BOURDICHON, Jean

This large full-page illumination depicting the Adoration of the Magi, comes from the Book of Hours of Henry VII of England, of which only a few dispersed pages remain.

Anne of Brittany (Anne de Bretagne, 1477-1514) was the last independent Breton ruler, who became queen to two successive French kings, Charles VIII and Louis XII. In all, four Books of Hours from her possessions have survived: two miniature editions, one of middle-size format and a codex of extraordinary size and weight, destined for use in a chapel rather than in a private room. When she died in 1514, she was praised for her patronage of the arts and her predilection for luxury. Particularly the Grandes Heurs confirm this reputation.

The brilliant miniatures and borders of this book were made by Jean Bourdichon. His work excels in clearly conceived compositions while the illustrations take an energetic step forward from the Gothic to the Renaissance style.

The miniature on folio 51v depicts the Nativity, an outstanding nocturnal scene.

Folio 4r is a calendar page for the month of September, including a list of various saints’ names and the introductory ligature KL, an abbreviation for Kalendae, the Latin designation for the first day of the month.

The devotional picture on folio 46v shows the Flight into Egypt. It demonstrate the masterly talent of Bourdichon. In this monumental composition, the group of figures has been placed in the extreme foreground so that the margin even severs the legs of the saddled animal and the Virgin’s cloak. Framed by a blue rock recalling Leonardo da Vinci’s compositions, the apocryphal Miracle of the Corn is depicted in the background.

The exact date of the secular manuscript Quatre �tats de la soci�t� is not known, but judging by its style and the figures’ costumes it must have been executed at roughly the same time as two other secular manuscripts by Bourdichon, Le Voyage de Gênes (c. 1508, Biblioth�que National, Paris, MS. fr. 5091) and the Epîtres des po�tes royaux (c. 1510; National Library, St Petersburg,MS. fr. F.v. XIV, 8).

The picture shows four leaves irregularly cut out around the gilded frames of the miniatures. Their original location remains unknown, but they may have formed part of a book, possibly a collection of moralizing poems. The miniatures are clearly by Bourdichon’s hand: they have his characteristic figures, drapery, gold tooling, colours, effects suggesting sunset or night and his descriptive taste for interiors and furnishings. They were surrounded by the usual graded violet-hued background imitating the shadow cast by their flat gilded frames.

This miniature is from a series entitled Les Quatre �tats de la Soci�t� (The Four Social Conditions), and probably painted to illustrate a moralizing tract.

This miniature is from a series entitled Les Quatre �tats de la Soci�t� (The Four Social Conditions), and probably painted to illustrate a moralizing tract.

This miniature is from a series entitled Les Quatre �tats de la Soci�t� (The Four Social Conditions), and probably painted to illustrate a moralizing tract. It provides a glimpse of daily life in a noble household in the early years of the sixteenth century.

This miniature is from a series entitled Les Quatre �tats de la Soci�t� (The Four Social Conditions), and probably painted to illustrate a moralizing tract. It provides a glimpse of daily life in a noble household in the early years of the sixteenth century.

This miniature is from a series entitled Les Quatre �tats de la Soci�t� (The Four Social Conditions), and probably painted to illustrate a moralizing tract.

This illustration for the month of January in the calendar of this Missal shows a comfortable bourgeois sitting down to a meal of small birds roasted whole. He has a knife but no fork.