Master Michael (Illuminator)

Master Michael (verifiably from 1422 to approx. 1450) was an illuminator working in Austria .

In 1419 the Hussite Wars began in Bohemia , which resulted in the devastation of many ecclesiastical institutions, especially monasteries. Bohemian book illumination, which had been flourishing up to that point , came to a standstill and many illuminators emigrated to surrounding countries. After Master Michael's style was influenced by Bohemian illumination, he too could have been among the emigrants. In Austria he came into contact with the so-called master of the Kemnitzer city book . Michael's name was first recorded in the accounts books of Klosterneuburg Abbey in 1422/23 , where his wages for a work were documented and where he came either from the Viennese court or via the Cistercian monks of Sedlec Monastery , who fled there in 1421. Master Michael can be traced back to Klosterneuburg until 1438, and in 1446 he stayed in Melk Abbey , where he painted a grammar for the young Ladislaus Postumus . After 1450 his track is lost, nothing else is known about Michael's further biography.

Works

Master Michael can be assigned around 50 manuscripts, most of which are in Vienna , Graz and in Klosterneuburg Monastery (9 pieces). Some of his works are in libraries in Munich , London and Los Angeles . The Klosterneuburg Antiphonary , a four-volume hymn book of immense dimensions, deserves special mention : the four volumes are about 60 cm high, 40 cm deep and 25 cm thick. Michael illuminated this work together with a painter Nikolaus and a painter Veit , who is possibly identical with the master of the Kemnitzer Stadtbuch.

• Klosterneuburg Antiphonary, Klosterneuburg, Abbey Library Cod. 65–68
• Missal from the Collegium ducale in Vienna, around 1420–30, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum , Ms. Ludwig V 6

literature

• Floridus Röhrig : The art historical material from the Klosterneuburg accounting books of the 14th and 15th centuries. In: Yearbook of Klosterneuburg Monastery 6, 1966, p.?.
• Alois Haidinger: Hidden Beauty. Book art in Klosterneuburg Abbey. Exhibition catalog. Klosterneuburg. 1998, p.
• Susanne Rischpler: The Illuminator Michael (= Codices Manuscript Supplementum 1), Hollinek, Purkersdorf 2009.
• Martin Haltrich: The illuminator. In the 15th century the illuminator Master Michael worked in the scriptorium of Klosterneuburg Abbey . In: Welcome to the pen. The newspaper of the Augustiner Canon Monastery of Klosterneuburg Spring / Summer 2015, pp. 12–13 ( digitized version ).

Remarks

1. ↑ Information on the manuscript .