad" brushstrokes that lend the
heads their final appearance, however, are different. To my eyes the drawing on
the Berlin sheet in its final appearance thus has a less subtle character than that
of the miniatures.
The modeling, however, seems to be typical for some miniatures by
the Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian, to whom I attributed the
drawing in 2001: 39 heads like those of Saints Christopher and David of Wales
 CHAPTER 8: NETHERLANDISH DRAWING AND MANUSCR IPT ILL UMINATION 113

in the London Hastings Hours from before 148340 show not only the facial
characteristics cited above as characteristic of the Houghton Master's figures-
similar mouths and noses, strong arches of the brows, and beards drawn with
individual wiry curls-but also the deft modeling with strong highlights and
the reinforcement of outlines. As the judgment as to which similarities outweigh
the others seems highly subjective, the attribution of the Berlin drawing is
difficult to resol ve purely on the basis of stylistic arguments.
Finally, I would like to focus briefly on an illumination that belongs to
the group of works that combine full y painted miniatures and drawings on a
single page. In the Hours of Engelbert of Nassau,41 the Vienna Master of Mary
of Burgundy depicted a grotesque tournament with animals fighting against
wild men, a scene with an allegorical meaning (fig. 8.12 ).42 This scene differs
essentia lly from a ll the framed miniatures in that book, which depict biblical
cenes or saints. In the latter miniatures the illuminator created homogeneous
pictures in which the figures and their surroundings are painted in the same
manner (fig. 8.Il). Thus the illuminator interpreted the images as "real,"
authentic depictions of the story documented in the Bible. The mimetic paint-
ing that evokes figures and space defines the image clearly and thus pinpoints
the representation as the one particular view that the illuminator chose to offer.

Figure 8.11
Vienna Master of Ma ry of Burgund y. The
Holy Family at the 11111, in the Hou rs of
Engelbert of Nassau. Oxford , Bodleian
Library, Ms. Douce 219 - 20, fo l. 115.
114 BU C K

The allegorical tournament scene, in contrast, is not placed in such a

setting. The figures are executed in paint, and despite being allegorical crea-
tures, they are tangible, clearly defined figures. The setting, however, is limited
to a group of leafless trees, not painted but drawn with pen and black ink.
Because of its delicateness, this drawing mediates perfectly between the painted
figures and the flat, light parchment that serves as a neutral ground .43 On a
purely aesthetic level this may explain the combination of drawing and paint-
ing. Moreover, the drawing-which is not mimetic, as the forms do not appear
three-dimensional and lack the real color and material surface of trees (the
trunks are structured with tiny parallel hatches)-enables the viewer to imag-
ine the setting. The painted rooks that perch in these trees open up the possi-
bility to interpret the trees as real. At the same time a brief look at the illumi-
nation on the adjacent page shows that birds may also sit on utterly abstra
lines that are part of the manuscript writing and thus do not represent a natu-
ral form at all.
Because of its nature, drawing, as opposed to painting, has the ability
to suggest reality without pinpointing it.44 Because of this, it is capable of medi-
ating between the two essential parts of an illuminated manuscript: the written
text, w hich addresses itself to the reader's mind and spirit, and painting, which
is experienced visually -that is, with the eye-and, particularly in the la
fifteen century, aims to capture the natural world mimetically. On this intellec-
tual level the relationship between drawing and manuscript illuminatio
appears to be particularly interesting.

Figure 8.12
Vienna Master of Ma ry of Burgund y.
Grotesque Tournament, in the Ho urs of
Engelbert of assa u. O xford, Bodleian
Libra ry, Ms. Do uce 2 [ 9 - 20 (deta il ),
fol. [ ) 2 V.
 CHAPTER 8: NETHERLANDISH DRAWING AND MANUSCRIPT ILL UMINATION 115

