Strossmayerov časoslov: [2] Komentar
Gespeichert in:
| 1. Verfasser: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Buch |
| Sprache: | Latin Croatian |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Zagreb
Školska Knjiga
2011
|
| Online-Zugang: | Inhaltsverzeichnis Abstract |
| Beschreibung: | XIII, 461 S. 20 cm |
| ISBN: | 9789531549585 9789530619685 |
Internformat
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| 264 | 1 | |a Zagreb |b Školska Knjiga |c 2011 | |
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Datensatz im Suchindex
| _version_ | 1804148357993594880 |
|---|---|
| adam_text | SADRŽAJ
Slobodan Kaštela,
Ante Vulin
PREDGOVOR
.....................................................................
IX
FOREWARD
.......................................................................
XI
Iva Pasini
Trzec
UVOD
...................................................................................1
Časoslov
-
molitvena knjiga za
privatnu
pobožnost
..................................................5
Nastanak i razvoj
....................................................................5
Značenje i uloga
....................................................................10
Struktura i sadržaj
................................................................11
Proizvodnja
...........................................................................15
Naručitelji
.............................................................................19
Uporaba i čitalačke navike
....................................................20
Materijali i tehnike
...............................................................21
SITNOSLIKARSTVO U PARIZU
.....................................27
STROSSMAYEROV ČASOSLOV
.........................................59
-
v
-
Povijest istraživanja i izlaganja
..............................................59
Provenijencija
........................................................................68
Knjižni opis
..........................................................................78
Struktura oslikanih stranica
..................................................82
Kalendar
...............................................................................85
Majstor Karla
VIII,
i sitnoslike u Kalendaru
.........................95
Siječanj
..........................................................................100
Veljača
...........................................................................107
Ožujak
...........................................................................112
Travanj
...........................................................................116
Svibanj
...........................................................................121
Lipanj
............................................................................125
Srpanj
............................................................................129
Kolovoz
.........................................................................134
Rujan
.............................................................................139
Listopad
.........................................................................143
Studeni
..........................................................................148
Prosinac
..........................................................................152
Majstor
Jacquesa de Besançona
i
sitnoslike
Časoslova
.......... 158
Čitanja evanđelja
................................................................. 176
Ivanovo evanđelje
..........................................................179
Lukino evanđelje
...........................................................184
Matejevo evanđelje
........................................................190
Markovo evanđelje
.........................................................195
Mise za Djevicu Mariju
.......................................................198
Obsecróte
.......................................................................202
O intemerata..................................................................
205
-
VI
-
Časovi Blažene Djevice Marije
.............................................211
Matutinum
....................................................................212
Laudes
............................................................................220
Prima
.............................................................................226
Tertia.............................................................................231
Sextia.............................................................................235
Nona
..............................................................................239
Vesperae
.........................................................................243
Completorium
................................................................246
Pokajnički psalmi i Litanije
.................................................250
Časovi Križa
.......................................................................261
Časovi Duha Svetoga
..........................................................271
Služba za pokojne
................................................................277
Molbenice...........................................................................287
Dekorativne
bordure
...........................................................305
Inicijali
...............................................................................326
EPILOG
.............................................................................335
CITIRANA LITERATURA
.............................................339
PRILOZI
............................................................................381
Popis kratica
.......................................................................381
Transkripcija svetaca u Kalendaru
......................................383
Tekstovna analiza
s
latinskim incipitima
.............................390
Struktura sveščića
................................................................415
Popis cvijeća u bordurama
..................................................419
-VII —
Popis
ptica i kukaca u bordurama
.......................................424
Popis životinja u bordurama
................................................425
Popis čudovišta u bordurama
..............................................426
POPIS SLIKOVNIH PRILOGA
.......................................429
SUMMARY
.......................................................................431
KAZALO OSOBA
.............................................................455
-VIII-
SUMMARY
The
Strossmayer
Hours is a rare and
—
within the framework of the Cro¬
atian art heritage
-
an exceptionally valuable and a well preserved work of
the l^^-century book illumination. Thanks to several of its features (time
and place of origin, stylistic characteristics), the
Strossmayer
Hours may be
described as unique in the Croatian illumination tradition. Since beco¬
ming a part of the collection of the
Strossmayer
Gallery of Old Masters
of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, as a gift of Bishop
Josip
Juraj
Strossmayer (1815-1905)
on the festive occasion of the opening of
the Gallery on
9
November
1884,
it has, until the present date, remained
almost entirely unknown to the domestic and completely unknown to the
international professional public. Except for several minor reviews, it has
not been adequately scientifically researched; the fundamental issues of the
history-of-art nature
—
a more precise analysis, attribution,
datation,
prove¬
nance and valorisation (along with many other unknown data)
—
remained
therefore open.
The
Strossmayer
Hours contains
209
leaves organised in twenty-eight
gatherings. It is bound in red leather, with a golden ornament of a later
date; the dimensions of the covers are
200
χ
135
χ
40
millimetres, and
of the leaves
191
χ
130
millimetres. The text and the illuminations of the
Strossmayer
Hours fill
197
gilt-edged leaves, whilst the first six and the last
six leaves are blank. It follows the Parisian structure of books of hours, i.e.
the sequence is as follows: the Calendar (f. lr—f. 12v); the Gospel Lessons
(f.
14г—
f.
21
r); the Prayers to the Virgin:
Obsecro
te
and
O intemerata
(f.
Ur-i
29v);
the Hours of the Virgin (f.
ЗОг
-f.
105v); the Penitential Psalms
and the Litany (f.
ІОбг
-f.
124v); the Hours of the Cross (f. 26t-L·
133г)
and the Hours of the Holy Spirit (f.
ΐΗτ-ί
139r);
the Office of the Dead
(f. MOr-f. 185r); the Suffrages (f.
Іббг-Е
197v).
Except for the blank leaves
and the Calendar, which is bound in a separate gathering of twelve leaves,
the whole manuscript has been collated per eight leaves
/
four
bifolios.
Gatherings are indicated by reclames (Fr.
гесЫте),
the role of which was
-431-
to ensure the proper sequence in binding. The caesura between the two
main sections or illuminated hours inside the same gathering is marked by
either a blank page or a blank leaf, which are an indication to the fact that
there had been systematic endeavours for the manuscript to be organised
in a legible and a logical fashion; the result thereof is that each of the main
chapters of the
Strossmayer
Hours begins at the recto side, i.e. on the right-
hand side, and is additionally marked by a blank page on the left-hand side.
Such structuring must have been »arranged« subsequently: most probably
after the pages had been ruled, yet certainly before the text and illumina¬
tions had been written. This becomes evident since on all the leaves of the
manuscript (except in the Calendar), on both sides, pages are divided in an
identical manner by lines, which are not visible only on the blank pages,
but may also be barely discernible (underneath) on the pages with minia¬
tures and borders. This wish for certain chapters of the
Strossmayer
Hours to
be marked and separated in a well laid out sequence finds its confirmation
in the completely blank leaf that follows the Calendar, which was subsequ¬
ently added, since it remains out of the bound gatherings.
