The Master of Cardinal de Bourbon (active final decades 15th century)

The Master of Cardinal de Bourbon (active final decades 15th century)
The Hours of François Le Clerc, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1480s-90s]
An engaging, dramatic and iconographically eccentric deluxe Hours richly illuminated by the Master of Cardinal de Bourbon for the Le Clerc family, barons of La Forêt-Le-Roi, La Motte, Luzarches and later Fleurigny, and seigneurs of Chaumont and Givry.

146 x 97mm. ii + 144 +ii leaves, bound too tightly to collate, sporadic modern foliation in pencil (very faded), 19 lines, ruled space: 81 x 54mm, rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, illuminated initials and line-fillers throughout, each page with illuminated foliate borders, 24 small calendar miniatures with the zodiac signs and occupations of the month, 7 full-page miniatures within elaborate architectural frames, 31 large miniatures within full borders (lacking single leaves with miniatures and text after ff.47, 127, 128 and a single leaf of text after f.143, f.82 misbound). 19th-century green morocco gilt, pink silk endleaves (edges scuffed). Green slipcase and quarter-morocco box, gilt title on spine.

Content:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Passion according to St John ff.13v-22v; Obsecro te ff.23-26v; O intemerata and other prayers ff.27-30; Gospel extracts f.31-38v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.39-81v: matins f.39, lauds f.48 (lacking opening), prime f.58v, terce f.62v, sext f.66, none f.69, vespers f.72, compline f.77v; Hours of the Cross ff.83-85v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.86-102; Short Office of the Dead, with three lessons ff.103-117; suffrages f.118-126v; blank f.127; Douce Dame f.128-139 (lacking opening); prayers ff.140v-144.

Illumination:
The illumination has been attributed by François Avril and Nicole Reynaud to the Master of Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, an enigmatic illuminator named after a Vie et miracles de monseigneur Saint Louis commissioned in 1482 by Cardinal Charles de Bourbon (Paris, BnF, Fr. 2829). His documented career spans the final decades of the 15th century, and his clients included Catherine de Chourses-Coëtivy, for whom he illustrated, between 1484 and 1496, a manuscript of the Douze Périls d’enfer (Arsenal, ms. 5207); a De Bello Judaico; and an Estrif de Fortune (Chantilly, Musée Condé, mss 1061 and 566). Localising his activity has proved difficult: a Book of Hours formerly in the Siraudin collection is for the use of Mâcon and another now at the Bibliothèque municipale in Caen is for the use of Amiens, whereas other Hours attributed to him are for the use of Paris (Paris, BnF, Lat. 1382; Leeds, University Library, Brotherton ms.5). Avril and Reynaud note that the artist very rarely collaborated with anyone else: the one notable exception is in the Siraudin Hours, where the single miniature not in his hand is by a follower of Maître François. This, and his royal and courtly Parisian clientele throughout the 1480s and 90s establishes him firmly – for this period at least – within the Parisian artistic milieu. The Master's style finds echoes in the work of Maître François, but the richness of his palette and greater sensitivity to dramatic perspective lays the foundations for a whole host of Parisian artists to follow, including the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse and Jean Pichore.

The sumptuous full-page miniatures in the present Hours certainly rank among the most dramatic examples of his work: the miniature depicting the Betrayal and Arrest of Christ is an atmospheric night scene where Christ stands radiant in the foreground as the swarms of soldiers coming to arrest him fade into darkness in the background, their helmets glinting with liquid gold, all set against a dark purple background. The extraordinary miniature with scenes from the life of David on f.86 – where receding perspectives portray David spying on Bathsheba, David and Bathsheba in mourning garb, and David defeating Goliath – is a densely-packed composition set within a rich architectural frame that recalls the Master’s work in the Vie et miracles (especially f.47v) and is compositionally very similar to another Hours attributed to the artist’s workshop sold at Sotheby’s on 12 December 1967, lot 23. The artist's ingenuity is at its best in this miniature: instead of the standard scene in which David is spying on Bathsheba from an upper floor window of his palace, he is here on horseback and thus able to look over the wall that surrounds her bath. The composition is so unusual that it was deemed necessary to identify each person with captions in gold. Unusual too is the very final miniature (f.140), depicting Pierre Le Clerc (?) kneeling before the Virgin and Child on a golden ship, with angels trumpeting in the background. Curiously, the porthole closest to the kneeling figure has been overpainted, and on the verso we see that there was once a man's face staring out.

The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows: The Betrayal of Christ f.13; Annunciation f.39; Crucifixion f.83; Scenes from the life of David f.86, with François Le Clerc’s coat of arms; Death seizing a couple hawking, funeral mass and burial f.103; Pierre Le Clerc kneeling before the Virgin and Child sailing on a gold ship f.140.

The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows: Pietà f.23, Virgin and Child f.27; St John on Patmos f.31; St Luke f.32v; St Matthew f.34v; St Mark f.36v; Nativity f.58v; Annunciation to the Shepherds f.62v; Adoration of the Magi f.66; Presentation in the Temple f.69; Flight into Egypt f.72; Coronation of the Virgin f.77v; St Christopher f.118; St Anthony f.119v; St Sebastian f.120v; St Nicholas f.122; St Maurus f.123; Sts Cosmos and Damian f.124; St Catherine f.125; St Barbara f.126; Annunciation f.128v; The Virgin feeling the Child leap in her womb, and telling Joseph f.129v; Nativity f.130v; Annunciation to the Shepherds f.131v; Presentation in the Temple f.132v; Christ among the Doctors f.133v; The Feeding of the Five Thousand f.134v; the Marriage at Cana f.135v; Crucifixion f.136v; Resurrection f.137v; Ascension f.138v; St Francis receiving the stigmata f.143v.

Provenance
(1) Most likely made for Pierre Le Clerc (d.1509), baron de La Forêt-Le-Roi, La Motte and Luzarches, seigneur of Chaumont and Givry, man-at-arms of the Comte de Nevers in the wars against the Burgundians, and royal chamberlain from 1487. The coat of arms on f.5v in the Calendar, or a bend azur, is that of the de Trie family. Mahiette Madeleine de Trie, Dame de Magny, Vaudereuil, Villers, Villebon and Beuminis sous Dourdain, was the mother of Pierre Le Clerc and daughter of Jacques de Trie and Catherine de Fleurigny. It was suggested in the 1982 Sotheby’s catalogue that the miniature on f.140, showing a man with grey hair wearing a gold chain of office and kneeling before the Virgin and Child on a ship might have been Pierre Le Clerc giving thanks for the safe delivery of his son. More probable though, is that the miniature has something to do with safety at sea, and that there is a nautical context to the family: there are anchors beneath the Crucifixion on f.83, and anchors hanging from the second 'F' in the inscription on f.86 (see below). The kneeling figure seems to have originally been of a different colour, and overpainted in black.

(2) François Le Clerc, Baron de Fleurigny (1481-1555): his added arms on f.86, with the inscription ‘F. ATQUE F.’. François acquired the Fleurigny estates in 1513 and incorporated the Fleurigny arms into his own. Like his father, he was the King’s chamberlain and maître-d'hôtel ordinaire, and later Captain and Governor of Sens and Villeneuve-le-Roi. He built the castle at Fleurigny.

(3) William Peckover (1790–1877), bibliophile and philanthropist: his signature dated 1828 on flyleaf. By descent to:

(4) Alexander, 1st Baron Peckover (1830-1919): his bookplate on f.ii (see de Ricci, English Collectors, p.166). Sold by his heirs at Sotheby’s 22 June 1982, lot 81. Bought by Alexandre Rosenberg for £16,500.

(5) Rosenberg Ms 20.