
Accession number
              MS M.20 
          Object title
              Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael.
          Created
              Paris, France, ca. 1490
          Binding
              French red velvet in red half-morocco case.
          Credit line
              Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) before 1913.
          Description
              50 leaves (1 column, 28 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 218 x 146 mm
          Provenance
              Made for Pierre II de Bourbon (1439-1503), his arms in borders (azure, on a semy of fleurs-de-lis or a cotice gules); King Louis XII of France; King François I of France; Charles III de Bourbon; M. Guyot de Villeneuve sale, Paris, Mar. 26, 1900, lot 6; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) before 1913; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).
          Notes
              Ms. statutes; written and illuminated in Paris, France, ca. 1490.
Decoration: 1 large miniature, 2 historiated initials, one with full border and border historiation.
Artist: Chief Associate of Maître François (tentatively identified with François le Barbier [or François Le Barbier] fils [son], active ca. 1480-1501; see Mathieu Deldicque, Revue d'art, no. 183/2014-1, p. 9-18).
The artist Franç̧ois le Barbier [père] had a son François le Barbier [fils] who took over his father's atelier until his own death in 1501. Maître François and his chief associate have been proposed as this father-son team, the son finishing manuscripts begun by his father and following the same compositional schemes. The Master of Jacques de Besançon has also been suggested as the head of this atelier (see François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les enluminures du Louvre: Moyen Âge et Renaissance, Paris, 2011, p. 206).
This copy of the Statutes of the Order, founded by Louis XI in 1469, was made for Pierre II de Bourbon. The manuscript contains a list of chapter headings (fol.1r -5v); the original statutes given August 1, 1469 (fols. 6r -32r); and two additional ordinances dated December 22, 1476 (fols. 32v-40v) and December 24, 1476 (fols. 41r-50v).
Revised: 2023
          Decoration: 1 large miniature, 2 historiated initials, one with full border and border historiation.
Artist: Chief Associate of Maître François (tentatively identified with François le Barbier [or François Le Barbier] fils [son], active ca. 1480-1501; see Mathieu Deldicque, Revue d'art, no. 183/2014-1, p. 9-18).
The artist Franç̧ois le Barbier [père] had a son François le Barbier [fils] who took over his father's atelier until his own death in 1501. Maître François and his chief associate have been proposed as this father-son team, the son finishing manuscripts begun by his father and following the same compositional schemes. The Master of Jacques de Besançon has also been suggested as the head of this atelier (see François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les enluminures du Louvre: Moyen Âge et Renaissance, Paris, 2011, p. 206).
This copy of the Statutes of the Order, founded by Louis XI in 1469, was made for Pierre II de Bourbon. The manuscript contains a list of chapter headings (fol.1r -5v); the original statutes given August 1, 1469 (fols. 6r -32r); and two additional ordinances dated December 22, 1476 (fols. 32v-40v) and December 24, 1476 (fols. 41r-50v).
Revised: 2023
Script
              bastarda
          Language
              French
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