The text block (except in the Calendar) measures approximately
90
χ
60
millimetres; it varies insignificantly and is defined by two horizontal
and two vertical lines that extend to the page bottom. The text was written
in sixteen lines within one column. According to the usual practice, the
ruling of the Calendar is different
-
it is composed of eight vertical and
eighteen horizontal lines. The text of the
Strossmayer
Hours has been hand¬
written in high Gothic minuscule of the ceremonial Pre-Renaissance type.
Brown-black ink has in some places been lit up to light brown, whilst ot¬
herwise, it is dark, almost black. The differences in ink colour (not only in
the impregnation) might be an implication to more than one scribe.
The elements of the text that usually help determining the origin of the
manuscript speak little of the manuscript s provenance, as the Hours of the
Virgin and the Office of the Dead were written following the use of Rome
(Lat. Ad Usům
Romanurn),
while the Litany includes the standard list
01
saints. The Prayers to the Virgin dominantly use masculine word forms
{Et
michifalmulo
tuo
impetres,
»And obtain for me, thy servant«), leaving the¬
reby the question as to the gender of the owner open (male?). More helpful
is the composite Calendar, in which red and blue ink for saints days, or
432-
which the most important ones were distinguished in gold, are interchan¬
ged. The list of saints matches the Parisian group of calendars, published
by Paul Perdrizet; the key difference however lies in one change: the main
Parisian feast
-
3rd January, dedicated to the city patroness St.
Geneviève,
has been omitted, and instead, the universal feast
—
the Octave of St. John
the Evangelist
-
is celebrated. St. Anne is celebrated on her official feast
day,
26
July, instead of on the Parisian date,
28
July. The Calendar of the
Strossmayer
Hours derives thus from the Parisian model, yet by omitting
the characteristic Parisian feast days, it excludes Paris as the potential locus
of use. On the other hand, emphasising the feast day of St. Eutropius (Fr.
Eutrofie)
on
30
April in gold, though it was celebrated in Paris as well (tho¬
ugh not written in gold), indicates the particular importance of this saint
and his city of
Saintes
in the life of the patron of the
Strossmayer
Hours, and
suggests
Saintes as
the potential locus of use.
The
Strossmayer
Hours contains
-
contrary to the expectations based
on the decoration
-
the illustration of only one coat of arms, in heraldic
terminology: d az
au
chevron
d or, accomp. de
3
croissants
du mesme,
pain¬
ted on the chest and the left sleeve of a man holding a bell in his hand,
in the miniature entitled the Announcement of Death, accompanying the
central scene of the Last Communion (f.
140г).
The Office of the Dead is
the only section of the
Strossmayer
Hours in which the text of prayers and
devotions is not focused on the supplicant, but on the deceased, while the
accompanying miniatures refer to persons who commissioned the book,
especially if they illustrate realistic funeral scenes. Besides reflecting the
ideal model of the Christian death, they also serve as an eschatological
reminder, visualising the way to »die well«
(Lat. ars
bene moriendi).
The
dual intent
—
the prayer of the living not only for the dead, but also for
their own blessed death
-
complicates the interpretation of the heraldic in¬
signia shown in the Office of the Dead, since they can belong either to the
deceased person, his or her family, or to the person who commissioned the
book. A further specific feature of the coat of arms in the
Strossmayer
Hours
is its position on the tunic worn by the herald of death. The custom was for
the representatives of confraternities to announce the death of their pro¬
minent members
(Fr. confrère)
by bell tolling in the streets. Here the usual
illustration of a confraternity s patron saint is replaced by the coat of arms.
-433-
Many families from different parts of France had the same family crest,
as referred to in the grand French heraldic catalogue, Grand Armorial
de
France
(1934-1949);
beside the written sources, miniatures too indicate its
general diffusion: e.g. the coat of arms (with violet shield) in the miniature
the Burial Scene (Paris, BM, MS.
955,
f. 12v); the coat of arms (with silver
chevron) in the miniature Holy Bishop and the Patron (Paris, BM, MS.
410, £
306v). Neither of the mentioned comparable coats of arms had been
solved in the French heraldic literature; equally, the identity of the one in
the
Strossmayer
Hours (which may only with a high level of precaution be
interpreted as a particular family s crest) remains an open issue.
Though the
Strossmayer
Hours contains no heraldic insignia that mi¬
ght be an obvious sign of who the patron was, there are indications as
to his presence in the evolvement of the manuscript. The list of saints in
the Calendar, altered in comparison with the Parisian calendars, narrows
-
as already mentioned
-
the circle around the place of the origin of the
manuscript (Paris), and, even more accurately, to the precise locus of its
use
(Saintes?),
enabling thereby the localisation of the patron. Moreover,
indications as to the patron
-
a wealthy one, most probably
-
may be fo¬
und in the rather large number of illuminated feasts in the Calendar; the
number of illuminations in the prayer book section; the abundance of gold
used; and the careful choice and order of illuminated pages introducing the
main sections and hours of the
Strossmayer
Hours. All the above-mentioned
features define the manuscript not as a standardised work prepared for the
market, but rather as a work ordered by an upper-class representative for
private use.
The history of the manuscript, from its occurrence in Paris to its ente¬
ring the famous collection of the bibliophile and art lover Henri
d Orléans
(1822-1897),
Duke of Aumale and the fifth son of the French king Louis-
Philippe, remains unknown (his monogram HO with three fleurs-de-lis, a
crown and a label is shown on the first and the last illuminated page of the
book). Due to being heirless, the Duke bequeathed his collection of illumi¬
nated manuscripts and paintings and his
Chantilly
property to the French
Institute on 3rd June
1884.
Bishop
Strossmayer
had already owned the Stro-
ssmayer Hours as early as at that time, or, more accurately, since
1877,
as
confirmed by archival research. The concrete date of the purchase
(24
April
-434-
1877)
and the amount paid
(1,800
liras)
were mentioned by canon Nikola
Voršak
(1836—1880),
the Bishop s faithful correspondent from Rome and
one of the most important mediators for the acquisition of the works of
art for the Bishop s collection. Bishop
Strossmayer
had however decided to
donate the
Strossmayer
Hours to the Gallery at its festive opening. On that
occasion, in his inaugural speech, he mentioned all the most distinguished
works of art and art schools, particularly pointing out the
Strossmayer
Hours
by showing it to the guests and naming it »the pearl in the collection«.
