the fifteenth-century "school of rennes" reconsidered

The Fifteenth-Century "School of Rennes" ReconsideredAuthor(s): Diane E. BootonSource: Gesta, Vol. 44, No. 1 (2005), pp. 31-45Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of MedievalArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067110 .

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The Fifteenth-Century "School of Rennes" Reconsidered

DIANE E. BOOTON

Houghton Library, Harvard University

Abstract

The Master of the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans (Paris,

BnF, MS lat. 1156 B, after 1426) is thought by some scholars to have played a pivotal role in the development of the

"school" of manuscript illuminators working in early

fifteenth-century Rennes in the duchy of Brittany. This article

examines the manuscript's codicological and stylistic fea tures of its two artists?the Orl?ans Master and the Calendar

Painter?as well as its proposed stylistic association with two

manuscripts considered influential to the "school," notably the Chantemerle Missal (Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1098) and an

unpublished book of hours (Paris, Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal, MS 616). Visual comparisons suggest, however, that a third

illuminator, whom I shall call the Chantemerle Painter, after the missal, was primarily responsible for illumination in the

latter two manuscripts. This article also considers the extent

of commercial manuscript production in Rennes based on

documentation gathered from archival and manuscript sources. While historically plausible, a

u school of Rennes" is

undocumented and remains a hypothesis.

Since 1935, issues of lay and ecclesiastical patronage of monumental sculpture and architectural projects in the medi eval duchy of Brittany have received full scholarly attention.1 In contrast, the regional patronage of illuminated manuscripts remains less explored, while the commercial production of books and manuscripts in late medieval Brittany is a compar

atively neglected topic.2 Within this field of medieval schol

arship, however, the art historian Eberhard K?nig has offered

important contributions to medieval manuscript studies by pre

senting a broad stylistic interpretation of the development of the region's manuscript illumination in the later Middle Ages.

In the 1980s K?nig proposed the existence of a local school of manuscript illuminators in medieval Rennes.3 Based

largely on stylistic analysis and liturgical usage among a

group of illuminated books of hours, his hypothesis, though it has gained some currency, remains very much in question.4

His theory builds chiefly on the presumed influence of the Master of the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans on a few illumi nators who produced books of hours for patrons in Brittany. The artist's masterpiece, the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans

(Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1156 B, use of Rome), was illuminated after the 1426 marriage of Marguerite d'Orl?ans (1404-1466), countess of Vertus and daughter of Louis d'Orl?ans and Va lentine Visconti, to Richard de Montfort (1395-1438), count

of ?tampes and the youngest son of Duke Jean V of Brittany. Marguerite's manuscript was primarily illuminated by two

artists: the Master of the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, also known as the Orl?ans Master, who painted most of the min iatures (Fig. 1), and the Calendar Painter, who was responsi ble for the twin medallions illustrating the occupations of the months and the zodiac on the calendar pages (Figs. 2 and 3).5

According to K?nig, the Orl?ans Master probably worked in

Paris, Bourges, Poitiers, Angers, and briefly in Rennes. K?nig placed the proposed local school of illuminators in Rennes, because he attributed two illuminated manuscripts that were

written for the liturgical use of Rennes to the same Calendar Painter. The first was a missal made for a member of the Chantemerle family, now in the Biblioth?que nationale de France (MS lat. 1098), and the second a book of hours in the

Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal in Paris (MS 616), which will be described more fully below and reproduced here for the first time. K?nig concludes that the liturgical use of a manuscript

may conveniently identify its place of production.6 Among the material outcomes of the Orl?ans Master's in

fluence, K?nig maintains, were books of hours illuminated by local artists for the regional nobility that imitate the master's colorful borders teeming with small active figures. K?nig's examples include two books of hours by the Master of Rennes 34 (ca. 1430-1450, use of Rome),7 contributions to several books of hours by the Master of Walters W. 221 (ca. 1425

1450, use of Rennes, Rennes variant, or undetermined),8 and several books of hours by the Master of the Hours of Jean de

Montauban (ca. 1430-1460, use of Rennes, St. Brieuc, and

unknown).9 The local illuminators betray their provincialism, for in their less elegant style and use of brash colors K?nig sees a display of the crude and uncultured tendencies typical of the provincial locale, and even of the artists' "temp?rament

mal contr?l?."10

The hypothesis that a late medieval school of illumi nators existed in Rennes is historically plausible, but such a school is undocumented. The theory is also weak on stylistic grounds, for, as this paper will show, the attribution of both the Arsenal Hours and the Chantemerle Missal to the Cal endar Painter appears questionable when the two manuscripts are closely compared with the calendar pages in the Hours of

Marguerite d'Orl?ans. Moreover, comparisons will dem onstrate that a different artist, active about 1415-1420, was

primarily responsible for the illumination in the other two

GESTA XLIV/1 ? The International Center of Medieval Art 2005 31



FIGURE 1. Orl?ans Master, Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, Descent of the

Holy Spirit, after 1426, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1156 B, fol. 150 (Clich? Biblio

th?que nationale de France)

manuscripts. This other artist, who here will be called the Chantermerle Painter after the missal in Paris, borrows cer tain iconographie motifs from the Boucicaut Master and the Rohan Master, two well-known and influential artists in the

history of French manuscript illumination. While it is pos sible that the Orl?ans Master or his illuminated manuscripts still exerted some stylistic and iconographie influence in

Brittany, his connection to Rennes by way of the Calendar Painter appears questionable. Looking beyond specific attri

butions, we might also ask whether medieval Rennes offered a viable market to employ parchmenters, scribes, and illumi nators in commercial production.

The Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans and the Calendar Painter

According to K?nig's study of the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, the manuscript was written at Blois about 1420 1421 and illuminated in several stages by different artists, be

FIGURE 2. Calendar Painter, Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, calendar

page for the month of July, after 1426, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1156 B, fol. 7

(Clich? Biblioth?que nationale de France)

ginning in Rennes about 1426, continuing in that city about

1430, until the illumination was finally finished and the manu

script bound in Paris about 1450.n This unusually long pro duction, spanning more than twenty-five years and involving activity in three towns, is based on K?nig's reading of an archival document that records a payment to the scribe Yvonet de la Mote, then living at Blois, who received 6 livres tournois on 12 February 1419 (1420 n.s.) from the tr?sorier

g?n?ral of Duke Charles d'Orl?ans for a book of hours writ ten for his sister Marguerite. The scribe received another pay

ment when he presented the unbound folios to Marguerite's lady-in-waiting on 24 February 1420 (1421 n.s.).

Such documentation provides a tantalizing link to a book of hours described in the payment register as written in "lettres de forme," or a Gothic bookhand, and with gilt letters in the calendar. However, the vague manuscript description in the extant register cannot be positively identified as the

Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans now in Paris. There is no evi dence to explain why this book of hours would have been set

32



FIGURE 3. Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, detail of July calendar, after 1426 (Clich? Biblioth?que nationale de France)

aside for five years before receiving its first illumination and another twenty years before its binding. It seems at least as

likely that the payment to the scribe Yvonet de la Mote refers to a different book of hours, perhaps one that Marguerite enjoyed in her youth. Indeed, K?nig himself questioned whether Marguerite was the intended recipient of the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, because its prayers were written for a male supplicant. In any case, it is possible that she, like other medieval noblewomen, owned more than one book of hours in her lifetime.12 That the Hours of Marguerite d'Or l?ans was illuminated after her marriage to Richard de Mont fort is evident from the numerous visual references, such as the heraldic ermine of the Montfort family in the medallion for the month of April, their monogram "R M" repeated in several historiated initials, and the dimidiated coat of arms of

Brittany and Orl?ans. The dexter placement of the Montfort ermine would indicate, however, that Richard de Montfort commissioned the manuscript.

While the Orl?ans Master normally receives greater attention from art historians looking at this exquisite book of

hours, this study is concerned with the illuminator of the

manuscript's calendar pages. For it is the artistic style of the Calendar Painter that we need to compare to the illumination in the Chantemerle Missal and the Arsenal Hours, the two other manuscripts attributed to him by K?nig and on which the "school of Rennes" is founded. The Calendar Painter draws

stocky figures with black outlines and reduces facial features to essential strokes without apparent modeling. His figures fit

FIGURE 4. Chantemerle Painter, Book of Hours, detail of The Last Judg ment, ca. 1420, Paris, Biblioth?que de I Arsenal, MS 616, fol. 13lv (Clich?

