Master of the Dresden prayer book

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Master of the Dresden Prayer Book (* around 1450 ; † shortly after 1520 ) was a Flemish illuminator .

Life

The Dresden prayer book master, named after a book of hours in the Saxon State and University Library in Dresden , is an important representative of Flemish book illumination in the last quarter of the 15th century and the first quarter of the 16th century. After his training, which probably took place in Utrecht , he came to Bruges around 1470 , where he initially worked in the studio of the master of Anton of Burgundy and soon afterwards founded his own workshop. In the wake of the Bruges uprising against French rule in 1488, he moved to Amiens via Tournai . He returned to Bruges around 1495 and worked there until shortly after 1520.

Works

Master of the Dresden Prayer Book: Annunciation to Maria , around 1470

The Dresden Prayer Book (Dresden, SLUB, Mscr. Dresd. A.311)

The eponymous book of hours in Latin for the use of Rome was written and illuminated in Bruges around 1470. It contains on 150 (from originally 154) parchment sheets with the dimensions 136 × 100 mm 32 full pictures (12 of them calendar pictures ) by the hand of an anonymous master with borders by a successor Willem Vrelant . The first owner was probably the Florentine banker and merchant Francesco Sassetti (1421–1490) or his son Cosimo (1463–1527). The imprint of the Sassetti family (slingshot with the motto "A MON POVOIR") appears on two fittings of the inlaid clasps of the blind embossed leather binding. The other two clasp fittings show the coat of arms of the Florentine family Niccolini . Red textile remnants under the fittings of the clasps suggest that the leather strap was given a fabric cover with renewed clasps on the occasion of Cosimo Sassetti's wedding to Maria Niccolini in 1493, which incidentally also bear the initials of the bride and groom C and M. References to the connection between the Dresden prayer book and Florence are the Florentine lilies in the cover decoration and the rather unusual representation of Tobias accompanied by the Archangel Raphael (f. 92v) north of the Alps , who was venerated in Florence as the patron saint of outgoing merchant sons (the oblique blue and Tobias' red striped clothing could even allude to the coat of arms of the Sassetti family). In 1845 the Italian diplomat Tommaso Gar (1808–1871), then living in Florence , acquired the prayer book for the Royal Public Library in Dresden .

The manuscript suffered severe water damage in 1945, which caused the colors to be washed out, especially in the edge area. Four sheets of the manuscript are missing today: two sheets were found by Friedrich Winkler in the Louvre in Paris in the early 20th century (Cabinet des Dessins, inv. No. 20694 [Madonna enthroned with angels] and inv. No. 20694bis [St. Barbara] ), a third sheet with the crucifixion is considered lost and a fourth sheet (sheet 29 with the Annunciation to Mary) was torn out and stolen between 1990 and 2001.

Other works

The œuvre catalog compiled by Bodo Brinkmann (1997) includes miniatures in 52 manuscripts (mostly books of hours and breviaries , but also some profane works such as the Facta et dicta memorabilia by Valerius Maximus ) and on a few single sheets; also illustrations in two incunabula (Valerius Maximus, Bruges, around 1477) as well as some drafts for copperplate engravings for Colard Mansions Boccaccio from 1476. The master sometimes worked with well-known artists such as Gerard David and Simon Marmion .

literature

  • Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Franz: Catalog of the manuscripts of the Saxon State Library. Vol. 1, Dresden 1979 (= corrected and improved edition of the catalog of the manuscripts of the Royal Public Library of Dresden , volume 1, Leipzig 1882), p. 294 ( full text ) , based on the copy of the state library .
  • Bruck, Robert: The paintings in the manuscripts of the Kingdom of Saxony. Dresden 1906, pp. 337-353 ( full text ).
  • Warburg, Aby: Francesco Sassetti's last will. In: Warburg, Aby: Gesammelte Schriften , Vol. 1. Hamburg 1932, pp. 127–158 u. Appendix P. 353–365 ( full text )
  • Winkler, Friedrich: The Bruges master of the Dresden prayer book and his works. In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections 35, 1914, pp. 225–244. ( Full text )
  • Bodo Brinkmann: Flemish book illumination at the end of the Burgundy Empire. The master of the Dresden prayer book and the miniaturists of his time. 2 vols., Brepols, Turnhout 1997, ISBN 2-503-50565-1 .
  • Paradise on earth. Flemish Landscapes from Bruegel to Rubens , ed. by Uta Neidhardt and Konstanze Krüger. Exhib. of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Dresden, October 1, 2016 to January 15, 2017, Dresden [2016], cat.-no. 2 pp. 82–85 (Marion Heisterberg)

Web links

Commons : Masters of the Dresden Prayer Book  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Master of the Dresden prayer book
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dresden prayer book master
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish illuminator
DATE OF BIRTH around 1450
DATE OF DEATH after 1520