The metaphor used by Bishop
Strossmayer
is a vivid description of the
luxury emitting from the
Strossmayer
Hours. Besides the abundance of gold
used, every page of the manuscript was decorated. Illuminated pages (as
»bookmarks«), always at the recto side of the leaf, precede the main sec¬
tions (except the Calendar and the Suffrages); the text itself continues at
the verso side. The compositional structure, i.e. the page organisation, is
repeated: a larger framed miniature (arched rectangle,
92
millimetres high
and
60
millimetres wide) is flanked by a decorative border, the lower and
right margins of which interchange with narrative-historiated rectangular
borders
(cca
39
χ
29
millimetres); the lower left miniature is of almost squ¬
are dimensions
(cca
39
χ
35
millimetres). Historiated initials
(Lat. litiera
historiata) are placed in their own frame of identical width, followed by the
first three lines of the text. The central scenes use the standard set of themes
for a book of hours, and they are closely related to the text that follows,
announcing, completing and explaining it in order to facilitate the reading.
Four smaller miniatures continue the narrative of the central scene, but
-
due to differences in the chronological order
—
they do not always appear
in the same order. The first and the last section of the Book of Hours
-
the
Calendar and the Suffrages
—
show a different organisational structure of
the illuminated pages. The illuminated pages of the Calendar make a ho¬
mogenous compositional whole. The text block
(cca
92
χ
63
millimetres)
was framed at the inner part of the leaf by a reverse-Z-shaped decorative
border. The outer margin was formed by three vertically positioned rectan¬
gles picturing the feasts
(cca
40
χ
23
millimetres), while the lower margin
was closed by a horizontally positioned rectangular imagery of labours of
the months on the recto page and of zodiac signs on the verso page
(cca
60
χ
33
millimetres). The illustrations of the saints in the Suffrages were
-435-
incorporated in the text, always along the left margin, but at a different
height, and borders on the three outer sides outlined the text. The saints
were placed either in nearly a square with an illusionistic »wooden« frame
on three sides
(cca
40
χ
42
millimetres) or in a vertical rectangular frame
with an arched top
(cca
59
χ
41
millimetres). Illuminated pages with text
flanked on the outer margin by a decorative border
(cca
92
χ
26
millime¬
tres) are the final variation.
A comprehensive analysis of illuminations as individual works of art,
with an indication of stylistic and
iconographie
parallels and models, reve¬
aled strong links to the traditions of two Parisian schools of illumination.
The central artistic figures of those schools had to be given names of con¬
venience. While the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
(Fr.
Maître de Jacques
de Besançon)
was as early as at the end of the 19th century acknowledged
as a separate artistic personality, and the first research of his opus is dated
then, it was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the Master of
Charles the Eight
(Ger. Meister Karls VIII)
was included into the Parisian
illumination milieu of the late 15th century.
The miniatures in the Calendar may be described as being similar
-
to
a certain extent
-
to the manner in which the Master of Charles the Eight
had worked. They are characterised by non-uniform proportions of figures
that vary in relation to their thematic importance (hierarchical perspecti¬
ve), and sometimes also in relation to the space available. Thus, the unity
of proportions had been considered neither within a single page nor within
the Calendar as a whole; moreover, not even within a single frame. It is only
the frame that ties a page into a unity as regards its visual aspect. With their
size, the figures almost press out the space around them and relate actively
to the frame. These are half-length figures; the upper margin of the mini¬
ature often cuts a part of their head, or rather the headdress and the halo.
In miniatures showing two saints (or
figurai
groups), the margins of the
frame cut into the figures and the motives even stronger. The fragmentarity
of the chosen frame
-
as a procedure
-
links all the miniatures. In book
illumination, portraying half-length figures in close-up in narrative scenes
was introduced by Simon Marmion
(cca
1425-1489),
French painter and
illuminator, most probably under the influence of a younger panel painter
Hugo van
der
Goes
(cca
1440-1482).
This innovative solution (in book
436-
illumination)
had further directly influenced the Flemish and the Fren¬
ch illuminators, first and foremost Jean Bourdichon
(cca
1457—1521),
who
integrated Jean
Fouqueťs (cca 1425-cca
1478)
earlier solution, showing
the figures in front of an illusionistic frame with figures in close-up, and
thereby combined the French and the Flemish inventions into a formula to
become broadly accepted in the French book illumination.
Miniatures in the Calendar are further characterised by common ty¬
pological solutions of narrow range: two ages for males and two ages for
females, whereby the illuminator most often portrays old, grey-haired and
grey-bearded male figures. A sharp contour borders the austere facial fe¬
atures (oval in female figures, square in male figures). Men are of darker
complexion, whilst female figures are of lighter; figures of both sexes are
characterised by round and half-closed eyes, gentle arched eyebrows and
narrow noses. The eyebrow bows in males are often wave-like; in this ma¬
nner, the illuminator endeavours to achieve their expressiveness and emo¬
tional reaction. The faces of the figures bear no distinctive features of the
model; they are most often shown in a half-profile, either left or right. It
was on one occasion only that the illuminator had used the typical Italian
Renaissance portrait impostation: in the full-profile of Simon, in the mi¬
niature St. Simon and St. Judas accompanying the month of October (f.
lOv). The figure physiognomies are plump and round: the monolithic mass
of clothes covering their bodies emphasises such impression even stronger.
The illuminator draws the hair and the clothing drapery in a more marked
manner, and frames entire figures by a line.
Male and female saints are positioned in either an interior or a lan¬
dscape; this varies depending on the decorative principle defining the
page design. The impression of the architectural interior was achieved by
a simply outlined greyish wall, which is often articulated by adding arc¬
hitectural elements (pilasters and architraves), and at times opened into a
spatial niche. The landscapes are pictured by a set of coloured areas, mostly
brown-green and blue; sometimes, the illumination brings a suggestion of
an illuminated town in the distance. The landscape is to a certain extent
more important in the miniatures with the iconography of labours of the
months and zodiac signs, since there is more space left for the landscape
there; however, the space in these miniatures was built in the same fashi-
-437-
on as already described. Azure hills with only suggested fortifications are
the most common way of presenting the landscape background, describing
the distance by applying a simple solution (motives diminishing in the
depth), whilst the horizon in the horizontally positioned miniatures is pla¬
ced relatively low. In describing the architectural interior, slopes of various
directions (inconsistent shortenings of perspective) were used, whilst in
connection with more demanding impostations and gestures, illogicalities
and confusion become more evident. Narrative scenes are simple as regards
the details and general as regards the choice of impostation, so that the
narrative description is limited to the basic plot or event identification.
The drawings are rough, particularly the drawings of animals. The infrared
photo of the Aquarius shows that there are no indications as to any changes
or corrections having been made in the drawing or the painted parts (It.
pentimenti,
penitence); this is a clear sign not only of the authorship of a
trained and technically skilled illuminator, but
-
most probably
-
also of
the author having used and followed models.
A similar manner of figure portrayal in the Calendar of the
Strossmayer
Hours may be found in the Calendar of the Book of Hours for Charles the
Eight (private collection), which had
-
through the mediation of the book¬
seller and publisher
Antoine Vérard
(active
1485-1512) -
been illuminated
for King Charles the Eight
(1470-1498)
in the early 1490s; this is confir¬
med by the monogram AVR, the King s name and the device
J aime tant
fort une.
