Miraculous Miniatures

Master of Claude de France, Angels Holding the Crown of Thorns
and the Eucharistic Host
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
Frencg, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 51v-52r
Photo:  Schecter Lee

Among the amazing feats of human endeavor two things have always fascinated me.  One is the fine detail frequently found in ancient jewelry, as for instance in Greek and Roman gold jewelry.  Another is the staggering detail that can be found in illuminated manuscripts, details that must be painted with brushes no bigger than a single hair.  And some of the most astounding documents of the miniature painter’s art that I have ever seen are currently on display at the Morgan Library.  I visited the exhibition, called appropriately “Miracles in Miniature:  The Art of the Master of Claude de France”, some time ago, but have not been able to prepare this review till now.  Unfortunately, the exhibition closes on September 14, so there are just a couple of weeks left for you to see it, if you are in the New York area. 

If you are not able to make it the Morgan Library website does provide digital facsimiles of two of the primary volumes in the exhibition.  However, I urge you to get to the Library if you can.  Digital images are great; they allow you to get very close to the page, closer than you could possibly get in person.  But, like all photographs, they can also be deceptive.  Unless you see the actual book on display you will not believe it.

The works on display are primarily the work of a miniature painter currently known as the Master of Claude de France, as his or her name is as yet unknown to us.  Indeed, it is not such a long time since the hand of this master was identified by the manuscript specialist, Charles Sterling. Two of the works on display were commissioned by Claude, who was the daughter of King Louis XII and Queen Anne of Brittany.  She was Duchess of Brittany by inheritance from her mother and was married, at the age of 14, to her cousin, Francois de Valois, count of Angouleme and heir to her father's crown, thus succeeding her mother as Queen of France and uniting the Duchy of Brittany to the crown of France.  She died at the age of 24, in 1524.

The primary manuscript, the Prayer Book
of Claude de France, is displayed along

This photo, taken at the exhibition, offers some scale for the size of
the books.  However, they are even smaller than they appear to be.
The book seen in this photo is the Book of Hours of Claude de France.
Photo:  Emon Hassan for The New York Times

with two other books.
  

All three books fit into a case that is approximately 6 inches square!  The Prayer Book of Claude de France is, in fact, only 2-3/4 inches by 2 inches, smaller than a credit card, and the other books are only slightly bigger.







A sense of the scale can be gained from the image of the book being held in someone’s hands that appeared on the Morgan’s website.  Yet, within these extremely small pages, the Claude Master managed to paint scenes that rival full scale panel painting.  Truly these are miraculous miniatures!

Photo of the Prayer Book of Claude de France being held.
Photo:  Schecter Lee

All but one of the illuminations in the Prayer Book are contained within the borders of one leaf.  One image, of the Trinity, spreads over two pages, one of which it fills completely.  

The images surround the text on each page and the text is so small that it is amazing that the Queen of France was able to read the text of the prayers at all.  Surely, the painter did not do this work with the unaided eye!  He must have had access to artificial magnification.  One tends to forget that, although the microscope and the telescope were perfected during the seventeenth century, the simple magnifying lens was already known as early as the thirteenth century.   Magnifying spectacles must have been as essential to the Claude Master as were his brushes.  

Master of Claude de France
Angels Adoring the Trinity
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 25r
Photo: Schecter Lee

The incredible detail is best seen on the Morgan’s own website, where there is an online exhibition that permits you to zoom to the highest resolution possible.  Check out the detail in the angels at the top right corner of page 25, for instance here. 

Although the three tiny books at the heart of this show may look like charming toys for a queen they were intended, as was every illuminated book of hours or prayer book, as aids to prayer.  

Master of Claude de France, Jesus Purges the Temple and
the Agony in the Garden
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 6v-7r
Photo: Schecter Lee

They were a means of focusing the attention of the viewer on the stories they tell, whether from the Bible or from the lives of the saints.  The smallest book, the Prayer Book of Claude de France contains a complete illustration cycle for the Life of Christ and of the Life of the Virgin, including the tales of her conception and childhood, as well as illustrations from the lives of several of the Apostles.
  

Master of Claude de France, Assumption and Coronation of
the Blessed Virgin
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 23v-24r
Photo:  Schecter Lee

Some of the saints whose stories were included were of special importance to France and to the royal house of France.  These included:  St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Genevieve, St. Claude, St. Rene, St. Hubert and St. Louis.

Master of Claude de France, St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata
and St. Martin Preparing to St. Martin Preparing to Divide His Cloak
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 37v-38r
Photo: Schecter Lee

In addition, there are such popular saints as: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Anthony of Egypt, Gregory, Mary Magdalene, Veronica, Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Alexandria, Helena and Ursula.

Master of Claude de France, St. Catherine of Alexandria
and St. Margaret of Alexandria
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 43v-44r
Photo: Schecter Lee

There are images of the mysteries of the Faith such as the Trinity and the Eucharist and the Communion of the Saints.

Master of Claude de France, All Saints
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 48v-49r
Photo:  Schecter Lee

In spite of its amazingly small size it is a powerhouse of assistance in prayerful meditation. 

The other books on display are also small masterpieces, though none are quite as tiny as the Prayer Book of Claude de France.  However, some of them are also intimately connected with her.

Master of Claude de France, Annunciation
From Hours of Claude de France
French, ca. 1517
Bibermuehle (Switzerland), Collection of Heribert Tenschert
Fol. 14v
Photo:  Ina Kettlehoven

 Her Book of Hours, on loan from a private collection, is on view, as is the prayer book of her mother, Anne de Bretagne, also Queen of France twice over, as the wife of first Charles VIII and then Louis XII.

Jean Poyer, Penitance
From Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne
French, 1492-1495
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M50, fol. 10v
Here the penitent is Queen Anne herself.

Master of Claude de France, Pages from a Book of Hours
French, ca. 1515-17
Private Collection
Fol. 26v-27
It is suggested that this book may have been commissioned
for Renee de France, Claude's younger sister.

Other books and loose pages on display, some of them recently identified as the work of the Claude Master, are assembled together for the first time. 

The books in this exhibition stand at the very end of the great tradition of manuscript illumination that developed during the middle ages.  Beginning with occasional full page illustrations and smaller illustrations, sometimes single figures, sometimes whole scenes, in the capital letters and/or the margins, illumination had evolved by this time into a form that presented the natural world in very tiny scale.

Master of Claude de France, Agony in the Garden
Single Leaf from a Book of  Hours
French, ca. 1505-1520
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1143.001r

By the time these images were painted, the art of illumination had become a luxury profession, practiced by specialized artists and no longer a natural part of producing books by hand.  Book publication had already assumed most of its modern characteristics with mass production by presses and illustration by hand had already been replaced by woodcut and print illustration.  When produced these small gems were already luxury goods for a tiny group of royal and aristocratic individuals.  And this show surely reflects this.

Master of Claude de France, Exposition of the Eucharist
From Prayer Book of Claude de France
French, 1517
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M1166, fol. 52v
Photo:  Schecter Lee

It would not be until the 19^th century that such lavishly decorated picture books would appear again, following advances in color printing processes.  Today this kind of illustration is primarily found in books intended for children.  So, seeing these incredible masterpieces of miniature painting, intended to assist an adult in prayer, is both an enormous treat and a reminder of how much life has changed in 500 years.

© M. Duffy, 2014