Valuable Books and Manuscripts
Sant'Alessio in Bigiano, also known as Maestro Geometrico, was an Italian master who led the most active bookmaking workshop in Tuscany during the last quarter of the 13th century.
Johannes von Valkenburg was a Franciscan monk of the Friars Minor in Cologne, a calligrapher and illustrator.
He is known for having written, decorated and illustrated a manuscript for the Franciscan monastery in Cologne at the end of the 13th century and for having made two copies of it. One is in the Archdiocesan Diocesan and Cathedral Library in Cologne, the other in the University and State Library in Bonn. On the title pages of these rarities is an inscription indicating Valkenburg's authorship.
Giustino di Gherardino da Forlì was an Italian miniaturist.
He worked as an antiphonary for the church of Santa Maria della Carità in Venice in the second half of the fourteenth century.
Girolamo da Milano, better known as Maestro Olivetano, was an Italian miniaturist who worked between 1425 and 1450. He was one of the most important figures of Lombard illumination in the mid-fifteenth century.
The Rohan Master is the name given to an unknown French illustrator in honor of his participation in the work on the manuscript known as the Rohan Clock.
The artist worked in the first half of the 15th century. He is known to have worked as a young man in the Champagne region of France and then moved to Paris around 1415-1420, where he established a large studio and collaborated with other illustrators. His work during this period included not only books of hours but also several secular manuscripts.
The influence of the Parisian artists of the time, Master Boucicault and the Limbur brothers, can be felt in the work of Master Rohan, but his style is characterized by an extraordinary expressiveness.
Master of the Troyes Missal de Troyes was a French book illustrator who worked in Troyes in the mid-15th century.
The artist got his name from the missal (liturgical book) he illustrated, which is now preserved in Paris. The master is considered one of Troyes' most brilliant illustrators circa 1450. Contemporaries described him as "the most prominent figure in Troyes' illuminations of the mid-15th century. Troyes was the main center of book production in Champagne during the second half of the 15th century, when the region's lavish manuscripts made it an alternative to Paris, and the master of Troyes books was the most sought-after artist in that city. The widespread demand among devout laymen for the Book of Hours (the most popular liturgical text of the Middle Ages) brought the Troyes master many commissions.
Elegantly elongated figures with flat faces, richly brocaded tapestries, and checkered green floors are hallmarks of the artist's work.
Francesco di Antonio del Chierico was an early Renaissance Italian painter, illustrator, and jeweler in Florence.
He trained as a goldsmith but later became a highly successful and revered manuscript illustrator. His work was sought after by the patrons of Florence in the second half of the fifteenth century, and he is also considered a favorite artist of Lorenzo de' Medici.
Francesco del Chierico decorated and illustrated books of all sizes that covered a variety of literary, scientific, historical, and religious subjects. He creatively painted manuscript margins as well as full pages. The artist's illustrations often included intricate floral compositions, and he also painted exquisite portraits.
The Master of the Ghent Graduel was a Flemish painter, miniaturist, and illuminator who worked in Ghent and Tournai in the second third of the fifteenth century.
This master comes from an older, Parisian tradition of manuscript illumination that was developed by the master Gilbert de Metz. He was active in the 1460s-1470s and was responsible for the illumination of the clockbooks now preserved in British libraries and also created the miniatures for the books of Valerius Maximus.
Jean Colombe was a French miniaturist and manuscript illustrator. He founded a dynasty of illuminators, including a son and grandson who continued his work even after his death.
Colombe is known to have decorated a large number of manuscripts. He was commissioned to illustrate both secular and religious texts, and he depicted scenes with many characters in elaborate architectural structures or landscapes. His illuminated manuscripts were decorated with gold or silver, brilliant colors, intricate drawings, or miniature images. Jean Colombe was patronized by Charlotte of Savoy, wife of Louis XI and a noted bibliophile. He illustrated manuscripts for the queen, her daughter Anne Beaujault, and members of the court. Colombe also entered the service of her nephew, Charles I, Duke of Savoy, who commissioned him to complete two unfinished manuscripts in his library: the magnificent Apocalypse of Jean Baptiste and Perronet Lamy and probably the most famous of all the Chapels, The Rich Estates of the Duke of Berry by the brothers de Limbourg.
Maître François was a French illustrator who worked in Paris in the 1460s-1480s.
The identity of Maître François as an artist is first mentioned in a letter written by Robert Gauguin in 1473. Most of the prestigious commissions from the court and leading ecclesiastical figures of the time were carried out in François' studio. In Paris in the second half of the fifteenth century, one can trace the predominant style of illumination by the works of Master Jean Rolin, Maître François, and Master Jacques de Besançon. Bibliophiles close to the royal court encouraged the work of miniaturists through private commissions. In particular, Jacques d'Armagnac owned six manuscripts of Maitre Francois and his entourage.
Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium was very popular in the 15th century, where the author retells the fates and downfalls of famous personalities from the Bible, antiquity and medieval history, ending with Boccaccio's own contemporaries in 14th-century Florence. For a long time this book was even more famous and successful than Boccaccio's Decameron. The text was translated into French in 1409 for Jean, Duke de Berry, by his secretary Laurent Premieffe. And the illustrations for the book were later created in the workshop of the then respected Maître François.
Maitre de Coëtivy, born Colin d'Amiens, was a French artist, illuminator and painter, one of the recognized artists of the French court.
Contemporaries considered this master to be the most important artist working in Paris in the third quarter of the century. The master was named for the Book of Hours, which he illustrated for the chamberlain of Charles VII, Olivier de Coetivy. Maitre de Coëtivy also created panels, worked on stained glass and tapestries. Among his famous clients was Louis XI's brother, Charles of France; his works decorated the great church of Saint-Severin in Paris and the royal courts.
Amico Aspertini was an Italian Renaissance painter, draughtsman, and sculptor, considered one of the leading representatives of the Bolognese school of painting.
He was trained in the family workshop and was influenced by the artists of the Ferrara school, Ercole de'Roberti, Lorenzo Costa, and Francesco Francia. He worked as a painter and sculptor, and was also an excellent draughtsman, as evidenced by his many surviving drawings and sketches. Contemporaries marveled at his complex and impulsive character and noted that he worked with both hands simultaneously.
Aspertini painted splendid portraits as well as numerous frescoes and altarpiece paintings in chapels and churches in Italy. Many of his works are eccentric and eclectic, even whimsically fantastical, his complex style anticipating Mannerism.
Giovanni Pietro Birago was an Italian painter, illuminator, and engraver for the Sforza court.
He worked from 1470 to 1513 in Brescia, Venice, and Milan, was a leading Milanese illustrator and was favored by the ducal court.
Jean Pichore was a French painter, illustrator, and miniaturist.
He was one of the most famous and prolific illuminators in the production of horologers in Paris at the beginning of the 16th century. Between 1490 and 1521, he was head of a rather large workshop which carried out many orders, while he himself produced only selected works. Jean Pichore worked in many fields, including altarpiece painting, stained glass windows, tapestry designs and illuminated manuscripts.
Attavante degli Attavanti, also Gabriello di Vante, is the best known and most representative artist of Italian miniature painting.
Attavante's elegant, expressive style was influenced by the work of Domenico Ghirlandaio and Antonio Pollaiuolo. His first recorded work, dated 1483, is a missal created for Thomas James, bishop of the Dol-de-Bretagne. He subsequently created several manuscripts for Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and the Medici family, among whom was Pope Leo X. The workshop of Attavante also produced the Jerome Bible, one of the finest bibles created during the Italian Renaissance, now in the Portuguese National Archives.