Biblioth?que de I Arsenal)

comfortably within their medallions. The Calendar Painter's

drawing of tree branches and wheat stalks show a clear inter est in graphic line and texture. His work is limited to the cal endar miniatures in this manuscript, and it is unknown why he did not complete the remaining illumination. While K?nig sees one artist at work in the calendar pages of the Hours of

Marguerite d'Orl?ans, the Arsenal Hours, and Chantemerle

Missal, there are sufficient stylistic differences to attribute the latter two manuscripts to the Chantemerle Painter.

The Chantemerle Painter

Manuscript illumination in the Chantemerle Missal and the Arsenal Hours share the distinctive figurai style and com

positional conception of the Chantemerle Painter. His figures have oval faces, slightly droopy eyelids over large oval eyes, a nose bridge that extends beyond the brows, and overly round nostrils, details especially apparent in frontal views

(Fig. 4). The well-known missal (Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1098, use of Rennes) was probably commissioned by a member of the Chantemerle family of Picardy, as indicated by the numerous scrolls inscribed with the family's name, the coat of arms, and the black birds punning on the family's name in the decorative borders.13 Anselme de Chantemerle, bishop of Rennes (1389-1427), was the most likely commissioner and owner of the missal.14 The major calendar feast of the Pre sentation (introduced in Rennes by 1415) and a prayer for the cessation of the papal schism (1392-1418) date the manu

33



FIGURE 5. Chantemerle Painter, Chantermerle Missal, Christ in Prayer, ca. 1415-1418, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1098, fol. 35v (Clich? Biblioth?que natio

nale de France)

script to about 1415-1418. Besides the usual contents of a

missal, the manuscript includes a calendar for the use of

Rennes, a votive mass for St. Melaine, and additional prayers for SS. Golvin (St. Pol-de-L?on), Melaine (Rennes), and Guillaume (St.-Brieuc), all saints venerated in Brittany.

In addition to the twelve miniatures illustrating the

occupations of the months for the calendar year, the Chan temerle Missal contains two full-page illuminations, two

half-page miniatures, thirty-five smaller illustrations (mea

suring the width of one column), and three historiated initials

(Figs. 5 and 6). The artist employs bright, saturated colors and creates decorative patterning at the expense of natural istic renderings or atmospheric landscapes. Landscapes are often simplified with a tendency toward abstraction. Hills be come terraced mounds with craggy slopes instead of the steep cylindrical promontories commonly seen in contemporary French manuscript illumination. In some respects, the "escal

loped hillsides," as Millard Meiss described them, resemble

landscapes painted by the Master of Walters 219, who has been said to show the influence of late-fourteenth-century Lombard landscape illustration.15

FIGURE 6. Chantemerle Missal, detail of Christ in Prayer, ca. 1415-1418

(Clich? Biblioth?que nationale de France)

The Chantemerle Painter apparently collaborated on

the missal with another illuminator, who was responsible for the canon pages (fols. 188v-189), but on stylistic grounds, he cannot be identified with the Calendar Painter of the Hours of

Marguerite d'Orl?ans. The second artist models draperies and facial features more delicately than the Chantemerle

Painter, and he works in a conservative fashion without great drama, other than color, which accentuates his figure group

ings and patterned backgrounds. A book of hours now in the Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal

(MS 616, ca. 1420), which is reproduced here for the first

time, can be attributed as well to the Chantemerle Painter (see

Appendix 1 for a full description of the manuscript).16 Its Hours of the Virgin follow the liturgical use of Rennes; its calendar includes many Breton saints but, perhaps signifi cantly, excludes the important Rennais SS. Melaine and

Moderan. The calendar also omits the dedication of Rennes cathedral (3 November), as well as the unusual Rennais octave of St. Laurence secundum usum Redonensis, cele

brated just two days after the saint's primary feast (12 August), as found in the Chantemerle Missal. Minor calendar feasts in clude a surprisingly large number of Breton saints from the dioceses of St.-Brieuc and Dol. The major feast of the Pre sentation of the Virgin (21 November) dates the manuscript after 1415, by which time Anselme de Chantemerle, as bishop of Rennes, had introduced it into the diocesan calendar. The

manuscript's calendar and litany, which enumerate Breton,

Angevin, and Touraine saints among the confessors, include fewer Rennais saints than we might expect in a book of hours written for the use of Rennes.

34



FIGURE 7. Chantemerle Painter, Book of Hours, calendar page for the

month of June, ca. 1420, Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, MS 616, fol. 6 (Clich?

Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal)

The calendar miniatures in the Arsenal Hours and the Chantemerle Missal have similar compositions, illustrating the occupations of the months within rectangular frames (Figs. 7 and 8). The single figures, tall and lanky, appear insignifi cant in large spaces simply decorated with a colorful geometric background and stencil-like leaves of grass. The miniatures

by the Chantemerle Painter differ appreciably in composition as well as in style from the calendar occupations in the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans.

In the Arsenal Hours, the Chantemerle Painter reveals an

iconographie debt to the Boucicaut and Rohan Masters in some of its twelve calendar miniatures, nine historiated ini

tials, and forty-seven half-page miniatures. In the Annuncia tion to the Virgin (Fig. 9), the churchlike architecture, with its

spindly columns, partially supported dome, dormer windows, and side turret, reflect elements found in earlier books of hours by a follower of the Boucicaut Master (ca. 1416) and

by the Rohan Master and workshop (ca. 1417-1418).17 Bou cicaut influence can also be detected in the turning posture of the Virgin toward the Annunciate Angel, as well as in the

image of God the Father placed above in the domical apse.18 The reversed composition, in which Gabriel kneels to the

right of the Virgin Mary, suggests that the artist or his visual

FIGURE 8. Book of Hours, detail of June calendar, ca. 1420 (Clich? Bib

lioth?que de l'Arsenal)

source borrowed the design, perhaps from a pattern book. This miniature shows the singular style of the Chantemerle Painter: figures with large droopy eyes, brightly colored cloth

ing, and geometric patterning of the background. The artist's individual flair has been described by K?nig as "sauvage" and "moins civilis?" and consistent with his attributed Rennais origin, but these primitive descriptions underesti mate the artist's skill and vibrant sense of color.19

Along the borders of the Annunciation page spring bright blue and orange pseudo-acanthus leaves with fantastic flowers and orange-winged dragons, a striking border type found on

many pages of the Arsenal Hours, as well as in manuscripts attributed to or in the style of the Boucicaut and Rohan

Masters. Borders of large pseudo-acanthus leaves were popu

lar in Boucicaut manuscripts after 1412, which, slightly later

(ca. 1417), tended to harmonize, especially in color, with the

adjacent miniature.20 By this time, manuscripts illuminated with the same vivid borders were in the hands of patrons resid

ing in Brittany, as exemplified by the Durrieu Hours, written

possibly for the use of Rennes but illuminated in Paris about 1415-1420.21 Other pages in the Arsenal Hours display a dif ferent type of border decoration, showing delicate vine feath

ering with single floral blossoms and gilt trefoil leaves, as

35



FIGURE 9. Book of Hours, Annunciation to the Virgin, ca. 1420, Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, MS 616, fol. 13 (Clich? Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal)

well as acanthus leaves, some colored blue and red, others,

pale green and mauve (Fig. 10). Less exuberant and less self conscious than the first border type, these borders, which may be the hand of a Flemish artist, achieve a more conservative and symmetric design that does not upstage the main minia ture on the page.22 Both border types differ substantially from those in the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans in their floral de

sign, figurai portrayal, and color scheme, as compared, for

example, to the miniature of Pentecost (Fig. 1).

