DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG
1
Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
ESSENTIAL WITNESS TO THE ARTISTIC MILIEU OF TOURNAI AROUND 1400
Nativity
Historiated initial H on a leaf from an Antiphonal in Latin on vellum
France, Tournai, 1400-10
513 x 340 mm (leaf), 101 x 91 mm (initial). Tempera and gold leaf on vellum. – Some fading of ink,
left-hand margin slightly shaved, else in good condition.
TEXT
This initial opens the Responsory for Matins on Christmas Day, Hodie nobis celorum Rex.
PROVENANCE
This captivating Nativity is painted on a leaf, originally part of an Antiphonal, presumably
made in Tournai c. 1400-10 according to the style of its decoration. That it may have been
executed for a Benedictine convent can be deduced from a companion leaf presenting a
Benedictine nun kneeling in prayer at the Annunciation. The convent probably was located in
a Dutch speaking area, perhaps in Flanders, as is shown by the rubric in Dutch added later in
the century to another surviving leaf.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
[email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com
DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
COMPANION LEAVES:
Altogether 24 leaves from the original manuscript are known. In 1966 these leaves were still
bound together in an album that was sold at Sotheby’s, 11 July 1966, lot 213. The leaves
come from the Temporal, Sanctoral and Communal. 15 pages of these 24 have significant
decoration, nine leaves are decorated with small initials of saints and one with a d ecorated
initial.
Four of these 15 decorated folia present a large initial. They were part of the Winter volume
(see Catalogue 179, nos. 1–15, Philip C. Duschnes, New York, 1966). These initials are:
1. Annunciation, opening of the Temporal; private collection
2. Nativity; the present leaf
3. Adoration of the Magi, part of the Temporal; Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books, Switzerland
4. Presentation in the Temple, part of the Sanctoral; private collection
ILLUMINATION
Within the letter H the Nativity is presented in a modest wooden shed. The Christ child lies
on a cloth, flanked by the ox and donkey. He is adored by the praying Virgin. More in the
back, yet centrally placed, Joseph is kneeling in prayer. His face, depicted with long hairs and
beard as an old Jewish man, is delicately drawn and shows the hand of an accomplished artist.
The style of the decoration is typical of Tournai or Doornik (Hainaut) at the end of the 14th
and the beginning of the 15th century, a flourishing town between Ghent and Valenciennes.
The striking bar borders, the bold initials with delicately pounced gold and the beaded
flourishing are all paralleled in
manuscripts illuminated by Jean
Semont, active in Tournai from c.
1385 until his death in 1414. There
are, however, distinctive features,
such as the ebullient dragons and the
chain forming the initial around the
Presentation in the Temple, on one of
the sister-leaves known to have
survived. The historiated initials also
reveal a distinct and more talented
artistic personality. Compared to
Semont, the artist of the present
miniature has a more detailed and
painterly
technique,
carefully
modelling the faces and drapery of his
elegant figures to a more expressive
and
three-dimensional
effect,
reinforced by his greater mastery of
perspective.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
[email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com
DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
An origin in Tournai is supported by the instructions to the illuminator in French beside six of
the small initials of saints on known sister leaves. Tournai was then a French city, bordered
by the counties of Flanders and Hainaut. It might have served as the pivot between Paris and
Flanders, two main centres of manuscript production. Jean Semont’s style is a regional variant
deriving from Parisian art, although it was more open to the attainments of so-called ‘preEyckian’, more realistic, miniature painting.
That Tournai was a centre of painting is witnessed by the work of Robert Campin (13781444; identified with the Master of Flémalle) and his pupil Rogier van der Weyden (born in
Tournai in 1399/1400). Although nothing is known of his artistic training and background, he
is thought to be indebted to contemporary manuscript painters. Robert Campin settled in
Tournai, where he is first mentioned in the archives in 1405/06 and became citizen in 1410.
After a very successful good career, he lost, due to scandals, much of his position by the late
1430s. He was a pioneer in realistic observation, in humanizing subject matters with a loving
attention to details. His work is known for its expressiveness, powerful modelling and almost
sculptural quality. He gave a striking attention to faces and precision of detail (see
Vanwijnsberghe 2007). All these qualities we also see in the miniatures by the hand of our
artist.
Dominique van Wijnsberghe (2007) discovered that Campin himself made or had miniatures
made. This scholar assembled some 30 manuscripts around a Missal illuminated by the
Tournaisian Jean Semont (died c. 1414) for presentation to the abbey of Saint-Amand by a
priest originally from Tournai. Several anonymous artists were working around Semont,
followers as well as distinct artistic personalities. Their miniatures feature common
compositions and a decorative repertory, outlining the contours of a local production, itself
anchored within a broader tradition. Other commissioners of illuminated manuscripts were
prelates and members of the regional clergy or further away, from the abbey of Marchiennes
and the chapter of Saint-Pierre in Lille. Vanwijnsberghe has shown that the artistic milieu of
Tournai thrived until around 1430.
As the late 16th century iconoclasm in Tournai caused the loss of the artistic context of these
great panel painters, Tournai manuscript illumination is increasingly appreciated for its
importance for the history of art as well as for its inherent qualities. The present leaf and its
sister leaves are, therefore, essential for understanding the artistic milieu of Tournai around
1400.
LITERATURE
The leaf is hitherto unpublished.
For further reading:
Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, “Moult bons et notables” L’enluminure tournaisienne à l’époque de
Robert Campin (1380-1430), Leuven 2007, pp. 194-199, 272, 284, 352 (cat. XXVI).
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
[email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com