Beschreibung:

The Master of Edward IV (fl.c.1470-90) The Virgin of Humility, miniature on a leaf from the Hours of André de Jauche, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, 1480-90] A delightful miniature from the Hours of André de Jauche, painted by the illuminator known as the Master of Edward IV, perfectly exemplifying the individuality and charm of his finest style. 182 x 123mm. The miniature with the Virgin seated on the ground in front of a parade tent with the Christ child on her lap reaching towards two kneeling angels, all within a narrow rope-like border and above seven lines of text; on the verso similar initials and line-endings within 23 lines of text in a lettre bâtarde in brown-black ink, rubrics in pink, ruled space: 113 x 75mm (perhaps slight fading to midtone of tent, slight oxidisation on three white flowerheads). Framed. Provenance: (1) The parent manuscript was commisioned by André de Jauche, seigneur de Sassigny (b. c.1460) (see Leuchtenders Mittelalter V (2008), no 18, pp.254-264). Two further leaves with the same rope-like frames and arched tops as our Virgin of Humility, and sixteen smaller miniatures likely from the same manuscript are in the Wildenstein collection at the Musée Marmottan in Paris (Inv. M.6279, 6282 and M.6288-6299); another leaf is in a private collection (see L. de Kesel, 'Heritage and Innovation in Flemish Book Illumination at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century: Framing the Frames from Simon Marmion to Gerard David', Books in Transition at the Time of Philip the Fair, 2010, p.122. On the Jauche Hours and these sister leaves see H. Wijsman, Luxury Bound. Illustrated Manuscript Production and Noble and Princely Book Ownership in the Burgundian Netherlands (1400-1550), 2010, p.426). (2) Christie's, 15 November 2006, lot 4. The Master of Edward IV was named after his work in two volumes of a Bible historiale produced for the English king in 1479. A large corpus of work dating from the 1470s to the 1490s has been attributed to him, but it is in manuscripts of the 1480s that his highest quality illumination is found. During this period his approach was fresh and inventive and his handling careful and consistent: in some cases he appears to have been responsible for painting borders and major initials as well as miniatures. Perhaps the most remarkable, and certainly the most enchanting, of these is a Book of Hours in Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery (Hart Ms 20884); extensively illustrated it demonstrates the compositional invention and narrative skill for which the Master is known. It is to this manuscript that the present miniature shows the closest relationship. The initials, border and even decorative motifs, such as the rope-like frame, can all be matched in the Blackburn manuscript, and both are the work of the same scribe. It seems probable that they followed the same decorative scheme and that the present miniature was the right-hand page of a double-page spread that opened the Office of the Virgin in a comparably luxurious Book of Hours. For the Master and his works see Illuminating the Renaissance, the Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, eds T. Kren and S. McKendrick, 2003, pp.295-305 and 335-343. The present miniature is mentioned and illustrated in the most recent publication on the Blackburn Hours: S. McKendrick, 'Contextualising the art and innovations of the Master of Edward IV in the Blackburn Hours (Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Hart MS 20884)', A British Book Collector: Rare Books and Manuscripts in the R.E. Hart Collection, 2021, p.117 and fig.4.13.