Iconographie references to an earlier tradition of French

manuscript illumination continue in the Arsenal Hours, as seen in the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Betrayal of

Christ, in which the Chantemerle Painter presents starless night scenes, dimly rendered in muted mauves, blues, and purples (Figs. 10 and 11). In the first the Chantemerle Painter reveals an artistic debt to the Limbourg brothers and in the second to the Parement Master; both sources were probably filtered

through later manuscripts or drawings. The Annunciation

FIGURE 10. Book of Hours, Annunciation to the Shepherds, ca. 1420,

Paris, Bibl. de I Arsenal, MS 616, foi 73 (Clich? Biblioth?que de l Arsenal)

miniature illustrates a shepherd viewed from the back, a

motif that may be ultimately traced to the Limbourgs' Belles

Heures, which was purchased after the death in 1416 of Jean, duke of Berry, by his nephew's wife, Yolande d'Aragon, duchess of Anjou.23 The Betrayal miniature differs slightly from the standard composition for this subject by positioning Judas at Christ's left, making Peter turn away from Christ, and placing John the Evangelist in the unusually vacant fore

ground, in front of the band of soldiers.24 The white, wavy clouds that fill the deep blue sky in the Betrayal miniature are

normally seen in other manuscripts as an aureole around God the Father, although a follower of the Parement Master em

ployed this same feature in a similar manner as early as about 1405.25

In Christ Nailed to the Cross (Fig. 12), the Chantemerle Painter's signature feature of terraced hillsides presents a

dramatic terrain for the Passion scene. The miniature may also reveal the influence of the Rohan Master. In its place

36



FIGURE 11. Book of Hours, Betrayal of Christ, ca. 1420, Paris, Bibl. de

l'Arsenal, MS 616, fol. 24v (Clich? Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal)

ment of the mourning group in the left background, the hench man at center, and the three men rolling dice in the left

foreground, the composition repeats elements in a miniature from a book of hours attributed to the Rohan Master. There, however, the miniature combines Christ Nailed to the Cross and the Crucifixion in one narrative scene.26 A Crucifixion miniature was probably meant to follow that of Christ Nailed to the Cross in the Arsenal Hours, but confusion in produc tion seems to have occurred, for the miniature at the next canonical hours in the series illustrates the Descent from the Cross.27 Despite the compositional similarities to the Rohan Master's illumination, the Arsenal miniature shows an artist

working with a different pictorial conception. Though more conservative in his drawing and composition than the Rohan

Master, he nonetheless achieves a boldness with his graphic style and disregard for realism, seen, for example, in the tilted cross and the henchman's gymnastic pose in the miniature of Christ Nailed to the Cross. His uncommon elements create an

unexpected dramatic effect, sometimes lost in more traditional

compositions. The unidentified patron of the Arsenal Hours is repre

sented five times, an unusually large number of "portraits" in

FIGURE 12. Book of Hours, Christ Nailed to the Cross, ca. 1420, Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, MS 616, fol. 36v (Clich? Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal)

books of hours commissioned by the laity. He kneels before the Virgin in two miniatures (fols. 129, 150) and before the

Virgin Annunciate, Christ Blessing, and Madonna and Child Enthroned in three historiated initials (fols. 13, 153v, 161). The patron appears bearded once and beardless three times. This suggests an improbable example of two commissioners,

perhaps a father and son. It more likely shows the artist's in attention to detail. One representation of the lay patron stands out for its design and iconography. In an exceptionally large illumination for Obsecr?te (Fig. 13), the man kneels alone in

prayer; gazing upward through opened curtains, as if drawn aside for a theatrical production, he beholds the Virgin Mary astride a very large crescent moon. She lifts the nude Christ Child to the outstretched arms of angels, while two other angels play musical instruments. Not the typical representation of the Virgin on a crescent moon, where the moon appears as a

symbolic sliver at her feet, this moon is strong and solid

enough to hold substantial weight. The unusual iconography, encouraged perhaps by local productions of myst?res, com

bines the artist's apparent love of dramatic design with his desire to fill available space with multicolored, multipatterned decorative detail.

The Chantemerle Painter was also responsible for at least one composition and sketch for a miniature in the Arsenal

37



FIGURE 13. Book of Hours, Patron Kneeling before the Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon, ca. 1420, Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, MS 616, fol. 150

(Clich? Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal)

Hours that was then illuminated by a second artist (fol. 45). An underdrawing of terraced rocks?a trademark feature of the chief artist?is only partially hidden beneath painted grass and trees in the scene of David in Prayer, placed at the

opening of the Penitential Psalms (Fig. 14). Compared with the Chantemerle Painter, this unidentified illuminator paints facial features in darker flesh tones with more modeling and

depicts slightly ruddy cheeks, furrowed brows, and dark beards

aged with white highlights. The collaborative association could indicate the seniority of the Chantemerle Painter or a hierarchy of labor division within a workshop.

Whether the Chantemerle Painter trained in Paris or

Angers under the more direct influence of the Boucicaut and Rohan Masters is difficult to determine because of the itinerant nature of both manuscripts and illuminators. The omission of the dedicatory feast of Rennes cathedral, as well as the inclu sion of numerous Angevin, Touraine, and non-Rennais saints could indicate that the Arsenal Hours was produced outside Rennes. Together, the textual and visual evidence in the Arsenal Hours and the Chantemerle Missal help to date the artist's activity to about 1415-1420, slightly earlier than

FIGURE 14. Unidentified artist over design by the Chantemerle Painter, Book of Hours, David in Prayer, ca. 1420, Paris, Bibl. de I Arsenal, MS 616,

fol. 45 (Clich? Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal)

the Calendar Painter. If the Chantemerle Painter had worked in Rennes about 1415-1420, we might expect to find some trace of his influence in other manuscripts, but thus far, this has not been detected. Indeed, K?nig admits that Rennes offered smaller market opportunities for a manuscript illuminator

and, moreover, theorizes that the Orl?ans Master left Rennes for Poitiers and other patronage.28 The only reason for local

izing the Chantemerle Painter's activity in Rennes is the spe cific liturgy of the Arsenal Hours and the Chantemerle Missal, as well as the presumed patronage of Bishop Anselme de Chantemerle. We cannot assume, however, that the liturgy accurately identifies a manuscript's place of production in all

cases, because some devotional books written for the liturgies of Nantes and Rennes were undoubtedly illuminated outside the duchy, primarily in Paris.29 The Angevin traits in the cal endar of the Arsenal Hours as well as its Rohanesque icono

graphie aspects suggest that Angers and the Anjou region cannot be ruled out entirely.

Without evidence to support the stylistic connection

among the manuscripts, we might also question the assump tion that the Calendar Painter began work on Marguerite's

38



book of hours in Rennes. The artist might have worked else

where, for example, at Angers or even Nantes, the most vi

brant and economically flourishing town in the region and the

primary residence of the duke and his administration. Alter

natively, Richard de Montfort might have retained the artist in residence, for example at his ch?teau d'?tampes, repre sented in the August calendar of the Tr?s Riches Heures of Duke Jean de Berry. The possible change in venue from Rennes to another town in Brittany or western France may have con

sequences for K?nig's proposed professional itinerary of the Orl?ans Master as the artist traveled in search of patrons.

Medieval Rennes as a Potential Book Market

The theory of a "school of Rennes" in the early fifteenth

century rests on stylistic connoisseurship, ownership marks in books, and the diocesan use for liturgical and devotional

manuscripts, rather than on archival or historical evidence. In

fact, no document concerning manuscript-making activity in Rennes exists before 1340. In that year, ten confraternities,

including parchmenters, contributed to the foundation of the

Hospital of Sainte-Anne.30 In 1407 Duke Jean V upheld the

professional status of parchmenters, though their privileges may have been in place well before that date.31 Despite du cal recognition, the group never achieved the political power and influence of many other local tradesmen, who attained the important office of town financial officer, or miseur.32 In medieval Rennes, the Rue de la parchemenerie was a tan

gible testament to the trade's activity in supplying parchment for the documentary needs of the municipality and religious institutions.33 However, other artisan groups in Rennes?the so-called free m?tiers?worked without a formal professional structure, and they have left little historical trace. Painters and imagiers may have figured among the free m?tiers, but archival documents neglect almost entirely the lives and transactions of painters and sculptors as professional trades

men in Rennes before 1500.34

Despite the accumulated archival research by the nine

teenth-century local historians Paul de la Bigne-Villeneuve and Arthur de La Borderie, as well as by twentieth-century historians, documents have yet to reveal the name of a single manuscript illuminator working in late medieval Rennes. Thus far only ten individuals can be identified with the artisan activities of painting and manuscript making in medieval Rennes. Five scribes can be named, notably clericus Guillelmus Dionisius (1411), presumably of the Rennes ca thedral chapter, frater Petrus Garnerius (1454) of the Fran ciscan convent in Rennes, and three laymen: Jean Durocher

(1403), Guillaume Moichan (1408-1409), and Robin Luce

(1412).35 Three painters?Moerien, Richart, and Hamon

Soybaut?who by artistic function cannot be entirely sepa rated from illuminators, received payment in 1442 and 1443 from the city for painting the ducal coat of arms for display at the Porte Mordelaise, through which the duke and his ret

inue made their ceremonial entr?e.36 Documents record one

bookbinder, presbiter Petrus de Brolio, who was paid by the Rennes cathedral chapter (1413-1414).37 Archival registers also show that the cathedral chapter sent books out of town for repair and rebinding in 1418-1419, which suggests that local services were not always available.38 Finally, one

Rennais libraire emerges from obscurity: the bookseller Guillaume Cheveau moved into the new publishing technol

ogy toward the end of the fifteenth century with the acquisi tion of Jean Georget's printing presses.39

The evidence that I have thus far collected concerning manuscript production in Rennes is admittedly modest in

scope; it pertains chiefly to municipal and cathedral chapter payments. Omitted from this tabulation are possible pur chases by the lay nobility, the most likely owners of prayer books, romances, and histories, but Breton archival collections of family papers are often incomplete for the later Middle

Ages. Nonetheless, the documentation suggests a limited com mercial trade in parchment and an even more limited trade in manuscripts. Medieval Rennes offered fewer commercial

opportunities than Nantes, but even Nantes remained a very small participant in Western European commercial trade.40 The archival evidence suggests that medieval Rennes would have presented a weak market for a single manuscript illumi

nator, let alone sufficient work for several or an organized group. Indeed, among the fifteen manuscripts that I have been able to identify as having been made in Brittany and to date

by internal inscriptions, only two were written in Rennes, both for local religious institutions (Table 1). The majority of the dated manuscripts were written in Nantes and Vannes.

