Workshop of the Master of the Lübeck Bible

Workshop of the Master of the Lübeck Bible
St Clare, miniature on a leaf of a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [southern Netherlands (Ghent or Bruges), c.1500]
An engaging miniature from what would have been a deluxe Book of Hours by the workshop of one of the most eccentric artists working in the Flemish Renaissance: the Master of the Lübeck Bible.

188 x 130mm, the miniature opening the suffrage of St Clare, verso with two lines of text with a slim three-sided border (damaged by water and fire?). Laid down on vellum. Provenance: (1) Inscribed in 19th(?)-century pencil ‘No 751752314’. (2) Sotheby's, 5 July 2016, lot 11.

The style of the vigorously modelled miniature of St Clare is strongly reminiscent of the work of the Master of the Lübeck Bible, an artist who takes his name from the celebrated series of woodcuts he designed for a Bible printed by Stephan Arndes at Lübeck in 1494, but who was also an active and eccentric illuminator. Localising the Master has proved difficult, since his woodcut designs appear in books produced in Germany and France (but often seem to be very Italianate in flavour), while his manuscripts point to Flanders and perhaps Spain. He was closely associated with the Master of James IV of Scotland at various intervals in his career - including in the Spinola Hours (Los Angeles, Getty Museum Ms. Ludwig IX 18). The present miniature finds strong parallels with a series of miniatures depciting female Saints in New York (Morgan Library, MS G.46) and Cambridge (Fitzwilliam Museum, Ms, Marlay Cuttings Sp.5) associable with the workshop of the Master. We see a similar manner of depicting women with broad foreheads, wide-set eyes and fleshy cheeks, and weak jawline (see, T. Kren and S. McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance, 2003, pp.380-1).