Though it had earlier been attributed to the Master of the Grand
Royal Book of Hours (Fr.
Maître des Grandes Heures Royales)
(König,
1989),
more recently, it was singled out and recognised as an extraordinary
and impressive manuscript in the forming of a new opus and a new artistic
personality. In
2004,
Ina
Nettekoven named the illuminator the Master of
Charles the Eight, and recognised the Book of Hours, the page structure of
which imitates the early printed
exempla
of books of hours, not as a pro¬
totype, but as a derivative of the
Grandes
Heures Royales
(printed for Anne
de Beaujeu
on
20
August
1490).
Due to similar formation principles, the
illuminator was identified as assistant (Fr.
associé)
in the workshop of the
Master of the Apocalypse Rose
(Ger. Meister der Apokalypsenrose),
lhe
fact that the Master of Charles the Eight had been chosen to illuminate
the Royal order may
-
with a high level of probability
-
be explained by
— 438 —
the role of the bookseller (in this case,
Antoine Vérard)
and the assumption
that the illuminator had been active as an independent master.
The typological solutions and the formative principles followed in the
Calendar of the Book of Hours for Charles the Eight {Fig.
5)
are almost iden¬
tical to those followed in the Calendar of the
Strossmayer
Hours. Neverthe¬
less, the aberrations are noticeable in a more concretely defined framing
and the manner of picturing landscapes, whereby the miniatures in the
Zagreb Calendar seem closer to painting, whilst the ones in the Book of
Hours for Charles the Eight are characterised by a stronger linear drawing,
which is primarily visible in framing green hills and picturing a town in
the background. The miniatures in the Calendar of the
Strossmayer
Hours
might therefore only with a lot of precaution near those in the Calendar of
the Book of Hours for Charles the Eight.
The compositional and
iconographie
features and the figure typology
of other miniatures in the
Strossmayer
Hours are the proof of the author¬
ship of the Master of Jacques
de Besançon, an
outstandingly productive
artist, whose school had dominated the Parisian book illumination scene
in the last two decades of the 15th century. In the period between
cca
1480
and
1498,
he had illuminated numerous liturgical, theological and secular
works (mostly, however, books of hours and missals) for patrons from a
wide social span: he was rather popular with the wealthy aristocracy and
bourgeoisie, and was receiving orders also from the French and English
Royal circles. He was an associate and the successor of the school of Ma¬
ster
François (Maître François,
active
1460-1480),
from whom he took
over the spatial and compositional solutions; thereby, he followed the main
Parisian book illumination line, spreading from Master Boucicaut (active
1390-1430)
and Master Bedford (active
1405-1450?)
to Master Jean Ro-
lin
(1440-1465).
The Master of Jacques
de Besançon
introduced no ma¬
jor stylistic changes to this acknowledged and routine tradition; certain
characteristics however distinguish his style from Master Francois s: more
elongated figures with softer and smoother features, a palette lighter and
richer in gold, and a more static quality of composition. They reveal the
strive for monumentalism that had emerged probably under the influence
of panel painting and as an answer to the increasing popularity of mul-
tipliable media in book production, which had forced the illuminator to
-439-
retain the position of a master with works exclusive enough to enable him
to keep his wealthy upper-class clients. A further major segment in the
artist s biography was working for
Antoine Vérard,
the leading Parisian
bookseller and publisher active at the turn of the century, who had applied
the mediaeval type of illumination (on parchment) to the modern printing
technique, yet continuing to organise the making of illuminated manus¬
cripts, mostly for wealthy patrons. The Master of Jacques
de Besançon
held
on to the traditional illumination technique (his school was evidently esta¬
blished and renowned enough, so that he was not forced to be tested in a
new medium); he had illuminated the dedication pages for Verard, which
undoubtedly assured him additional orders, as well as richly illuminated
manuscripts. The most obvious proof of the illuminator s »art of getting
along« in the times when printed books gradually started replacing hand¬
written and illuminated books, and at the same time the answer to the
challenge posed by the competition, becomes visible in his artistic manner:
by repeating well known and very often tested compositional solutions, he
managed to create a uniform, easily recognisable, solid and tradition-based
work; such standardisation procedure accelerated his production of a very
popular »product« at the time
-
the book of hours
-
remaining thereby
present and popular in the Parisian market.
The Master of Jacques
de Besançon
differentiates figures by age and
gender, yet he groups them by type. The faces of young girls and women are
oval, eyes round and half-closed, eyebrows thin, nose narrow, lips tiny, and
skin marble-cold. By their beauty and grace, they imitate the typical Pari¬
sian physiognomies. The skin colour in the male figures is darker; the nose
is long and the nostrils wide; the chin is distinctive, providing them with a
degree of roughness; the illuminator varies their age by using different hair
and beard colours. Young men and angels have a feminine quality about
them, with physiognomies and skin colour similar to women s. The hands
and fingers have been done unskilfully, as soft compact masses outlined
by a contour; thanks however to long and thin proportions, they leave an
impression of refinement. The author uses a clear contour to shape the body
of a character. This drawing-like style is important for the whole plastic
modelling, which he achieves by using lines of different thickness, whereby
an effect of tonal values is achieved (»lighter« where thinner, »darker« where
-440-
thicker). The clothing mostly covers the bodies, yet not entirely repressing
the sense of volume, as the rhythm of the drapery (though slightly stylised)
to the major part follows and takes part in the shaping of the bodily curves.
The illuminator demonstrates certain knowledge of the anatomy of the
nude human body (most often in semi-nude); the
stylisation
is present here
to a certain extent, but there is no sensuality. The figures are mostly well
proportioned, with only occasional clumsiness where more demanding
impostations are involved. The clothing varies, demonstrating the typical
clothing repertoire of the late 15th century, whilst the members of the clergy
wear vestments characteristic for individual hierarchical levels. Changes in
fashion in the last two decades of the 15th century are best visible in the
clothes that are worn by the representatives of the upper class, soldiers and
female saints of noble birth. They are primarily reflected in the change of
the shoe form: shoes had become wide and square, contrary to the earlier
long and pointed toe shoes. The neckline on women s clothes had become
of a square form, the skirts touch the floor still revealing bodily curves
(with the drapery occasionally twisting between the legs), and the waist
had been lowered. Men wear trousers similar in form to »leggings« and
short tunics, on occasion with the sleeves cut (for practical reasons), and
narrow-brimmed hats on their heads. The illuminator paints
halos
in two
manners: either as a golden ring with a distinguished margin or as a golden
circle.