Conclusions

Three manuscripts?the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans, the Arsenal book of hours, and the Chantemerle Missal?are

pivotal to the hypothesis that a school of manuscript illumi nators existed in fifteenth-century Rennes. Linked in a depen dent fashion by way of attributed style and liturgical usage, the manuscripts' symbiotic relation dissolves when one critical link is broken. The attribution of the Calendar Painter from the Hours of Marguerite d'Orl?ans to both the Arsenal Hours and the Chantemerle Missal was the alleged connection, but as this paper has shown with the first publication of illumi nations from the Arsenal Hours, the stylistic attribution is no

longer secure. While only two manuscripts can thus far be attributed to the Chantemerle Painter, his distinctive figurai style may one day be discovered in other manuscripts that will reveal hopeful clues about his residence and patrons. As for Rennes as the center of manuscript making, the collected archival evidence may not in fact rule out its possibility, but it continues to question its probability.

39



Date

Table 1 Late Medieval Manuscripts from Brittany, Identified and Dated by Inscription

Locale Name of Scribe / Origin MS Type Current Location Source

1344 Rennes Abbey of St.-Melaine Cartulary Rennes, BMun, MS 271 Samaran and Marichal, VII, 255

1402 Nantes / Paris? Yves Luce

1409-1418 Nantes Church of St.-Vincent

Book of hours New York, PML, MS M. 515

Statuta syndalia Namnetensia Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1597

Meiss, I, 355

Samaran and Marichal, II, 75

1417

1420

Ch?teaubriant Unidentified scribe

Vitr?

Bible histor?ale, vol. 1

Priest Dom Raoul de Cerisay, Missal, Psalter scribe and illuminator

Paris, BnF, MS fr. 163

Whereabouts unknown

Berger, 335-336

La Borderie, 46-48

1423

After 1427

1438

1454

1457

1479

1483

1488

Dol

Nantes

Nantes

Rennes

Tr?guier (diocese)

Lamballe

Vannes

Nantes

Nicholaus de Launey, prior of Monte Dolis

Le Tombel de Chartrose . . . Avranches, BMun, MS 244

Raulet, chappelain (emended) Breviary Nantes, M?diath?que, MS 25

Johannes Mercator

Franciscan convent

Yves Even, presbiter, rector ecclesie parrochialis de

Tuonguerri [Trogu?ry]

Charles Leroux

Pierre Aliet

Magister Christianus

Le livre du gouvernement Paris, BnF, MS fr. 12254 des princes

Ordinary

Missal

Vincentius Bandellus, De veritate conceptionis beatae virginis Mariae

Grand l?gendaire

Opera medica

Rennes, BMun, MS 39

Paris, BnF, MS nouv. acq. lat. 172

Paris, BnF, MS lat. 9591

Whereabouts unknown

Nantes, Mus?e Dobr?e, MS 20

Samaran and Marichal, VII, 85


Daoulas, No. 141


Leroquais, III, 112-115

Samaran and Marichal, III, 129

Leguay, 95


1497

1497

Nantes

Vannes

Michael de Vouges (Voulgez) Iuvencus, etc.

Jehan Pocart Epistolary, Legendary

Nantes, M?diath?que, MS 109

Whereabouts unknown


Leguay, 95

Sources

Berger, S. La Bible fran?aise au moyen ?ge. ?tude sur les plus anciennes versions de la Bible ?crites en prose de langue d'o?l (Paris, 1884).

Daoulas, Abbaye de Daoulas, La Bretagne au temps des ducs (Daoulas, 1991). La Borderie, A. de. "Notes sur les livres et les biblioth?ques au moyen ?ge en Bretagne." Biblioth?que de l'?cole des Chartes, ser. V, 3 (1862), 39-50.

Leguay, J.-P. "Vannes au XVe si?cle. Aspects institutioneis, ?conomiques et sociaux." Bulletin mensuel de la Soci?t? Polymathique du Morbihan, CIII (1976), 45-120.

Leroquais, V Les sacramentaires et les missels manuscrits des Biblioth?ques publiques de France (Paris, 1924).

Meiss, M. French Painting in the Time of Jean, Duke de Berry: The Late Fourteenth Century and Patronage of the Duke (London, 1967).

Samaran, C, and R. Marichal. Catalogue des manuscrits en ?criture latine portant des indications de date, de lieu ou de copiste (Paris, 1959-).

40



Appendix

Paris, Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal, MS 616

Book of Hours in Latin, use of Rennes

Northwestern France, ca. 1420

Description

Parchment, fols, ii + 167 + i, 24.3 x 17.5 cm

Collation l12 (fols. 1-12), 2-58 (fols. 13-44), 64 (fols. 45-48), 7-148 (fols.

49-112), 156(fols. 113-118), 168 (fols. 119-126), 178"1 (fols. 127-133, last leaf canceled), 188 (fols. 134-141), 196 (fols. 142-147), 208 (fols.

148-155), 216-1 (fols. 156-160, last leaf canceled), 228 (fols. 161-167). Catchwords (fols. 112v, 118v, 141v)

Ruled in light red ink for 1 column of 22 lines; 13x9 cm; calendar ruled for

22 lines

Written in compressed textualis semi-quadrata; rubrics in red

15th-century violet velvet over boards, traces of a clasp, gilt edges; 25 cm

Contents

1. Fols. l-12v: Calendar, in gilt, blue, and black, full. Includes Presentado

(1415) but not Visitado (1441). In gilt, Yves (1253-1303; 19 May), Golvin (Goulven) of St. Pol-de-L?on (d. ca. 600 in Rennes), with

Lunar (1 July), Guillaume, bishop of St.-Brieuc (1184-1234; 29 July),

Simphorian of Autun (22 August), Gobrian, bishop of Vannes (3 Novem

ber) instead of the usual dedication of Rennes cathedral, and Gacian,

archbishop of Tours (18 December). In blue, the saint's day and translation

of Martin of Tours (11 November; 4 July) and the translation of Golvin to

Rennes (23 August) 2. Fols. 13-24: Hours of the Virgin, Rennes use, matins and lauds

3. Fols. 24-24v: Hours of the Cross, matins

4. Fols. 25-25v: Hours of the Holy Spirit, matins

5. Fols. 26-44v: Short Hours, vespers and compline for Hours of the Virgin, Hours of the Cross, and Hours of the Holy Spirit (fols. 43v-44v blank, ruled)

6. Fols. 45-51: Penitential Psalms

7. Fols. 51-54: Litany, includes Donacian and Rogacian (Nantes), Maurice

(Angers), Julian (Le Mans), Martin (Tours), Guillaume (St.-Brieuc), Maclou (St.-Malo), Melaine (Rennes), Albin, Golvin (St. Pol-de-L?on), Gobrian (Vannes), Moderan (Rennes), Armel, Yves; Petitions

8. Fols. 54-55: Collects: "Deus cui proprium est misereri.... Pretende nobis

domine memoriam... . Deus a quo sancta desideria. . .. Ure ign? sancti

Spiritus. . . . Fidelium deus omnium conditor. . . . Hostia christi sanctifica me corpus. . . . Ave verum corpus christi. . . ."