Notes

1. The most recent introductions to early Koreny, Early Netherlandish Drawings, 15. Brush in brown heightened with white,
Netherlandish drawings are Stephanie Buck, 10-I2. on brown prepared paper, 28.4 x 22.2 cm
Die niederliindischen Zeichmmgell des 15. 8. For examples, see M . S. Frinta, (t 1 VB x 8 3/ 4 in.), Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett,
Jahrhtmderts im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett: "Underdrawings in the Few Late Bohemian KdZ 4290; Hein-Th. Schulze Altcappenberg,
Kritischer Katalog (Turn ho ut: Brepols, 2001), Manuscript lIIumination [sicJ," in Le Dessin Die italienischetl Zeichmmgen des 14 . •md 15.
and Fritz Koreny, Early Netherlandish sous-;acent et la techllologie dans la peinture: Jahrhunderts im Berlitler Kupferstichkabinett:
Drawings {rom Jan van Eyck to Hieronymus Co/loque x, 5-7 septembre 1993: Le Dessin Kritischer Katalog (Berlin: G & H Verlag,
Bosch, exh. cat. (Anrwerp: Rubenshuis, 2002) sous-;acent dans Ie processus de creation, ed. 1995), no. 61.
(with bibliographies). See also Master Helene Verougstraete and Roger van Schoute 16. Schulze Altcappenberg (Die italienischen
Drawings 41, no. 3 (2003), dedicated to early (Louvain: College Erasme, J 995), 43 - 49; Zeichnungen, no. 80) suggests a date of
Netherlandish drawings . Alexander, Medieval Illuminators, 35 - 51, a round t408/14.
2. Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) is consid- 62-7I; Konig, "H ow Did Illuminators '7. Schulze Al tcappenberg, Die italienischetl
ered as one of the earliest collectors; see Draw? " fig. 7, n. 21 (with a list of unfinished Zeichmmgen, no. 81, 42.
Beatrice Hernad, Die Graphiksammlung des manuscript illuminations and bibliography). 18. Metalpoint on boxwood, ca. 13 x 7 cm;
Humanisten Hartmann Schedel (Munich: 9. One of the few campaigns devoted to the New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 346
Prestel, 1990). documentation of underdrawings in manu- and 346A: Scheller, Exemplum, no. 19,
3. Koreny, Early Netherlandish Drawings, 12, scripts was dedicated to the Turin-Milan 218 -25 ; Philippe Lorentz, " Les ca rnets de
speaks of barely six hundred preserved Hours; see Anne H . Van Buren, James H. dessins, 'Iaboratoi res' de la creation arris-
fifteenth-century Netherlandish drawings. Marrow, and Silvana Pettenati, Heures de tique," in Paris 1400: Les Arts sous Charles
4. For tbe relationship berween drawings a nd Turin-Milan, Inv. No. 47, Museo Civico d'Arte VI, exh. cat. (Pa ris: Fayard; Reunion des
book illumination in general, see Marc W. Antica, Torino: Commentary (Lucerne: musees nationaux, 2004), 304 - 6. The book
Evans, Medieval Drawings (London: Hamlyn, Faksimile Verlag, 1996), 247-401; Anne H. was executed in a first campa ign in France
1969); Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Van Buren: "The First Ca mpaign for Jean de a round the middle of the fourteenth century
I111,minators and Their Methods of Work Berry'S Book of Hours, Prayers, and Masses," and in a second ca mpaign around 1385-1400.
(New Haven: Yale Un iversity Press, 1992); in Le Dessin sous-jacent et la technologie dans For ea11y model books see a lso Ulrike Jenni,
Christopher de Hamel, Scribes and la peinture: Colloque XII, I I - I 3 septembre "The Phenomena of Change in the
Illuminators (London: British Museum Press, 1997: La Peinture dans les Pays-Bas au 16e Modelbook Tradition around 1400," in
199 2); Robert W. Scheller, Exemplum: Model- siecle, ed. Helene Verougstraete and Roger van Drawings Defined, ed. Konrad Oberhuber
Book Drawings and the Practice of Artistic Schoute (Louvain: College Erasme, 1999), (New York, 1987), 35-47.
Transmission in the Middle Ages (ca. 900- 317-3 0 . '9. Scheller, Exemplum, no. 21, 233 - 40;
ca. 1470), trans. Michael Hoyle (Amsterdam: 10. Ms. 78.B.14; see Bodo Brinkmann, Die Ulrike Jenni (Das Skizzenbuch des Jaques
Amsterdam University Press, 1995); Susie Fliimische Buchmalerei am Ende des Daliwe: Kommentar zur Faksimileausgabe des
Nash, " Imitation, Invention, or Good Business Burgunderreichs: Der Meister des Dresdener Liber picturalus A 74 der Deutschen
Sense? The Use of Drawings in a Group of Gebetbuchs .md die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit Staatsbibliothek BerlinlDDR [Leipzig: VCH ,
Fifteenth-Century French Books of Hours," in (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), 301-5. 1987J, 6) dares rhe drawings berween 1400
Drawing, 1400-1600: In vention and 11. Buck, Niederliindischen Zeichnungen, and 1420, as Scheller does.
Innovation, ed. Stuart Currie (Aldershot: 25-29,34-36; Koreny, Early Netherlandish 20. Silverpoint, pen, and brush, touches of red
Ashgate, 1998), 12-25; Eberhard Konig, Drawings, 16-18. a nd heightened with whjte on green tinted
" How Did Illuminators Draw? Some 12. Cennino Cennini, The Craftsman's paper, glued on maplewood, 9.5 x 9 cm
Fifteenth-Century Examples, Mostly Flemish," Handbook: The Italian " I1libro deWarte," (33/4 x 3 1/2 in.); Vienna, Kunsthistorisches
in Master Drawings 41, no. 3 (2003): 216-27. trans. Daniel V. Thompson Jr. (1933; New Museum, inv. 5003, 5004; Scheller
5. See a lso Konig, "How Did Illuminators York: Dover, 1954), chap. 5. (Exemplum, no. 20, 226-32) dates it a round
Draw?" 2I9 . '3. Cennini, The Craftsman's Handbook, chap. 1400 - I410.
6. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators, 39. 10. Thompson uses the word style for the 2 1. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville: A

