Apocalypse 5

 Salvete Omnes,

war in Ukraine must end - peace is so dear!!

more of the XV century Apocalypse images: 

this time:
De Vier Reiter - Cologne Bible circa 1479AD

and Apocalipsis in dietsche- circa 1400AD from Gallica - BN de France

our present day would require one more Horseman - the Disinformation Horseman, perhaps I will draw one this weekend... Medieval style?

Valete

Master of Rohan Hours - chivalry splendors

 Salvete Omnes,

dog days of the Summer are continuing on gloriously   - so another 'slow cavalcade'  to the fabulous word of XV century chivalry and medieval manuscript painting  - this time the so called(because the painter is anonymous) master of Rohan book of Hours.
the Hours can be viewed at leisure at the Gallica -French National Library digital site.

Wikipedia has this entry, while world library archive has various volumes available for borrowing - eg The Rohan Master and The Rohan book of Hours.

and I corralled some horse related illuminations from this amazing volume - 

Valete

Jean de Feschal - late medieval treatise

Salvete Omnes,
back form the break of sorts - the USA in upheaval and things are very emotional, violence and rioting out there - all this qualifies for a Chinese saying -
Ad rem, a short entry- :)
while 'talking' about the medieval and early modern hinged-bits on one of the Facebook groups I was pointed to a manuscript by a French lare Medieval or early modern hippologist chevalier Jean (Jehan) de Feschal,  - Traité d'Hippiatrique .
 ''De nombreuses inscriptions dans une écriture cursive du XVIe siècle (peut-être plusieurs mains) sont présentes dans le manuscrit.''
so, the author of Gallica information on this manuscript seems to ponder the difficulty with precisely pinpointing the year this family manuscript was produced, and indicates that the writing style belongs to the XVI century style and there are various hands present, thus might have been more writers to this folio.
It is accessible for viewing and/or download on Gallica - French National Libary.

it may be interesting to search and find out which Jehan de Freschal  it might have been - as there were at least two Jean de Feschal(separated by more than 2-4 or more  generations?) two of this family: I found
1. Jean, seigneur de Ture et de Bourgon,
2. Jean du Feschal, seigneur de Marbouë & du Gripon, capitaine du château de Caen.
and the coat of arms shown in the manuscript shows that this family branch was entitled to use the coat of arms of the Montecler one on their escutcheon-  more about this Le Mains family of de Feschal  see here. 
The manuscript has more than 160 pen and ink and watercolor images of various bits.
Among them this interesting  bit for la gineta/jineta.(view 70 on Gallica)

Valete

Livre du cœur d'Amour épris of Rene d'Anjou part IIb

Salvete Omnes,

continuing with the remainder of plates from
Livre du cœur d'Amour épris of Rene d'Anjou (Austrian National Library in Vienna: Livre du cœur d'amour épris - ÖNB - Cod.Vid.2597 )


 

 

 

 



Valete

Livre du cœur d'Amour épris of Rene d'Anjou - illumiantions I

Salvete Omnes,
during the later Middle Ages the tradition of the courtly love  bore a  new literary genre - the chivalric romance 'novel' told as a long allegorical poem - probably the most popular and influential was Le Roman de la Rose. Perhaps more about this important work in the future.

Good King Rene d'Anjou wrote his own courtly romance novel titled Livre du Coeur d'Amour, where a knight named Couer accompanied of Desir searched  for his ideal love, lady Douce Merci, who had been held captive by Refus, Honte et Crainte.

At this time I am interested in the illuminations for this book, and there are two manuscripts with rather very distinct  illuminations painted by two? different masters:
1. a complete one in France: Le Livre du cœur d'amour épris - BNF Fr24399‎

2. this set contains only 16 illuminations with the 24 being empy, and is held by the Austrian National Library in Vienna: Livre du cœur d'amour épris - ÖNB - Cod.Vid.2597

 I start with some of the illuminations and close ups from the French National Library folio, painted by an anonymous painter, sometimes called Maître du Cœur d'Amour épris or Maître du Retable Beaussant .


 

 
 
 
 
 

also a saddle and bit & bridle in this detail

Valete

Robinet Testard's horses and wonders from Gallica FNL

Salvete Omnes,
April is almost over, so let us have a little dose of late Medieval manuscript illuminations; for the ills and hopefully also joys of this truly strange Spring of 2020.

Below a detail showing the Amazons  from the illumination below
 
We can study and enjoy the art and imagination of Robinet Testard in the manuscript titled  Les Secrets de l'histoire naturelle contenant les merveilles et choses memorables du monde. - it is thought that he painted these  illuminations circa AD 1480-5.
Prince Henry the Navigator, the mastermind of  the Portuguese oceanic exploration and trade, was dead some two decades earlier, and his compatriots already were sailing along African western coasts, farmed Madeira and the Azores,  and in 1488AD  the Bartolomeu Dias' ships will round the Cape of Good Hope, opening the route to fabled India.
The Castillans (subjects  of queen Isabel's Castilla- Castile) conquered the Canary Islands and in coming yers she would sponsor Cristobal Colon (Columbus), who would sail his small flotilla from Sevilla in the summer of 1492AD.
In 1485 the Age of Discovery was just around the corner for maser Testard, who lived until 1530AD, and his French readers and patrons.

 The manuscript has been digitized and can be read and viewed in its entirety at Gallica French National Library. More details about the plates can he read here (in French).



 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 


Valete