9. Fols. 55-72v: Office of the Dead (for northwestern France) 10. Fols. 73-128v: Prayers for Mass for the major feasts of the year 11. Fols. 129-131: Fifteen Joys of the Virgin 12. Fols. 131v-133: Seven Requests to the Lord (fol. 133v blank, ruled) 13. Fols. 134-135: Prayer to the Virgin, Obsecro te, in French: "Doulce

dame sainte marie mere de dieu plaine de piti? fille de souverain roy mere

gloriose. . . ." (J. Sonet, R?pertoire d'incipit de pri?res en ancien fran?ais [Paris, 1956], No. 472)

14. Fols. 135v-137: Prayer to the Virgin, in French verse: "L'doulce dame

nette et pure sans correpcione et sans ordure / esperance de toute

creature. . . ."

15. Fols. 137v-139: Prayer to the Virgin, in Latin: "Gaude virgo mater cristi

que per aurem concepisti.. . ." (Randall, Medieval and Renaissance

Manuscripts, I, Nos. 76, 86, 87) 16. Fols. 139v-144v: Prayers and suffrages: Trinity, Peace (fol. 139v); John

Evangelist (fol. 140); Peter and Paul, James, Christopher (fol. 140v); Eustache (fol. 141); all saints, Katherine (fol. 142); female saints (fol.

143); all saints (fol. 144) 17. Fols. 145-147v: Office of the Virgin: "Gloriose virginus marie hodie

veram devotus sum celebramus. . . ." (fol. 147v blank, ruled) 18. Fols. 150-151v: Obsecro te, in Latin (. . . et michi N. f?mulo tuo

impetres . . .)

19. Fols. 152-154v: Gospel Sequence of Passion according to John

20. Fols. 155-157: Prayers to Vincent and Peter of Luxembourg 21. Fols. 157-160v: Prayers to the Virgin, in Latin: "Mundi regina maria ave

mater ave pia ave virgo mater cristi. . . Salue mater dorolosa [sic] iuxta crucem lacrimosa dum pendebat filius . . . (fol. 160, in verse) Gaude virgo

gratiosa / verbum verbo concepisti. . . ."

22. Fols. 161-167: Prayer to the Virgin, in French: "Une moult devote

oraison de nostre dame (heading in red). Gloriose virge rayne / En qui par la vertu divine / Jhesu crist print humanit?. . . ." (Sonet, R?pertoire d 'incipit de pri?res en ancien fran?ais, No. 695)

Decoration

Decorated initials: four-, five- and seven-line initials (Hours of the Virgin) of blue or mauve with light blue or light mauve tracery with tessellated

interior field on gilt ground. Nine historiated initials: five-line historiated initials: man in prayer (fol.

13), Pentecost (fol. 25), angel (fol. 39), Virgin and Child (fol. 137), two

storks intertwined (fol. 150), patron kneeling in prayer before Christ (fol.

153v). Eight-line historiated initials: priest celebrating Mass (fol.

119), funeral service (fol. 127). Nine-line historiated initial: man kneeling in prayer before the Virgin and Child (fol. 161)

Borders: U-ribbon bar frame of bicolor acanthus on gilt ground (fol. 24v);

single gilt verticals on either side of miniature (fol. 152); borders of blue

and mauve vines, flowers, strawberries (calendar); bicolor aroid flowers

with fleshy bicolor acanthus leaves forming single vine, gilt trefoil leaves, strawberries (fols. 13,18); bicolor acanthus leaves in blue and orange with

white dots along stems and edges (fol. 36v). Different border design of ivy vine feathering with single flower blossoms, flowering stems, or acanthus

leaves in blue and orange springing from gilt verticals (fol. 152)

Marginalia: hybrids (fols. 1,137v), insect (fol. 1), noblewoman (fol. 13), two

men fighting with bow and arrow, shield and lance (fol. 25), dragon (fols. 34, 45), man riding donkey(?) (fol. 34v)

Line endings: blue and mauve with white tracery rectangular bars with small

gilt squares Twelve calendar miniatures: (Jan.) man holds cup and stands at table; (Feb.)

man sits on stool, warming hands by fire; (Mar.) man cuts branches; (Apr.) man holds flower sprig; (May) man rides gray horse and carries hawk;

(June) man holds scythe and carries knife sharpener in sheath at waist;

(July) man cuts grass with sickle; (Aug.) man threshes wheat; (Sept.) man

cuts fruit from tree; (Oct.) man knocks acorns from tree for three hogs; (Nov.) man sows seed from basket tied around neck; (Dec.) man raises axe

to slaughter hog

Forty-seven half-page miniatures of three types: rectangular, varies in

measurement 8-9.5 x 8-9 cm; arched compartments, measuring 11-11.5 x 8.5-9 cm; or projecting half lunettes, measuring 9-10.5 x 5.5-9 cm

1. Fol. 13 Annuncation (Hours of the Virgin, matins) 2. Fol. 18 Visitation (Hours of the Virgin, lauds) 3. Fol. 24v Betrayal (Hours of the Cross, matins) 4. Fol. 25 Trinity (Hours of the Holy Spirit, matins) 5. Fol. 28v Mocking of Christ (Hours of the Cross, prime) 6. Fol. 29v Nativity (Hours of the Virgin, terce) 7. Fol. 31v Christ before Caiphas (Hours of the Cross, terce) 8. Fol. 32v Adoration (Hours of the Virgin, sext) 9. Fol. 34v Flagellation (Hours of the Virgin, none) 10. Fol. 36v Christ Nailed to the Cross (Hours of the Cross, nones) 11. Fol. 37v Flight into Egypt (Hours of the Virgin, vespers) 12. Fol. 39 Descent from the Cross (Hours of the Cross, vespers) 13. Fol. 40 Christ before Pilate (Hours of the Virgin, compline) 14. Fol. 42v Entombment (Hours of the Cross, compline) 15. Fol. 45 David in Prayer (Penitential Psalms) 16. Fol. 55 Burial (Office of the Dead) 17. Fol. 73 Annunciation to the Shepherds (Office of the Nativity) 18. Fol. 75v Miracle of the Wheat Field (Office of the Epiphany)

41



19. Fol. 77v Magi Follow the Star

20. Fol. 78v Presentation of the Virgin (Office of the Purification) 21. Fol. 80 Annunciation to the Virgin (Votive Mass of the Annunciation) 22. Fol. 82 Resurrection of Christ (Office of the Resurrection) 23. Fol. 83v Ascension of Christ (Office of the Ascension) 24. Fol. 85v John the Baptist (Office of St. John the Baptist) 25. Fol. 87 Peter (Office of St. Peter) 26. Fol. 89 Processional (Office of Corpus Christi) 27. Fol. 92v Peter and Paul (Office of SS. Peter and Paul) 28. Fol. 94v All Saints (Office of All Saints) 29. Fol. 98v Trinity (Votive Mass to the Holy Spirit) 30. Fol. lOOv Holy Cross (Office of the Holy Cross) 31. Fol. 102 Lamentation (Votive Mass of the Pentecost) 32. Fol. 103v Michael (Votive Mass to the Angels) 33. Fol. 105 Andrew (Office of St. Andrew) 34. Fol. 107 James and another apostle (Office of St. James) 35. Fol. 108v Crucifixion (Commune doctorum) 36. Fol. llOv Sebastian (Commune unius martyris, non pontificis) 37. Fol. 112 Denis(?) (Comune plurimorum martyrum) 38. Fol. 113v Bishop saint (Commune confessons pontificis; unius martyris) 39. Fol. 115v Eustache (Commune confessons, non pontificis)

40. Fol. 117 Gregory (In anniversario electionis consecrationis episcopi) 41. Fol. 118 Monastic saint (Commune confessionis, non pontificis) 42. Fol. 129 Patron before the Virgin and Child (Fifteen Joys of the Virgin) 43. Fol. 13 lv Last Judgment (Seven Requests to the Lord) 44. Fol. 145 Nativity (Office of the Virgin) 45. Fol. 148 Margaret (Unius virginis) 46. Fol. 150 Patron before the Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon

(Obsecro te) 47. Fol. 152 Christ Crowned with Thorns (Gospel Sequence of Passion

According to John)

Provenance

Unidentified male patron, represented fols. 13, 129, 150, 153v, 161

Society of Jesuits, Paris: fol. 1, inscr. "Domus professae Parisiensis

Societatis Jesu, 1693. Dono R. P. de la Chaize."

Mesnil [signed]: fol. 1, inscr. "Paraph? au d?sir de Tarrest du 5 juillet 1763?

Mesnil." For explanation of this note, see Franklin (below), II, 275.

Charles-Adrien Picard: fols, lr-v (repeated), inscr. "de la biblioth?que de

Charles-Adrien Picard, 1765."