Characteristic for the space description is an elevated viewpoint that
accentuates the already strong and swift convergence of the architectural
lines in depth, and an »evasive« sense of perspective. In arranging the interi¬
or, the artist continues combining two traditional solutions: the doll s house
scheme and the interior by implication; the advantages thereof had already
been combined by Master Boucicaut at the beginning of the 15th century
(he had not only influenced his immediate successors, but had also domi¬
nated the Parisian school of illumination and even wider, across the whole
of North-West Europe). He isolated the frontal aperture of the »opened-up«
interior of the doll s house and thereby transformed it into a »diaphragm«:
an archway or doorway, apparently overlapped by the picture frame, which
seems to interpose itself between this frame and the picture space, thus
cutting out a »field of vision« from the context of reality. Our illuminator
-441-
used the same procedure; in order to achieve the illusion of depth, he used
the lines of walls, vaults or ceilings, and furniture arranged in space, with
edges converging into the depth, having however no knowledge of
Alberti
s
laws of perspective (he used »two-point« or »horned« perspective, with one
edge parallel to the picture plane, instead of with one surface parallel to
the picture plane, which was typical for the Gothic masters). His interiors
are shallow and rather steep, almost as the space in the works of the Master
of
Flémalle
(active
1420-40),
which resembles that of a photograph taken
with a wide-angle lens.
In the arched endings of the central scenes showing the interior, there
is usually a hanging cone in the centre of the arch, and a barrel vault or
ceiling behind it. The decoration of the arch is in gold, and its forms and
lace-like structure suggest the use of the Gothic lexis. Though this is a sim¬
ple move into
illusionism (illusionistic
frame), it may still, in accordance
with contemporary examples, be marked as a spatial suggestion of a »win¬
dow frame«, or interpreted as an »altar frame« of miniatures, which adds
to private prayer
-
while reading a book of hours
-
a quality of liturgical
dignity and the sacredness of the church.
In presenting the illusion of landscape depth, the Master of Jacques
de
Besançon
continued using the established northern solutions, the main im¬
pulses of which had already been defined by Master Boucicaut. In showing
the most distant views, most often faraway hills with fortifications, he lit
up the bluish tones. The horizon is placed rather high (in the upper third
of the illuminated space), while spatial belts in a sequence and diminishing
the landscape motives in harmony with the linear perspective help create
the impression of depth. Nevertheless, landscape scenes and the interrelati¬
ons among motives in it are characterised by a swift and sharp evolvement,
not so much by reaching into the depth, but rather by growing into the
height, with no convincing explanations relating to the presence of the spa¬
tial shift. Landscape motives contribute to this; though diminishing into
the depth, they create unexplainably sharp spatial belts due to the strong
asymmetry in height.
His characters are out of proportion in relation to the space they occu¬
py, misfitting interiors and landscapes alike; this primarily refers to smaller
miniatures set within narrative-historiated borders. The characters are usu-
-442-
ally placed at the edge of the illuminated area and are often as high as the
frame itself. Multifigural compositions were built one behind the other, or,
more precisely, one above the other, with a gentle shift in depth; the presen¬
ce of the mass was simplified by sequence and overlapping, mostly of only
partly visible heads. The author repeated the impostation and the gestures;
by combining them, he created many diverse compositions and the narra¬
tive of the set iconography. The literal repetition of figures (frequent use of
the mirror image) was primarily used for the protagonists, the preset typo¬
logies and a strictly defined description of the clothing, facilitating thereby
the recognition of the iconography. When portraying the non-obligatory
characters in the
iconographie
sense, the illuminator »avoided« being li¬
teral by introducing changes not only to the impostation, but also to the
clothing and the skin colour. In almost all the scenes, the illuminator used
cast shadows (as darkened areas on the floor), though the light had been
distributed equally; hence, its source is untraceable.
The Master of Jacques
de Besançon
solved the majority of
iconographie
scenes in the fashion that was common in France in the 15th century. They
had been defined as early as in the previous century, or, more precisely, aro¬
und the year
1400,
when major
iconographie
innovations occurred under
the influence of the Italian art, revealing in themselves the previous influ¬
ence of the Byzantine iconography, with the accentuated pathos of the new
spirituality and the new sensibility presented by the Pseudo-Bonaventura s
Meditationes
Vitae
Christi.
For instance, the rich Christological cycle of the
Strossmayer
Hours reflects the
iconographie
solutions of the earlier Parisian
generations and schools that may be understood better thanks to two main
literary sources: Meditationes
Vitae
Christi,
which primarily brings narrati¬
ves from the life of Jesus Christ full of empathy, and the Golden Legend by
Jacobus
de Voragine,
which had principally served as the literary model for
rich
hagiographie
and
iconographie
details. As a compendium of universal
knowledge, the Golden Legend is one of the most popular and widespread
works. In the editions ordered by the aristocracy and the upper class, it in¬
cludes illuminations showing
-
in a simple manner
-
saints bearing only a
simple differentiating attribute or
-
in the traditional manner
-
martyrdom
or the death of a martyr. Besides following the set
iconographie
situations,
individual less famous saints and legends demand the development of new
-443-
formulas
as well. Using the text as a source for the narrative became com¬
mon in creating the necessary new iconographies, particularly in the well
organised, leading workshops. The Master of Jacques
de Besançon
used
this manner (repeated characters and linked narration) when illuminating,
for instance, the life of St.
Cecile
and the conversion of her husband Vale¬
rian in the Golden Legend (Paris, BnF, MS. fr.
245,
f. 179v). The fact that
he was not only the author of the illuminations for the first illuminated
French translation of the Golden Legend (by
Jean de Vignay),
but that he
literally followed the narrative while illuminating, remains important for
the comprehension of the influence
oí
the Golden Legend in the
iconograp¬
hie
solutions of the rich cycle of miniatures in the
Strossmayer
Hours.
The analysis of the miniatures in the
Strossmayer
Hours has revealed
compositional and
iconographie
concordances and the same typology of
characters as found in many manuscripts attributed to the Master of Jacqu¬
es
de Besançon.
The miniatures in our Book of Hours confirm the repeated
use of compositional solutions (both in the arrangement of the interior and
in picturing the landscape); they may be followed through the illuminator s
entire
œuvre.
Similar variations or equal figure_impostations may easily
be recognised in other books of hours, since they treat the same subject.
Hence, variations of similar schemes (with no significant aberrations) may
be found in all the books of hours, principally achieved by either deduction
or addition of individual figures. The largest number of parallels may be
found for the Nativity Scene (f. 63r) and the Crucifixion (f. 126r), precisely
due to their importance and the frequency of the iconography of these
two motives. The composition of the Nativity Scene from the
Strossmayer
Hours, its spatial arrangement, the cited characters, the positioning and the
design of the stable, are also found in the Nativity scenes in the books of
hours from the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (MS. M.
179,
f. 71r;
MS. M.
231,
f. 69v) and the Columbia University Library {Phoenix Book
of Hours, MS. BP.096, f. 69r), from the Bodleian Library in Oxford (MS.
Canon. Liturg.
43,
f. 211r, Fig.
9;
MS. Liturg.
