Accession number
MS M.1246
Object title
Leaf with “Crowning with Thorns" from Jacques Le Lieur's Poème sur la Passion.
Created
Rouen, France, ca. 1530
Credit line
Gift of William M. Voelkle in memory of Myra Dickman Orth on the occasion of the Morgan's Centennial, 2024.
Description
1 leaf : parchment on laid paper, illuminated ; 155 x 100 mm
Provenance
Sold in London, Phillips, 20 October 1983, lot 467, to Maggs; Maggs catalogue 1059 (Papyrus to Paper, 1985, no. 68); bought 19 September 1985 by William M. Voelkle (1939-).
Notes
Decoration: 1 miniature depicting “Crowning with Thorns".
This leaf is from a cycle of full-page images in a luxury copy of the Poème sur la Passion (Poem on the Passion) written by Jacques le Lieur (c. 1480-c. 1550). The original manuscript does not survive. The miniatures were removed from it in the 19th century, pasted on paper and bound up into an early sixteenth-century printed Book of Hours, purchased by Maggs at a Phillip's sale (London, 20 October 1983, lot 467). Morgan MS M.1116 is from the same manuscript.
At least 14 miniatures have survived. In addition to the two in the Morgan Library, five are held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, and seven are in private collections. Maggs offered 4 miniatures for sale in 1984 (Maggs, London, European Miniatures and Illumination, Palaeography and Calligraphy, Bulletin no. 12, June 1984, nos. 96-99 [no. 98 is Paris, Les Enluminures, cat. 10, 2001, no. 12]) and 8 (with one overlap from the previous batch) in 1985 (Maggs, London, Papyrus to Paper, Catalogue 1059, nos. 64-71). One miniature was resold by Bruce Ferrini in 1995 (Medieval and Renaissance Miniature Paintings, Catalogue 3, no. 50; which reappeared in Paris, Les Enluminures, cat. 10, 2001, no. 13); three miniatures that had been acquired by Neil Phillips were offered at Sotheby's in 1997 (London, 2 December 1997, lot 80). The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) acquired 5 miniatures as follows: MS 355-1984 from Maggs in 1984; MSS 1-2006.1 and 1-2006.2 from Les Enluminures in 2006; MSS 1-2012.1 and 1-2012.2 from Les Enluminures in 2012.
Artist: Circle of the Master of Girard Acarie. The Master of Girard Acarie illuminated several works for presentation to Francis I, his mother, Louise of Savoy, and members of the king's circle. The artist takes his name from a royal secretary and official in Normandy, Girard Acarie (d. 1557), for whom he illuminated several deluxe manuscripts, including a Roman de la Rose designed for presentation to Francis I (Morgan MS M.948). The Master also painted the miniatures in Morgan MS M.147, the dedication manuscript of this text, written for François I and his mother, Louise of Savoy, dated to ca. 1530.
Technical analysis of sister leaves suggests media as follows: lead white, shell gold, and iron-gall ink mixed with carbon black pigment. Analysis of the gray background of five leaves indicates one is a mixture of lead white with antimony black, and four others are a mixture of lead white and carbon black. See: Stella Panayotova, with the assistance of Deirdre Jackson and Paola Ricciardi, eds., “Colour: The Art & Science of Illuminated Manuscripts,” London, 2016, 268.
This leaf is from a cycle of full-page images in a luxury copy of the Poème sur la Passion (Poem on the Passion) written by Jacques le Lieur (c. 1480-c. 1550). The original manuscript does not survive. The miniatures were removed from it in the 19th century, pasted on paper and bound up into an early sixteenth-century printed Book of Hours, purchased by Maggs at a Phillip's sale (London, 20 October 1983, lot 467). Morgan MS M.1116 is from the same manuscript.
At least 14 miniatures have survived. In addition to the two in the Morgan Library, five are held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, and seven are in private collections. Maggs offered 4 miniatures for sale in 1984 (Maggs, London, European Miniatures and Illumination, Palaeography and Calligraphy, Bulletin no. 12, June 1984, nos. 96-99 [no. 98 is Paris, Les Enluminures, cat. 10, 2001, no. 12]) and 8 (with one overlap from the previous batch) in 1985 (Maggs, London, Papyrus to Paper, Catalogue 1059, nos. 64-71). One miniature was resold by Bruce Ferrini in 1995 (Medieval and Renaissance Miniature Paintings, Catalogue 3, no. 50; which reappeared in Paris, Les Enluminures, cat. 10, 2001, no. 13); three miniatures that had been acquired by Neil Phillips were offered at Sotheby's in 1997 (London, 2 December 1997, lot 80). The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) acquired 5 miniatures as follows: MS 355-1984 from Maggs in 1984; MSS 1-2006.1 and 1-2006.2 from Les Enluminures in 2006; MSS 1-2012.1 and 1-2012.2 from Les Enluminures in 2012.
Artist: Circle of the Master of Girard Acarie. The Master of Girard Acarie illuminated several works for presentation to Francis I, his mother, Louise of Savoy, and members of the king's circle. The artist takes his name from a royal secretary and official in Normandy, Girard Acarie (d. 1557), for whom he illuminated several deluxe manuscripts, including a Roman de la Rose designed for presentation to Francis I (Morgan MS M.948). The Master also painted the miniatures in Morgan MS M.147, the dedication manuscript of this text, written for François I and his mother, Louise of Savoy, dated to ca. 1530.
Technical analysis of sister leaves suggests media as follows: lead white, shell gold, and iron-gall ink mixed with carbon black pigment. Analysis of the gray background of five leaves indicates one is a mixture of lead white with antimony black, and four others are a mixture of lead white and carbon black. See: Stella Panayotova, with the assistance of Deirdre Jackson and Paola Ricciardi, eds., “Colour: The Art & Science of Illuminated Manuscripts,” London, 2016, 268.
Script
Bastarda
Language
Middle French
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department