M. de Paulmy: fol. ii v, inscr. "514." Identified by Martin (see below) as an

inventory number from the library of M. de Paulmy.

Bibliography

Franklin, A. Les anciennes biblioth?ques de Paris: ?glises, monast?res, col

l?ges, etc. (Paris, 1867-1870), II, 275.

Martin, H. Catalogue des manuscrits de la Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal (Paris,

1885), 1,463-464.

Duine, F. "Inventaire liturgique de l'hagiographie breton." Bulletin de la Soci?t?

Arch?ologique d'llle-et-VHaine, XLIX (1922), 157-158, No. CLXXXV.

K?nig, E. Franz?sische Buchmalerei um 1450. Der Jouvenal-Maler, der Maler

des Genfer Boccaccio und die Anf?nge Jean Fouquets (Berlin, 1982), 54

note 134.

-. Les heures de Marguerite d'Orl?ans. Reproduction int?grale du

calendrier et des images du manuscrit latin 1156 B de la Biblioth?que Nationale (Paris), trans. F. Boespflug (Paris, 1991), 47.

NOTES

* My sincere thanks to J. Margolis, Sylvia Parsons, and Irina Tarsis for

reading earlier versions of this paper, to the anonymous readers of

Gesta, and especially to Jonathan J. G. Alexander for his support and

expert advice on Arsenal 616. I am also grateful to the curators and

staff of the Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal, the Biblioth?que nationale de

France, the Biblioth?que municipale de Rennes, the Archives d?parte mentales d'Ille-et-Vilaine, and the Archives municipales de Rennes

for allowing me to consult manuscripts and documents in their collec

tions. Research for this article was made possible by generous funding from the Bibliographic Society of America and the Bibliographical

Society of the United Kingdom (Fredson Bowers Award).

1. Recent studies on sculpture and architecture include A. Mussat, Arts et

cultures de la Bretagne. Un mill?naire (Paris, 1979); idem, "La ca

th?drale Saint-Pierre de Vannes," CA (Cornouaille), 1983 (Paris, 1986),

294-312; J. Y. Copy, Art, soci?t? et politique au temps des ducs de

Bretagne. Les gisants haut-bretons (Paris, 1986); R. Barri?, "La con

struction de la cath?drale Saint-Corentin de Quimper," M?moires de la

Soci?t? d'Histoire et d'Arch?ologie de Bretagne, LXIV (1987), 443

453; C. Prigent, Pouvoir ducal, religion et production artistique en

Basse-Bretagne de 1350 ? 1575 (Paris, 1992); and J.-M. Guillou?t, Les

portails de la cath?drale de Nantes. Un grand programme sculpt? du

XVe si?cle et son public (Rennes, 2003).

2. Original research and summaries of previous studies are found in the

collected short papers of Artistes, artisans et production artistique en

Bretagne au Moyen ?ge, ed. X. Barrai I Altet (Rennes, 1983); Prigent, Pouvoir ducal, religion et production artistique', C. de M?rindol, "Le

livre peint ? la fin du moyen ?ge, support privil?gi? d'une politique

dynastique, familiale ou personnelle. Les Miracles de Notre-Dame (B.N., n.a.fr. 24541) et le Livre d'heures de Pierre II de Bretagne (B.N., lat.

1159)," in Pratiques de la culture ?crite en France au XVe si?cle, ed. M. Ornato and N. Pons (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1995), 499-514; and

R. Harrou?t, "Une famille de bibliophiles au XVe si?cle: Les Co?tivy," Bulletin et m?moires de la Soci?t? Arch?ologique du D?partement

d'llle-et-Vilaine, Cil (1999), 139-199.

3. E. K?nig first presented this theory in "L'enluminure ? Rennes ? la fin

de la guerre de cent ans," in Artistes, artisans et production artistique en Bretagne au Moyen ?ge, 121-126, and repeated thereafter in several

exhibition catalogues, including Pontivy, Ch?teau des ducs de Rohan,

Tr?sors des biblioth?ques de Bretagne (Vannes, 1989), 49-63; Schal

42



laburg, Nieder?sterreichische Landesregierung, Bretagne. Die Kultur

des 'Landes am Meer' 1300-1990, ed. B. B?ranger-Menard (Vienna,

1990), 72-75; and Daoulas, Abbaye de Daoulas, La Bretagne au temps des ducs (Daoulas, 1991), 115-118.

X. Barrai I Altet, "Arch?ologie et histoire de l'art du Moyen Age en

Bretagne: Vingt-cinq ans de travaux," M?moires de la Soci?t? d'His

toire et d Arch?ologie de Bretagne, LXI (1984), 377-411, esp. 406-407; A. Mussat, "Un manuscrit reconstitu? ? la Biblioth?que Municipale de

Rennes," BMon, CXLIV/2 (1986), 153-155; M.-H. Santrot, Entre France

et Angleterre. Le duch? de Bretagne: Essai d'iconographie des ducs

de Bretagne (Nantes, 1988), 172, 184.

See C. Couderc, Album de portraits d'apr?s les collections du d?

partement des manuscrits (Paris, [1910]), PL LXV; V. Leroquais, Les

livres d'heures: Manuscrits de la Biblioth?que Nationale, Paris (Paris and Ma?on, 1927), I, Nos. 21, 67-70, Pis. XLVI-L; J. Porcher, Les

manuscrits ? peintures en France du XHIe au XVIe si?cle (Paris,

1955), No. 241 and his circle (Nos. 242-247); E. K?nig, Franz?sische

Buchmalerei um 1450: Der Jouvenal Maler, der Maler der Genfer Boccaccio und die Anf?nge Jean Fouquets (Berlin, 1982), 53-56, 64

66, 116-117, 122-124, Figs. 116, 118-119, 251, 273, 297-298; F. O.

B?ttner, "Iconographisches Eigengut der Randzier in sp?tmittelalter lichen Handschriften. Inhalte und Programme," Scriptorium, XXXIX/2

(1985), 197-233; E. K?nig, Les heures de Marguerite d'Orl?ans. Re

production int?grale du calendrier et des images du manuscrit latin

1156 B de la Biblioth?que Nationale (Paris), trans. F. Boespflug (Paris,

1991); and F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits ? peintures en

France, 1440-1520 (Paris, 1993), 28-29.

"[P]ourquoi ne pas accepter l'indication pr?cieuse fournie par la litur

gie surtout si on se rappelle qu'on sait peu de choses sur les lieux

d'origine des miniatures de cette ?poque." E. K?nig, "Un atelier d'en

luminure ? Nantes et l'art du temps de Fouquet," RdA, XXXV (1977),

64-75, esp. 67.

Manuscripts attributed to the Master of Rennes 34 include Rennes,

BMun, MS 34, use of Rome (Hours of Catherine de Rohan), and Cam

bridge, Christ College, MS 22, ca. 1440, use of Rome; see K?nig, Franz?sische Buchmaleri um 1450, 124, Fig. 307; Mussat, "Un

manuscrit reconstitu?," 153-155; and S. Esposito, "Les heures de

Catherine de Rohan et Fran?oise de Dinan: ?tude du cycle de minia

tures et des bordures histori?es du manuscrit 34, 15942 de la Biblio

th?que Municipale de Rennes" (M?moire de ma?trise, Universit? de

Haute Bretagne, Rennes, 1995).

Manuscripts attributed by K?nig to the Master of Walters 221 include

Baltimore, WAM, MS W. 221, ca. 1425-1450, use undetermined;

Rennes, BMun, MS 28, ca. 1430, use of Rennes; New York, PML, MSS M. 164 and 173, ca. 1420-1430, Rennes variant; and Vienna,

?NB, cod. 1910, ca. 1440, use of Rome. See J. Plummer, with assis

tance from G. Clark, The Last Flowering: French Painting in Manu

scripts, 1420-1530 from American Collections (New York, 1982), No. 25; K?nig, Franz?sische Buchmalerei um 1450, 24, 109, 116-117,

119, 121-123, 252, Figs. 241, 270, 290, 299, 312; and L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, 1992), II, No. 108, with earlier bibliography.

Manuscripts attributed to the Master of the Hours of Jean de Mon

tauban include Paris, BnF, MS lat. 18026, ca. 1430-1466, use of Rennes;

Rennes, BMun, MS 1834, ca. 1430-1460, St.-Brieuc use?; Rennes,

BMun, MS 29, ca. 1425-1450, use of Rennes; and Lyon, BMun, MS

5140, ca. 1425-1450, use unknown. See Leroquais, Les livres d'heures, No. 260; K?nig, Franz?sische Buchmalerei um 1450, 116-117, 123,

130, Figs. 8 and 9, 253, 315-316; Avril and Reynaud, Manuscrits ?

peintures, No. 93; and Claude Aguttes, H?tel des Ventes de Neuilly, 10

October 2001, No. 2.

