Book of hours by Étienne Chevalier
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| Book of hours by Étienne Chevalier Étienne Chevalier with Saint Stephen in prayer in front of the enthroned Maria lactans . |
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The Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier is an illustrated book of hours created by Jean Fouquet for the royal treasurer Étienne Chevalier , which is one of the most outstanding works of Gothic book illumination . It was probably completed after Fouquet's return from Italy in 1448 and before 1457, as he had other important commissions to carry out from that time. Because of Fouquet's masterly mastery of spatial representation and lighting, as well as the liveliness and originality of the miniatures, the book illuminations have always been considered not only a major work by the artist, but also the illumination of the 15th century.
The founder is shown on the frontispiece, similar to the later diptych of Melun, together with Stephanus in front of the enthroned Mary, and on another miniature as a prayer at the burial of Christ. His name Maistre Estienne Chevalier and his monogram are included in numerous places in the illustrations.
In contrast to later manuscripts, Jean Fouquet made almost all of the illustrations by hand. This is an indication of an early start of the manuscript in Fouquet's work, when he did not yet have a powerful workshop, and at the same time a reason why the miniatures of this manuscript are executed at such a consistently high level. The collaboration of a journeyman is visible in the miniatures, one picture remained unfinished.
Several miniatures are divided into two image fields in an innovative way. The upper one presents the main motif, while the lower one contains secondary scenes or fantasy creatures, such as are often found in Gothic book illumination in fringe drama .
The book of hours remained in the Chevalier family until it was sold and cut apart at the end of the 18th century, so that today only 47 individual miniatures have survived, most of which are trimmed to the edge of the picture and stuck on wooden panels. Forty sheets came from the possession of the Brentano family , which they acquired in Basel in 1805, to the Musée Condé in Chantilly Castle . Seven other miniatures are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , in the Louvre and the Musée Marmottan in Paris, in the London British Library and in Upton House as well as in the New York Metropolitan Museum . A sheet of text discovered in 1981 allows the rough outline of the book to be reconstructed.
literature
- François Avril (ed.): Jean Fouquet. Peintre et enlumineur du XVe siècle. Exhibition catalog Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Paris 2003, ISBN 2-7177-2257-2
- Claude Schaefer: Jean Fouquet. On the threshold of the renaissance. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1994, ISBN 3-364-00306-8
- Eberhard König: French illumination around 1450. The Jouvenel painter, the painter of the Geneva Boccaccio and the beginnings of Jean Fouquet. Mann, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-7861-1311-4
- Claude Schaefer (ed.): The book of hours of Etienne Chevalier. Praeger, Munich a. a. 1971, ISBN 3-7796-8502-7
