Circle of the Master of the Munich Golden Legend

Circle of the Master of the Munich Golden Legend

St Mark writing his Gospel, miniature cut from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1460s]

An enchanting, accomplished miniature by a French artist influenced by the International Gothic style.



c.92 x 65mm., a cutting of an arch-topped miniature, trimmed to its edges, depicting St Mark, seated on a high-backed wooden seat, inspecting the nib of his pen, the opening words of his pericope, ‘In illo tempore’, on a scroll on his lap, his symbol the winged lion looking at him, attractively set on a green tiled floor against a blue cloth of gold wall hanging and a diaper background, the reverse with nine lines of text in textura script, comprising part of the gospel extract from Mark 6:14–20: ‘[in]credulitatem illorum et duritia[m …] Signa autem eo[s]’ (a neat cut near the top, carefully repaired, otherwise in excellent condition). Mounted and framed.



Illumination:

The engaging style of illumination is firmly rooted in the International Gothic traditions harking back to the Bedford, Boucicaut and Mazarine Masters. Elements (the softly modelled face of St Mark, the figures set on a patterned floor against a richly brocaded tapestry and diapered backgrounds) recall the work of Antoine de Lonhy, an artist who was identified in 1989 by François Avril with the Saluces Master, originally named after his miniatures in British Library Add. MS. 27697, bearing the Saluces arms over those of the original owner (for the identification and the complicated genesis of the manuscript, see F. Avril, \'Le maître des Heures de Saluces : Antoine de Lonhy\', Revue de l\'art, 85, 1, 1989, pp.9-34), but the style and palette are softer and are more akin to the work of the Master of the Munich Golden Legend, an artist named after Munich, Staatsbibliothek, cgm 3, who emerged out of the circle of the Bedford Master and his collaborators (see, for example, the Master\'s depiction of St Matthew in a Book of Hours at the Morgan Library, MS M.282, f.17, where we find a very similar Evangelist with dotted brown eyes and placid downward gaze, soft pink fleshtones, richly gilt brocaded tapestries and patterned green floors).