Rohan master
Rohan Master or Master of the Book of Hours of Rohan ( French Maître des Grandes Heures de Rohan ) is the emergency name for an anonymous French illuminator who was active in the first half of the 15th century. He got this name from his expressive miniatures in the Rohan Book of Hours, the Grandes Heures de Rohan .
life and work
Little is known about the Rohan Master. Apparently he had connections with Troyes . Around 1410 he worked in Paris in a workshop in which the Bedford master was also active. He illustrated books with moralizing profane content. Between 1415 and 1420 he seems to have specialized in the production of less elaborate books of hours in his own workshop with assistants . Around 1420 he appears in the service of the Anjou family . In addition to his miniatures in the Grandes Heures de Rohan (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale), he is associated with the following books of hours: Heures de René d'Anjou (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale), Heures dites d'Isabelle Stuart (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum) and Heures à l'Usage d'Angers (Paris, former Martin Le Roy collection).
The Rohan master does not care about the knowledge and efforts of his contemporaries in the realistic representation of space and nature. His compositions are conservative, without depth, with an abstract background. He does not want to depict scenes, but rather to create feelings and moods, regardless of the traditional iconographic program. The master is not afraid to portray people in a meaning perspective that is no longer up-to-date , and he has the courage to provocatively juxtapose delicate and plump figures. His pictures get expressiveness through intense colors and the representation of movement.
His miniatures are unmatched in terms of drawing and coloring, but the content of the pictures is not very creative. Some details that appear unusual follow older representations. The theme of the naked dead, for whose soul the archangel Michael and the devil are fighting (see illustration), can already be found in the Boucicaut master . The Rohan master's alleged obsession with the thought of death cannot be proven. Almost all of the miniatures that numerous illustrate the Office of the Dead in the Rohan Book of Hours do not come from his hand.
The Rohan Master is an extraordinary artist full of originality and strong expressiveness, who is difficult to classify. Nothing is known about its origin. Perhaps he came from the Netherlands, because his religious feelings seem to be influenced by the mysticism of the Lower Rhine . Few students imitated his style, but none achieved his strength. The ingenious Rohan master had no real influence on the painting of his time.
literature
- Millard Meiss , Marcel Thomas: Les Heures de Rohan. Paris 1973.
- Adelheid Heimann: The master of the “Grandes Heures de Rohan” and his workshop. In: G. Swarzenski and A. Wolters (eds.), Städel-Jahrbuch, Volume VII – VIII, Prestel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1932, pp. 1-60.
- Ingo F. Walther, Norbert Wolf: Masterpieces of book illumination. Taschen, Cologne u. a. 2005, pp. 306-309 and 479.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Meiss / Thomas p. 22f.
Web links
- fr. Maître de Rohan, Encyclopédie Larousse [1]
- fr. Maître des heures de Rohan, Encyclopédie Universalis [2]
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rohan master |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French illuminator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 14th century or 15th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1430 |