K?nig, "L'enluminure ? Rennes," 123.

11. Paris, BnF, pi?ces originales 2063, La Mote 77, and pi?ces originales 340, Bigaud 4; published in L. Laborde, Les ducs de Bourgogne: ?tudes sur les lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XVe si?cle et plus

particuli?rement dans les Pays-Bas et le duch? de Bourgogne (Paris,

1849-1852), III, No. 6313, and transcribed by K?nig in Les heures de

Marguerite d'Orl?ans, 48. K?nig attributes later miniatures to the

painter Etienne Sauderat, working about 1450; see Les heures de Mar

guerite d'Orl?ans, 49-53.

12. Her daughter-in-law Marguerite de Bretagne owned five books of hours

according to her 1469 testament; see A. de La Borderie, "Notes sur les

livres et les biblioth?ques au moyen ?ge en Bretagne," Biblioth?que de

l'?cole des Chartes, ser. V, 3 (1862), 45-46.

13. Catalogue g?n?ral des manuscrits latins, ed. P. Lauer (Paris, 1839-), I,

400; F. Duine, Br?viaires et missels des ?glises et abbayes bretonnes

de France ant?rieurs au XVIIe si?cle (Rennes, 1906), 27-28; V. Lero

quais, Les sacramentales et les missels manuscrits des biblioth?ques

publiques en France (Paris, 1924), III, 68-72; Porcher, Les manuscrits ?

peintures, No. 208; and K?nig, Les heures de Marguerite d'Orl?ans, 47.

14. Primary documents generally spell his name "Chantemelle," although his name appears as "Chantemerle" in all the secondary literature. For

this bishop, see H. Morice, L'?glise de Bretagne, depuis ses commence

ments jusqu'? nos jours (Paris, 1839), 23; P. de la Bigne-Villeneuve, "Notice sur Anselme de Chantemerle, l'?v?que de Rennes," in M?

langes d'histoire et d'arch?ologie bretonnes, ed. P. de la Bigne-Ville neuve (Rennes, 1855-1858), II, 229-234; and A. Guillotin de

Corson, Fouill? historique de l'archev?ch? de Rennes (Rennes, 1880), I, 76-77, 120.

15. Baltimore, WAM, MS W. 219, fol. 245; see M. Meiss, E. H. Smith

Beatson, and S. Off Dunlap, French Painting in the Time of Jean de

Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries (New York, 1974), I,

412-413, II, Fig. 523; see also O. Pacht, "Early Italian Nature Studies

and the Early Calendar Landscape," JWCI, XIII (1950), 13-47.

16. H. Martin, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Biblioth?que de l'Arsenal

(Paris, 1885), I, 463-464, where the manuscript is described as use of

Vannes; Duine, Br?viaire et missels, No. CLXXXV (described as

"Heures Brito-Rennais"); A. Franklin, Les anciennes biblioth?ques de

Paris. ?glises, monast?res, coll?ges, etc. (Paris, 1867-1870), II, 275;

K?nig, Franz?sische Buchmalerei um 1450, 54 note 134; and K?nig, "L'enluminure ? Rennes," 124, where he identifies the book of hours as use of Rennes.

17. For example, books of hours in a New York private collection and in

the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (MS 62), reproduced by Meiss,

Beatson, and Dunlap, The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, I,

263, 266, Figs. 863-864. The Rohan Master's unusual illumination has

been discussed by A. Heimann, "Der Meister der Grandes Heures de

Rohan und seine Werkstatt," Stadel Jahrbuch, VII-VIII (1932), 1-61; P. Durrieu, "Le ma?tre des Grandes Heures de Rohan et les Lescuier

d'Angers," Revue de l'art ancien et moderne (1912), 80-98, 160-183; J. Porcher, The Rohan Book of Hours (London, 1959); and M. Meiss and M. Thomas, The Rohan Master: A Book of Hours (New York, 1973). See also L. Blacksberg, "Death and Contract of Salvation: The Rohan

Master's Illumination for the Office of the Dead," Flanders in a Euro

pean Perspective: Manuscript Illumination around 1400 in Flanders

and Abroad, ed. M. Smeyers and B. Cardon (Louvain, 1995), 487

498; and M. Dachs, "Neue Zuschreibungen an den Meister des Rohan

Studenbuches," Wiener Jahrbuch f?r Kunstgeschichte, XXXXVIII

(1995), 85-101.

18. Compare the image of God the Father with miniatures in books of hours

in Baltimore (WAM, MS W 260, fol. 27, ca. 1415), Paris (Collection Charnac?, ca. 1420), and Chantilly (Mus?e Cond?, MS 64, fol. 25, ca.

1420); reproduced in M. Meiss, E. W. Kirsch, and K. Morand, French

Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master (London,

43



1968), Figs. 130-132; see also Avril and Reynaud, Les manuscrits ?

peintures en France, 18-19. Concerning a differentiation of artists, see

G. Bartz, Der Boucicaut-Meister. Ein unbekanntes Stundenbuch (Heri bert Tenschert, Kat. XLII) (Rotthalm?nster, 1999). For workshop col

laboration, see C. Geisler Andrews, "The Boucicaut Masters," Gesta, XLI/1 (2002), 29-38.

19. "Il est probable qu'il [the illuminator of Arsenal 616] a travaill? ?

Rennes, et la qualit? un peu sauvage de ses travaux semble bien justi fi?s la localisation. D'un autre c?t?, il se distingue par une imagination insolite et par un sens de la d?coration, moins civilis?, mais tr?s remar

quable." K?nig, "L'enluminure ? Rennes," 124.

20. Meiss also detected the collaboration of the Boucicaut and Rohan work

shops in at least one manuscript (London, BL, Harley 2940, ca. 1420),

noting their colorful borders of acanthus leaves, tall flowering stems, and decorative gold balls emerging from the ground or a vase; see

Meiss, Kirsch, and Morand, The Boucicaut Master, 92, 96, 135, Figs. 124, 174, 299, 322-323.

21. Cologne, Erzbisch?fliches Di?zesanmuseum, Ars vivendi ars mori

endi. Die Handschriftensammlung Renate K?nig. 34 der sch?nsten An

dachtsb?cher des Mittelalter aus der wohl bedeutendsten Sammlung in

deutschen Privatbesitz, ed. J. M. Plotzek et al. (Munich, 2001), No. 5, where its liturgical use is described as Rennes(?) and Nantes.

22. Compare Flemish books of hours, ca. 1420, in Randall, Medieval and

Renaissance Manuscripts, III, Nos. 229 and 230, Figs. 440 and 441.

23. Books of hours modeled after the Belles Heures (New York, The

Cloisters, 1405-1408) include manuscripts in the Zwemmer Collection

in London and in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (MS W. 287, ca. 1420-1425); see M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de

Berry: The Late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke

(London, 1967), I, 265, II, Fig. 262, and Meiss, Kirsch, and Morand, The Boucicaut Master, Fig. 240, as well as Randall, Medieval and Re

naissance Manuscripts, II, No. 103.

24. A similar composition in which Judas is placed at Christ's left is found

in Brb, MSS 11060-1, p. 164, by Jacquemart and assistants; repro duced in Meiss, The Late Fourteenth Century, II, Fig. 191. The distant

windmill is another Boucicaut element repeated in Rohan manuscripts; see, for example, the Boucicaut Hours (Paris, Mus?e de Jacquemart Andr?, MS 2, 1405-1408), a book of hours illuminated in collabora

tion (Paris, Biblioth?que Mazarine, MS 469, ca. 1415); reproduced

by Meiss, Kirsch, and Morand, The Boucicaut Master, Figs. 30 and

262.

25. Similar aureoles are found in miniatures by the Coronation Master (Paris,

BnF, MS fr. 12420, fol. 11, 1402), the Boucicaut Master (Paris, Mus?e

de Jacquemart Andr?, MS 2, fol. 20v, 1405-1408), Boucicaut followers

collaborating with the Rohan workshop (Paris, Biblioth?que Mazarine, MS 469, fol. 13, ca. 1415), and an imitator of the Parement Master

(Turin, Museo Civico, Heures de Milan); reproduced by Meiss, Beatson, and Dunlap, The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, II, Fig. 87;

Meiss, Kirsch, and Morand, The Boucicaut Master, Figs. 8 and 118; and Meiss, The Late Fourteenth Century, I, 247, 337-340, II, Fig. 45.