41,
f. 67v), and the missal
from the Parisian
Bibliothèque
Mazarine (MS.
410,
f. 17r); a
similar positi¬
oning of Virgin Mary and Joseph facing each other (within a single frame)
and the mirror image of the donkey motive
(cf.
one front leg tucked under,
the other extended; ears pricked up; the cutting between the neck and the
-444-
body; the drawing of the head) may be found in the Nativity Scene in the
missal from the Parisian
Bibliothèque
Mazarine (MS.
412,
f.
17г,
Fig.
10).
A lot more parallels may be found for the miniature the Crucifixion in the
works by the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
than for other, less »popular«,
motives in the
iconographie
sense. An identical (or very apt for compari¬
son) solution for the Crucified is repeated in seven of his (or attributed to
him) other solutions (New York, PML: MS. M.
231, £
122v, MS. M.
195,
f. HOv; Phoenix Book of Hours, New York,
CUL,
MS. BP.096, f. 119v;
Oxford,
Bodl.
Lib.: MS. Canon. Liturg.
43,
f. 99r, MS. Liturg.
41,
f. 97v;
Paris, BM, MS.
412, £
157v; the Golden Legend, Paris, BnF, MS. fr.
244,
f. lllr.); Virgin Mary is found in four of them (New York, PML: MS. M.
231,
f. 122v, MS. M.
195, £
llOv; Oxford,
Bodl.
Lib., MS. Liturg.
4L,
f.
97v; the Golden Legend, Paris, BnF, MS. fr.
244, £
lllr.). The most signi¬
ficant parallel offers, however, the Crucifixion, which the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
had made for no book of hours or any other prayer book, but
as an illustration for the Golden Legend (Paris, BnF, MS. fr.
244, £
lllr,
Fig.
11).
In this miniature, beside Jesus and Virgin Mary, the soldiers on
the right reappear: unusual figure of Stephaton, in half-profile from the
back, and Longinus facing him, who does not only point to the Crucified
here, but holds in his right hand a scroll unfolding, saying:
vere
filius
dei
erat
iste;
these words had
—
according to Mark
15:39 -
been uttered by the
centurion (later identified as Longinus): »Truly this man was the Son of
God«. The Master of Jacques
de Besançon
chose to accentuate this sign
in the miniature in the Golden Legend, as it was Jacobus
de Voragine
who
identified Longinus as the centurion. The parallel does not only facilitate
the
iconographie
identification of the soldier in the Crucifixion in the Stros-
smayer Hours; it is even more a proof of how close the two works are: in the
choice of cited impostations, typologies, and solutions of the background
(cf.
hill on the left-hand side, with the top covered by a bush in both mi¬
niatures).
The comparison of the page organisation in the
Strossmayer
Hours, or
rather of the choice of narrative-historiated borders
-
even for »less impor¬
tant« introductory pages, together with other manuscripts attributed to
the Master of Jacques
de Besançon,
pointed to the Book of Hours for Henry
the Seventh from the Pierpont Morgan Library (MS. M.
815),
which is
-445-
-
thanks to its significant numerical superiority of narrative-historiated
borders
-
comparable with the Zagreb manuscript. This manuscript had
been made for King Henry the Seventh of England and
—
to the greatest
part
-
illuminated by the Master of Jacques
de Besançon.
Despite several
hands, the introductory chapters bear the same structure of the illumina¬
ted page, which confirms the page concept had been set in advance, chosen
probably according to the existing models and agreed upon by the bookse¬
ller and the patron or his mediator. Four narrative-historiated borders are
interchangeable with the decorative border, and they frame the main mi¬
niature; with their structure and the choice of
iconographie
solutions, they
completely match the introductory pages of the
Strossmayer
Hours (Fig.
7).
The narrative-historiated borders in the
Strossmayer
Hours are specific
not only because they appear before all the main sections of the Book of
Hours (except for the Calendar and the Suffrages), but also because they
are consequently placed on the recto pages. The Oxford Hours MS. Canon.
Liturg.
43
by the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
is, to the best of my
knowledge, the only example in this illuminator s opus where a single sche¬
me for the introductory leaves in all the chapters was applied, placing them
consequently on the recto page; however, in place of narrative-historiated
borders, architectural frame was used.
Though the miniatures by the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
reveal his
deep Parisian traditional roots and an expressed inclination to repeating
and varying similar schemata with no distinctive aberrations
-
in present-
day terms, his auto-referentiality, the miniatures in the
Strossmayer
Hours
still contain
iconographie
curiosities. This primarily refers to the solution
used for the page containing miniatures for the Penitential Psalms, which
has been described as an original contribution to the opus of the Master of
Jacques
de Besançon
in the sense of the
iconographie
invention, especially
with regard to the historical context through which it may be explained (f.
106r). In respect of the tradition, David remains the protagonist; according
to the conventional scheme, David s repentance, being the most common
presentation, was chosen for the main scene. Added motives were soldier
figures, also appearing in the illumination to the right from the main one.
Since the former illumination is linked with the latter across the edges, the
jubilation of the soldiers and the king may be brought into direct relation
-446-
with David shown in the main scene. Thus, in addition to the repentance
motive, the illuminator introduced another theme
-
the election of the
king and the jubilation of the soldiers; due to the characteristic comic-strip
solution chosen for the illuminated page, this may be apprehended as the
chronological continuance of the previous theme: the meeting of David
and Saul near
Engedi,
when David had spared Saul s life and Saul learnt
that David was to become the King of Israel. King Saul s purple tunic is
decorated with motives that may be interpreted as heraldic: white crescents
and a golden horn. The heraldic insignia on the clothes worn by King Saul
belong to the category of fabricated coats of arms, which have, since the
early 13th century, been given to persons from the Pre-Chivalry. Such fic¬
tional coats of arms became particularly popular in the legends of King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The Master of Jacques
de Be¬
sançon
used very similar heraldic colours and elements of the coat of arms
on the shield belonging to one of the knights in the miniature entitled the
Knights of the Round Table {Lancelot
du
Lac, Paris, BnF,
Rés.
Vélins. 6l4,
f. 3r).
The illuminator added them to Saul s clothes most probably in order
to harmonise different levels of reality and reconcile temporal differences.
David was as soon as in the scene taking place in front of the cave near
Engedi
presented with heraldic insignia
-
the crown and the symbol of
the divinity of the French kings, fleur-de-lis on the flag, indicating thereby
the historical context
ofthat
time, or rather the interpretation of the scene
as
a préfiguration
of a contemporary event and the identification of King
David with a French king, most probably Charles the Eight, who ruled at
the time when the illuminator was active and the manuscript made. This is
supported by the manuscripts in Charles s property, which directly connect
him to the king from the Old Testament (the idea of comparing French
kings to David dates back to the Carolingian Era): the basis of the work
Opus christianissimum
seu
Davidicum (Paris, BnF, MS.
lat.