Presumably the most intriguing example of a more usual stylus. The term clothlets is the Manuscript in the British Library, introduc-
book illustrated with drawings is the Utrecht translation of the original Italian term pez- tion by Josef Knisa, trans. Peter Kussi (New
Psalter of a round 820 (Utrecht, Bibliotheek zuole (i.e., little pieces of cloth); see Cennino York: G. Braziller, I983), esp. 26-30 (tech-
der Rijksuniversiteit, Ms. 32, Script. Eccl. Cennini, IIlibro deWarte, ed. Franco Brunello nique and style).
484), discussed in surveys on early medieval (Vicenza: N. Pozza, 1971), I2 n. 5 with refer- 22. Marta Renger, "The Wiesbaden
drawings. See Evans, Medieval Drawings, 8; ences to medieval sou rces such as the Drawings," in Master Drawings 25, no. 4
Koert van der Horst and Jacobus H. A. Theophilus from a round 950 (An Essay upon (1987): 390-4IO; Maurits Smeyers, L'Art de
Engelbregt, Utrecht-Psalter: Vollstiindige Various Arts by Theophillis ... called also la miniature f/amande du VlIl' au XVI' siecle,
Faksimile-Ausgabe, trans. Johannes Rathofer Rugerus, trans. Umbruch R. Hendrie [London: trans. Monique Verboomen (Tournai:
(Graz: Akademische Druck- und John Murray, 1847]), in which the technique Rena issance du livre, 1998), 178, 209.
Verlagsanstalt, 1984). is described. These pieces of cloth were soaked 2 3 . Renger, "Wiesbaden Drawings," 391.
7. Most fifteenth-century Netherlandish draw- with colors, which could be used by touching The reuse and reinterpretarjon of the draw-
ings a re executed with pen and ink; metal- the cloth with a wet brush. ings sometimes involved only the addition of
point is another common medium; see Buck, ' 4. Cennini, Craftsman's Handbook, chap. 15. text and a decorative frame to the existing
Niederliindischen Zeichnungen, 37- 39; drawing.
 116 BUCK