26. For the book of hours illuminated by the Rohan Master (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 62, fol. 119, ca. 1417-1418), see M. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum

(Cambridge, 1895), No. 62; Meiss, Beatson, and Dunlap, The Lim

bourgs and Their Contemporaries, I, 259-264, II, Figs. 857, 862, 863, 865-867. The composition may distantly echo a bas-de-page scene in

the Tr?s Belles Heures de Notre-Dame; see Meiss, The Late Fourteenth

Century, II, Fig. 27. The Rohan Master may also have influenced a

similar composition by the Master of Walters 221 (Baltimore, WAM, MS W. 221, fol. 15); at least the similarities are stronger than those of the

Orl?ans Master, who, according to K?nig, was the dominant stylistic force on the Master of Walters 221.

27. There are signs, however, of production problems: the scribe or manu

script designer neglected to leave space for miniatures at prime (Hours of the Virgin) and sext (Hours of the Cross). Finding no place at prime (Hours of the Virgin) to paint the usual Nativity scene, the artist illus

trated it at the next available hour of terce (Hours of the Virgin); he

painted the Flagellation at none (Hours of the Virgin) between the

Adoration of the Christ Child and the Flight into Egypt. For the final

hour of compline (Hours of the Virgin), the artist painted Christ before

Pilate, which creates a narrative discontinuity. It is possible that both

the Flagellation and Christ before Pilate miniatures were intended for

the Hours of the Cross sequence, but again the artist found no adequate space for the illustrations. As it is, there is no Crucifixion scene in the

Hours of the Virgin or the Hours of the Cross.

28. K?nig, Les heures de Marguerite d'Orl?ans, 100.

29. Besides the Durrieu Hours mentioned above, two other illuminated

Breton books of hours are assigned to Paris: Philadelphia, Free Li

brary, Widener MS 4 (ca. 1405, use of Rennes), written by Johannes

Parvus with illumination attributed to the Lu?on Master and the Egerton Master; see Philadelphia Museum of Art, Leaves of Gold: Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections, ed. J. Tanis with the as

sistance of J. Thompson (Philadelphia, 2001), No. 28; and New York,

PML, MS M. 515 (1402, use of Nantes), written by Yves Luces with

illumination attributed to the Troyes Master; see Meiss, Beatson, and

Dunlap, The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, I, 336, II, Fig. 412.

30. Rennes, AMun, No. 327 (18th-century copy); see A. Rebillon, Re

cherches sur les anciennes corporations ouvri?res et marchandes de

la ville de Rennes (Paris, 1902), 15.

31. "Mandement es seneschal et allou? de Rennes et leurs lieutenans de

maintenir les parcheminiers de Rennes es preveleges et franchises de

quoy ilz ont joy es temps passez" (6 April 1407); see R. Blanchard, Lettres et mandements de Jean V, duc de Bretagne (Nantes, 1889-1895), II, 14, No. 491.

32. Concerning Breton m?tiers, see J.-P. Leguay, Un r?seau urbain au moyen

?ge. Les villes du duch? de Bretagne aux XTV?me et XV?me si?cle (Paris,

1981), 263-265; M. Planiol, Histoire des institutions de la Bretagne

(Mayenne, 1982), IV, La Bretagne ducale, 109-160; J.-P. Leguay, "Les

m?tiers de l'artisanat dans les villes du duch? de Bretagne aux XlVe et

XVe si?cles," in Les m?tiers au moyen ?ge. Aspects ?conomiques et

sociaux, ed. P. Lambrechts and J.-P. Sosson (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1994),

157-204, esp. 160.

33. Concerning the early printing endeavors in Brittany, see Dom Fr. Plaine, "Essai historique sur les origines et les vicissitudes de l'imprimerie en

Bretagne," Revue de Bretagne et de Vend?e, XXXVIII (1875), 241

258, 354-371, 458-465; A. de La Borderie, L'imprimerie en Bretagne au XVe si?cle (Nantes, 1878); M. Duval, "Le livre et sa diffusion en

Bretagne," M?moires de la Soci?t? Historique et Arch?ologique de

Bretagne, XXXII (1952), 31-62; B. Saunier, "L'organisation urbaine

des m?tiers: l'exemple de Rennes," in Artistes, artisans et production

artistique en Bretagne au Moyen Age, 33-31; and Rennes, Biblio

th?que municipale, 500 ans d'imprimerie en Bretagne: 1484-1985, ed. X. Ferrieu (Rennes, 1985).

34. This is Rebillon's conclusion based on a 1755 document listing painters and "imagiers" among the free m?tiers; see Rebillon, Recherches sur

les anciennes corporations, 24.

35. A Franciscan ordinary (Rennes, BMun, MS 39, fol. 28v) records the

scribal role of Brother Petrus Garnerius in 1454: "Istud ordinarium est

pro uenerabili et famoso conuentu Redonensi Fratrum Minorum scriptum et completum anno Domini MCCCC quinquagesimo quarto, per manum

fratris Petri Garnerii. . . ." See Catalogue des manuscrits en ?criture

latine portant des indications de date, de lieu ou de copiste, ed. C. Sa

maran and R. Marichal (Paris, 1959-), VII, 255. A 1411 payment in

the Rennes cathedral chapter account books identifies the clerical scribe

44



Guillelmus Dionsius: "Item die lune post festum assencionis domini pro

surrogacione novorum foliorum in libro de catholicon dicte ecclesie

loco folioium dicti libri amissorum sobrit Guillelmo Dionsii clerico

XX s. item XXXI s.," 1411 estivalis. The three lay scribes?Iohannes

Durocher, Guillelmo Moichan, and Robinus Luce?also worked for the

Rennes cathedral chapter: "Item dono Iohanni Durocher pro coppiendo litteras fundacionis cappelanie beate Margarete et pro instrumento XV

s." 1403 estivales; "Item de mandato dominorum tune capitulatium tra

didit idem prepositus Guillelmo Moichan deducendo de majori somma

pro scriptura unius psalterii pro capitulo predicto XX s.," 1408-1409

vernalis; and "Item pro Robino Luce chorali dicte ecclesie pro nota unius

psalterii dicti capituli de mandato dominorum . . . solvit XX s.," 1412

estivalis. Comptes du chapitre de Rennes, Rennes, AdIV, ser. G 209, not

foliated; excerpted in Rennes, AdIV, ser. 1 F 433, pp. 21, 58, 63, 65.

36. "Item a poy? ce miseur a Moerien et a Richart, paintres, pour plastrer et paindre un tablel quel fut armoy? des armes et tymbe du Duc et

atach? au Portai de la dite Porte Mordelayse. Et pour semez dermines

partie dudit portai contre la venue de mondit seigneur le Duc par marchi? et couvenant fait ovecques lesdiz paintre a la somme de 60 s."

Also, "A Richard paintre pour avoir ermyn? et paint ledit g?bet"; and

"A Hamon Soybaut pour avoir paint et ermyn? ledit g?bet." Rennes,

AMun, Comptes des miseurs, 1442; transcribed in AdIV, ser. 1 F 104, not foliated.

37. The Rennes cathedral chapter accounts record payments to presbiter Petrus de Brolio for binding a manuscript: "Item pro religacione unius libri dicte ecclesie nuncupati libri Johannis solvit Petro de Brolio pres b?tero XXV s.," 1413-1414 vernalis. Rennes, AdIV, ser. G 209, not fo

liated; excerpted in Rennes, AdIV, ser. 1 F 433, p. 68.

38. "Item de mandato dominorum capituli tradidit ipse prepositus domino

Radulpho Crambert presbitero pro litteris capituli defferendis magistro Guillelmo de Montforti scolastico Redonensi et abbati de Monteforti tarn

pro repparacione et religacione librorum dicte ecclesie quam pro resti

tucione unius consocii cum priore sancti Moderandi ad eamdem eccle

siam 5 d.," 1418-1419 vernalis. Rennes, AdIV, ser. G 209, not foliated;

excerpted in Rennes, AdIV, ser. 1 F 433, p. 79.

39. Concerning Guillaume Cheveau, libraire, who hired the printer Pierre

Le Bret to operate his new printing presses, see A. le Duc, "Les d?buts

difficiles de l'imprimerie," in Artistes, artisans et production artistique en Bretagne au Moyen ?ge, 284.

40. P. Blois, Histoire de Nantes (Toulouse, 1977), 98-100.

45