5971
A) by the
Franciscan Johannes
Angelus
Terzone de
Legonissa is the recognition of
King Charles the Eight as the New David, whilst a Beatus page in the illu¬
minated Psalter made by the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
for King Char¬
les the Eight (Paris, BnF, MS.
lat.
774, f.
Ir)
shows King David praying,
and Charles the Eight accompanying him in prayer. In the beginning of
his reign, Charles the Eight, who succeeded his father Louis the Eleventh
-447-
at the age of thirteen, was supervised by his older sister
Anne de
Beaujeu
(1461-1522)
and her husband Pierre
(1438-1503).
It was only after his
marrying Anne of Brittany in
1491
that Charles officially assumed power
and, as an act of emancipation from his sister and her husband, released
Louis, Duke of
Orléans
(1462-1515)
(as a potential heir, he endeavoured
to participate in making political decisions) and knighted him. This very
gesture of »granting pardon« indicates the possible recognition of events re¬
lated to Charles s assuming power and becoming independent as the ruler
in the scenes from the life of King David and Saul shown in the
Strossmayer
Hours. Both written and painting-art sources confirm the idea of Charles
the Eight being recognised in the described presentations; the issue of the
concrete events remains however unsolved.
Characteristic features of the illuminator s practice were, as already
mentioned, the self-citation of characters and motives and their conveyan¬
ce as ready solutions, constant formulas in similar compositions; neverthe¬
less, the illuminating art of the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
demonstra¬
tes special artistry, as he had created works of art that emit both elegance
and
monumentality.
Distant lit up landscapes bathe in soft light, and the
palette is characterised by the harmony of complementary colours. Light
brown and pink tones are interchanged with wide areas of azure and green.
The choice and the arrangement of colours reflects the emotional charac¬
ter of the scenes, whilst in colouristic solutions, the decorative principle
often prevails (rhythmical exchange of contrasting values). The decorative
poetics is present and implemented everywhere
—
from the linear filling of
planes, reflecting the illuminator s trust in the drawing, to the mediaeval
choice of gestures and impostations. The filling of planes, distinctive to
such an extent that horror
vacui
might be recognised in it, becomes for
instance visible in covering the azure sky by golden stars, regardless of the
time of day (they possess an additional
iconographie
motivation). There
are golden threads in the drapery and the hair of the figures, and in the
treetops. Apart from the decorative accents, the illuminator demonstrates
an inclination to descriptiveness and an eye for details showing the exquisi-
teness of the drawing
(cf.
faithfully portrayed string linking the oar with its
handle in the illumination St. John in the Boat, f. 14r) and the texture
(cf.
lace-trimmed pillow in the Coronation of the Virgin Mary,
£
93r), though,
-448-
when compared to the abundance of details and the realistic treatment of
motives and scenes present in the Flemish illuminations (and in some by
the French contemporaries), the works by the Master of Jacques
de Besa¬
nçon
remain only suggestive in solution and stylised in description. The
illuminator s compositions are well balanced, the scenes well positioned,
and there is tranquillity present in the interpretation of all
iconographie
scenes; even the martyr saints and Jesus Christ in passion give only hints
of pain or suffering (their faces and bodies remain calmly cold, indifferent
to the agony awaiting them), despite the detailed description of the instru¬
ments of torture and the gestures of the torturers (though they are never
shown with a grimace or a grin on their faces, but rather in poses more
similar to dancing). Hence, calm timelessness remains the basic quality of
the illuminations. In the sense of experiencing and interpreting the tasks,
as well as according to the stylistic features, the illuminator s solutions fit
almost entirely the late-Gothic tradition.
The same solutions as to the space, the constructions and the typologies
of the characters, as well as correspondences in compositions, may also be
found in the smaller miniatures within narrative-historiated borders and
the Suffrages, as well as the
figurai
presentations of historiated initials.
More obvious simplifications, suggestiveness and a more emphasised line¬
arity, visible in the cycle of smaller illuminations, might, on the one hand,
point to either one assistant or even to a whole group having, respectfully
following the poetics of the principal illuminator
-
the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
-
illuminated the »less« important sections of the Book of Ho¬
urs, but on the other hand, they might be partly caused by the size of the
miniatures, as the illuminator had had to adjust to their extremely small
dimensions. The illuminator s authorship is thus present and recognisable
in all the miniatures in the
Strossmayer
Hours (except for the Calendar and
the borders); therefore, though the presence of assistant/s (very faithful to
the master
s
fashion) in the creation of the miniatures remains possible,
the Master of Jacques
de Besançon
may beyond any doubt be confirmed
as the author.
The tradition of the two schools of illumination may be easily recogni¬
sed in the
Strossmayer
Hours, as it corresponds entirely to the well known
Parisian manuscript production procedure, in which the booksellers had
-449-
played the leading role in the organisation and co-ordination of the busi¬
ness; due to reduced control over the publishing by the University of Paris,
they had during the 15th century managed to establish a more direct rela¬
tionship with the patrons. They were in charge of all business decisions,
from the acquisition of parchment to engaging scribes and illuminators,
to whom they had sent the gatherings in order for the text and subsequ¬
ently the illuminations to be entered. Due to the increased demand during
the 15th century, individual workshops specialised in producing particular
types of manuscripts, and every illuminator in making a particular type
of illuminations. This primarily refers to the borders and the initials, thus
to the frequently repeated illuminations, made by either specialised illu¬
minators or assistants in workshops. The borders were developed based on
models with ornamental solutions that had been passed on from generation
to generation; their motives and even entire structures point to schema¬
tism and repetitiveness. Hence, it is a very ungrateful job (and therefore
only partly possible) to try differentiating authors within the borders and
attributing the work to individual workshops. The decorative borders in
the
Strossmayer
Hours reveal the work of at least three masters, and three
different fashions; their share in the book is not dividable by gatherings, as
they appear interchangeably, depending upon the task to be solved. »Ge¬
ometrical borders« and »scatter borders« in the work are connected to the
solutions used for borders in other manuscripts attributed to the Master of
Jacques
de Besançon,
and they may point to the possibility of the authors¬
hip of the same or at least a closely connected workshop. By their structure
and the choice of motives, both typological groups correspond to the Pari¬
sian borders of the late 15th century.
The
Strossmayer
Hours may be dated after
1491
on the basis of the cha¬
racteristic features of the illuminations (more elongated figures and larger
quantities of gold used, multiplication of lateral scenes
—
features that had
been pointed out by Nicole Reynaud in
1993
as certain changes in the
poetics of the Master of Jacques
de Besançon).
This is supported also by
the Calendar structure, with illuminations showing the principal feast days
within a rectangular frame, following the model of the earlier printed edi¬
tions. It is similar to the page design in the Calendar of the Book of Hours
for Charles the Eight (Fig.
5),
which, like other leaves of the manuscript,
-450-
imitates in form the printed
Grandes
Heures Royales.