24. Virgin: 14 x 7.2 cm (5 1/2 x 27/8 in.); 33. For rhe Mayer van den Bergh Breviary, see a bare face, see Saint Jerome on fol. 2.-
Melchior: 14 x 7.1 cm (5 1/2 x 23/4 in.); Maurits Smeyers and Jan van der Stock, eds., (Backhouse, The Hastings Hours, 62. ).
Balthasar: 12.8 x 8.4 cm (5 x 3 1/4 in. ); Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts, 1475-1550, 41. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mss. Douce
Kaspar: 13.6 x 6.5 cm (53fs x 21/2 in. ). exh . cat. (Ghent: Ludion Press, 1997),80-81; 219-20; KIen and McKendrick, IIIumi
Renger, "Wiesbaden Drawings, " no. 10, Brigitte Dekeyzer, in Kren and McKendrick, the Renaissance, no. 18.
400-401; Smeyers, Art de la miniature Illuminating the Renaissance, 324-29, 528, 42. For an interpretation, see Master of ,\L--.
{lamande, 209, color ill. 46. no. 92; for the book of hours from the work- of Burg.mdy: A Book of Hours for Engelbc:
25. Renger's attribution shall not be discussed shop of the Master of James IV of Scotland, of Nassau, Oxford, Bodleian Library, intro-
here. Chatsworth, Duke of Devonshire, fol. 39, see duction and legends by Jonathan
26. During this campaign not only were exist- KIen, in KIen and McKendrick, Illuminating J. G. Alexander (New York: G. BraziUer,
ing drawings retouched but new illustrations the Rellaissance, no. 128, fig. 51. 1970 ),18-20.
were also drawn directly onto the manuscript 34. For a discussion of his oeuvre and the his- 43. Alexander (Master of Mary of Burgundy.
pages; see Renger, "Wiesbaden Drawings," tory of attribution, see Anne H. Van Buren, 19), refers to much earlier Anglo-Saxon and
nos. 27-37,405-10. "The Master of Mary of Burgundy and His Byzantine psalters in which "the actors are
27. For examples of grisaille miniatures, see Colleagues: The State of Research and portrayed on rhe blank space of the margins
Pierre Cockshaw, Miniatures en grisaille: Questions of Method," in Zeitschrift fUr with no setting," and to the tradition of "the
Bibliotheque Rayale Albert 1 er (Brussels: Kunstgeschichte 38 (1975): 286-309; gothic marginal drollery" starting in the early
Bibliotheque Royale Albert I er, 1986). For Eberhard Konig et aI., Das Berliner thirteenth century.
the phenomenon discussed here, see also Stundenbuch der Maria von Burgund und 44. By combining painting and drawing, the
Stephanie Buck, "The Impact of Hugo Kaiser Maximilians: Handschrift 78 8 I2 im Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy seems to
van der Goes as a Draftsman," in Master Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen have realized this. This view seems plausible.
Drawings 41, no. 3 (2003): 233-35. zu Berlin Preu/Uscher Kulturbesitz (Berlin: as the illuminator's fundamental reflection on
28. Thomas Kren, in Thomas KIen and Scot Nicolai, 1998); Kren, in KIen and the reality levels of the main miniatures, the
McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: McKendrick, IIIumil!ating the Rellaissance, border decoration, and the book as a physical
The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting 126- 2 7. object is manifest throughout the manuscript:
in Europe, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: J. Paul 35. Kren, in KIen and McKendrick, see Alexander, in Book of Hours for Engelbr:
Getty Museum, 2003), no. 21, 146-47, 524. IIIuminatillg the Renaissance, 147, points Out of Nassau, 14-18 . As rhe trees are drawn in
29. Buck, Niederliindischen Zeichnungen, that the measurements of rhe Voustre Demeure dark ink, it seems uncertain whether the illu-
no. t.2I, 159 - 63; KIen, in Kren and miniature are remarkably similar to those of minator or the scribe, Nicolas Spierinc, was
McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance, the drawing. This certainly argues for a very responsible for them. That problem does not
no. 35, 178, 525. close relationship. The drawing most probably touch upon the core of the question discussed
30. A. E. Popham, Catalogue of Drawings by did not function as the preparatory drawing here, however, and thus shall be excluded.
Dutch and Flemish Artists Preserved ill the for that particular miniature, however, as the
Department of Prints and Drawings in the illuminator did not duplicate mistakes made
British Museum, vol. 5 (London: British by the draftsman.
Museum, 1932), no. 13,65-66, pI. XXIII; 36. This was suggested to me by James
Otto Pacht, The Master of Mary of Burgundy Marrow. I rhank him for sharing his observa-
(London: Faber & Faber, 1948),70, no. 25, tions with me.
pI. 29a; G. I. Lieftinck, Boekverluchters uit 37. The eponymous manuscript is the
de omgeving van Maria van Bourgondii!, Emerson-White Hours in the Houghton
c. '475-c. 1485 (Brussels: Paleis der Library (Cambridge, Mass., Typ. 443-443.1);
Academien, 1969), fig. 132; Anne H. Van KIen, in KIen and McKendrick, IIIumillating
Buren, "Master of Mary of Burgundy," in the Renaissance, 168-78, no. 32.
Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner (New York: 38. See, for example, rhe rocks in rhe Saint
Grove, 1996), vol. 20,727. Anthony miniature in the Emerson-White
31. Today the oeuvre of the Master of Mary Hours (12.0, fig. 32a, detail).
of Burgundy has been divided into several 39. See Buck, Niederliindischen Zeichnungen,
groups. Some of the most inventive miniatures no. 1.21, wirh illustrations from the Master
are to be found in the Hours of Mary of of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian . For
Burgundy in Vienna (Osterreichische that master, see Kren and McKendrick,
Nationalbibliothek, Ms. 1857). Their illumi- Illuminating the Renaissance, 190-98,
nator is now called the Vienna Master of 305-8,316-29, no. 41.
Mary of Burgundy; see KIen, in Kren and 40. London, British Library, Add. Ms. 54782,
McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance, fol. 48v; KIen, in Kren and McKendrick,
126-27, no. 19. Illuminating the Renaissance, no. 41. For an
32. Madrid, Biblioteca nacional, Ms. Vito illustration of the Saint Christopher and Saint
25-5, fol. 68; Kren, in Kren and McKendrick, David of Wales miniatures, see Janet
IIIuminatillg the Renaissance, 142-46, no. 20, Backhouse, The Hastings Hours (London:
fig. 50. British Library, 1996), 6, frontispiece. For