Horses of master Martin

Salvete Omnes,

 Surviving works of master Martin Schongauer (circa 1450-1491) present the wide panorama of the artistic skills of one of the most skilled artists of the Northern Renaissance.

Master Martin was famous for the renderings of the Virgin Mary and numerous saints.

But we will just concentrate on his horse iconography -

from the print- Christ bearing the Cross -

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2nd print -
battle of Clavijo circa 844 Ad, during the Reconquista - exceptional combination of master Martin artistic skills and his knowledge of horse and its body (considering the time period, i.e., XV century.

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Santiago or Saint James of Spain 

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Adarga shields and lances of the Moorish warriors

enjoy 

Valete  

Adoration of Magi - Gerard & Domenico

 Salvete Omnes,

today is the Feast of Epiphany - and I would like to share the following particular details from some XV century Old Masters' paintings showing the Holy Family and the Adoration of Magi.

 

 Northern Renaissance painter Gerard David - Adoration from MET

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another Adoration of Magi by Gerard David - from Munich Altepinakotek 

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another Adoration of Magi by David, from Brussels.

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and from the south of the XV century Europe -  Italian Old Master Domenico Ghirlandaio 
Uffizi Gallery

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Cappella Tornabuoni - 

saddle pommel and its adornments 

Adoration of Magi from Museo degli Innocenti , Florence

. Cappella Sassetti , Florence

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Happy Epiphany

Valete

Happy Epiphany

 Salvete Omnes,

Journey of the Magi and Adoration - from Eadwine Psalter -  XII century, Canterbury, England 

the Christmas season 2023-4 is about to end this weekend, with the feast of Epiphany being its culmination in our Roman Catholic tradition & rite - enjoy the holiday weekend. 

Adoration of Magi by Vrelant, there is  a rondel dagger at the belt of the youngest Magi

and from Martin Schongauer's atelier comes this panel - Adoration of Magi 

spurs of two types, and a interesting bridle on a grey horse 

the image in the first banner looks a lot like a Polish coat of arms Gliszczynski IV - a variant of Leliwa coat of arms
Valete

Hugo van der Goes - Nativity with the Magi

 Salvete Omnes,

so today we celebrate the feast of  Epiphany - and with that we can take a look at the splendid world of the XV century Christina Europe, and ... yes, yes the horses too. 

Monforte Altarpiece - a Northern Renaissance masterpiece by Hugo van der Goes

Maestro Hugo was very skilled in his trade, and his horses are of the finest sort painted during that great XV century anywhere in Europe -the riders and pages sport the high  fashion of the day, while our attention is drawn to a splendid gray warhorse led by a page.

 

spurs - splendid examples of rowel spurs of this period

enjoy your gifts if any given or just enjoy your day and the coming weekend

Valete

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

Salvete Omnes,
starting the day with the second set of the illuminations  painted for the Livre du cœur d'Amour épris of Rene d'Anjou.
 The collection consists of these 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 (via Wiki Commons)
The plates are exceptionally beautiful - I am going to divide them into parts, as they are rather substantial

 just one of the pages in its entirety - breathtaking
 
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Valete

Adoration of the Magi - Giovanni di Paolo

Salvete Omnes,
keeping up spirit of Holidays and with the subject of Adoration of the Magi -
so today and at this time Giovanni di Paolo, a Sienese master of the XV century trained by Thaddeo di Bartolo and influenced by Sasseta et Gentile da Fabriano . You can read about his art and paintings in The Italian paintings Sienese and Central Italian Schools  (archive or  MET ) page 19 onwards; or in Early Sienese paintings in Hungarian collections : 1420-1520 by Dóra Sallay - p. 174 onwards, also color  images 9.1 onwards.

The following paintings containing horses that exhibit similar traits to Bartolo di Fredi's horses, however due to the small size of the photos perhaps only the Cleveland piece can offer  some interesting insights. All horses appear to have been powerful animals, with wide nostrils, large eyes, short ears, wide foreheads, powerful necks with abundant mane.

Cleveland Museum of Art -

three-quarter view of the foreground grey horse with powerful chest and neck

spurs

Magi's horses - rather spirited and powerful, thus perhaps stallions -   white , bay and roan dextrarius  behind the calmer grey that is a palfrey? Double reins on the grey, and very sumptuous saddle with a long saddle cover or shabraque.

Kroller-Muller Museum - unfortunately no larger size to study the horses and their tack

Met - crica AD 1460

interesting bridle on the grey horse, perhaps a curb-bit on the bay one.. not much else

Unknown -

Valete!