The mediator for both
works was
Antoine Vërard,
bookseller and publisher. The printed Book of
Hours is dated
20
August
1490;
this serves not only as terminus post quern
for the
datation
of the hand-written Book of Hours for Charles the Eight, but
is of use for the expansion of the solution itself, and thereby also for the
Strossmayer
Hours.
As a time machine of a kind, the
Strossmayer
Hours was created in Paris
at the end of the 15th century, when the city once again became a solid
economic and cultural centre, which resulted in a considerable number of
illuminators working there. The market in its greatest part, i.e. including
booksellers and illuminators, started applying a new technique in the book
production
-
illustrated printed editions
—
which emerged in Paris around
1480.
The printing technique significantly reduced the book price thanks to
the possibility of multiplying the graphic illustrations, so that the printers
could offer to the market cheaper editions with a large number of illustra¬
tions. Nevertheless, the traditional production of illuminated manuscripts
did not cease to exist due to the changed circumstances; these manuscripts
continued to be of interest to a particular section of the public, both the
ones containing only several miniatures and the exceptionally richly illu¬
minated ones, such as the
Strossmayer
Hours. It is characterised by a large
number of illuminations and borders, as well as by the abundance of gold
used. It was ordered and made in the 1490s, but by the choice of miniatures
in its prayer book section, it follows the established
iconographie
tradition.
It differs however from this tradition in the narrative widening: narrative-
historiated borders that serve as introduction to all the main sections and
hours of the
Strossmayer
Hours. The number of illuminated feasts in the Ca¬
lendar is also larger than usually found in »calendar« miniatures, whilst the
page organisation in this section points to the influence of the early printed
editions. It is mainly in the luxurious works ordered by highly positioned
patrons that the structure of printed pages is imitated in hand-written Ca¬
lendars and books. The number of miniatures and borders on each of the
pages of the manuscript demonstrates the high status of the patron of the
Strossmayer
Hours, as well as his level of education and his inclinations. In
the times when printed editions and illuminated manuscripts co-existed,
the patron chose the manuscript regardless of a much higher price for such
-451-
a work, the number of illuminations in which may be compared to the
number of illustrations in a printed book of hours.
The majority of the illuminations in the
Strossmayer
Hours was entru¬
sted to the Master of Jacques
de Besançon,
illuminator who remained fa¬
ithful to the traditional illumination technique, while the illuminations
in the calendar section may be described as being similar to the hand of
the Master of Charles the Eight, named after the Royal Book of Hours,
which in form imitates the structure of the printed one. Both of them are
new names, not only in the collection of the
Strossmayer
Gallery, but also
in the Croatian history of art. The
Strossmayer
Hours enables parallels and
creates links to manuscripts in international collections, which have so far
not been considered relevant for the Croatian cultural heritage; it further
keeps an exceptionally important place in the collection of the
Strossmayer
Gallery, where it has survived as the only exemplum of book illuminati¬
on. In
1947,
it was marked as belonging to the collection of Old Masters,
and thereby a part of the permanent holdings; other manuscripts from the
Gallery were handed over to the Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sci¬
ences and Arts, the copies of the paintings to the Glyptotheque, and the
paintings of the 19 11 and 20th centuries to the Modern Gallery. Though
being a hand-written prayer book, the
Strossmayer
Hours »survived« the re¬
duction of the holdings thanks to its unique artistic value and the overflow
of miniatures. It was exhibited alongside the works by
Matteo da Milano
(active
1492-1523) -
the only other miniatures in the collection
-
as a part
of the permanent holdings until
1967;
this confirms there was awareness
of the exceptional value of this illuminated manuscript. The
Strossmayer
Hours was and remains unique in the collection, as the works by the Ita¬
lian artist (made for the breviary and the book of hours) had been cut
out of the manuscripts and exhibited framed by passe-partouts, and there¬
by presented as paintings. After eighty-three years, the
Strossmayer
Hours
was withdrawn from the permanent holdings, even before any scientific
research on it could have commenced. This was an impetus also for this
research: to draw the attention of the professional public once again to »the
pearl« in Strossmayer s collection, as the founder himself had named it. The
Strossmayer
Hours was published with the aim of drawing the attention of
both the Croatian and the international professional public to this work of
-452-
art, hoping for it to become more present in the minds of the people as a
part of the heritage linking not only the Croatian and the French cultures
-
both territorially and in time, but also the generations of today with all
the earlier owners and users of this illuminated manuscript; and finally, to
once again lay emphasis upon the founder of the Gallery
—
Bishop
Josip
Juraj
Strossmayer —
and his most valuable legacy.
Translated by
Gorka Radočaj
453 -
|
| any_adam_object | 1 |
| author | Pasini Tržec, Iva |
| author_GND | (DE-588)140684972 |
| author_facet | Pasini Tržec, Iva |
| author_role | aut |
| author_sort | Pasini Tržec, Iva |
| author_variant | t i p ti tip |
| building | Verbundindex |
| bvnumber | BV039541560 |
| ctrlnum | (OCoLC)750918445 (DE-599)BVBBV039541560 |
| format | Book |
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| id | DE-604.BV039541560 |
| illustrated | Not Illustrated |
| indexdate | 2024-07-10T00:05:51Z |
| institution | BVB |
| institution_GND | (DE-588)1091821-8 |
| isbn | 9789531549585 9789530619685 |
| language | Latin Croatian |
| oai_aleph_id | oai:aleph.bib-bvb.de:BVB01-024393625 |
| oclc_num | 750918445 |
| open_access_boolean | |
| owner | DE-12 DE-255 |
| owner_facet | DE-12 DE-255 |
| physical | XIII, 461 S. 20 cm |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publishDateSearch | 2011 |
| publishDateSort | 2011 |
| publisher | Školska Knjiga |
| record_format | marc |
| spelling | Pasini Tržec, Iva Verfasser aut Strossmayerov časoslov [2] Komentar Hrvatska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti ... Zagreb Školska Knjiga 2011 XIII, 461 S. 20 cm txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Pasini Tržec, Iva Sonstige (DE-588)140684972 oth Strossmayerova Galerija Starih Majstora Sonstige (DE-588)1091821-8 oth (DE-604)BV039541530 2 Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen 2 application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024393625&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen 2 application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024393625&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Abstract |
| spellingShingle | Pasini Tržec, Iva Strossmayerov časoslov |
| title | Strossmayerov časoslov |
| title_auth | Strossmayerov časoslov |
| title_exact_search | Strossmayerov časoslov |
| title_full | Strossmayerov časoslov [2] Komentar Hrvatska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti ... |
| title_fullStr | Strossmayerov časoslov [2] Komentar Hrvatska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti ... |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strossmayerov časoslov [2] Komentar Hrvatska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti ... |
| title_short | Strossmayerov časoslov |
| title_sort | strossmayerov casoslov komentar |
| url | http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024393625&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024393625&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA |
| volume_link | (DE-604)BV039541530 |
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