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![DAVID AND BATHSHEBA and JOB ON THE DUNGHEAP, two miniatures from a Book of Hours on vellum illuminated by the Master of François de Rohan [Paris, c.1530s]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0034_002(david_and_bathsheba_and_job_on_the_dungheap_two_miniatures_from_a_book053744).jpg?w=1)
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DAVID AND BATHSHEBA and JOB ON THE DUNGHEAP, two miniatures from a Book of Hours on vellum illuminated by the Master of François de Rohan [Paris, c.1530s]
Two masterpieces of Renaissance French painting: a vibrant and imaginatively painted pair of miniatures by the Master of François de Rohan, illuminator for France's first great Renaissance monarch, François I.
180 x 117mm. The miniature with David and Bathsheba opening the Seven Penitential Psalms; Job on the Dungheap opening the Office of the Dead from a Book of Hours (edges cropped, some smudging and show-through). Pasted down on card.
The illuminator, active c.1525-1546, was originally named 'The Master of François I' after a Book of Hours made for the great Renaissance French monarch and patron of the Arts (the only extant fully illuminated Book of Hours made for François I), sold at Christie's London, 7 July 2010, lot 47, and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was renamed 'The Master of François de Rohan' by François Avril after a copy of the Archbishop of Lyons' 1530 translation of the Fleur de Vertu (Paris, BnF, ms. fr. 1877), and studied comprehensively by Myra Orth. Although he worked on a variety of texts 'The Master of François de Rohan [...] excelled in the illustration of these pious books [of hours], often surpassing his contemporaries in imaginative subject matter and lively narration' (M. Orth, 'The Master of François de Rohan: A Familiar French Renaissance Miniaturist with a New Name', Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters, Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse, 1998, p.77). More than twenty manuscript codices and leaves, half a dozen woodcuts and (in part) a triptych on vellum have been attributed to the artist (for an extensive list of attributed works see M. Orth, Renaissance Manuscripts, The Sixteenth Century, 2015, I, p.292).
The decoration of the present miniatures clearly demonstrates the adoption of Renaissance taste in France: both boast full architectural borders filled with Renaissance motifs and features such as trompe-l'oeil pieces of parchment bearing the text, inventively in this case with animated roly-poly putti ripping their way through the vellum. The style combines strong, bright, colours; voluminous, swirling draperies; crisply delineated faces and physical features; and slightly chubby facial types reminiscent of some of those by German artists. A particularly unusual feature of the present miniatures are the archaising initials opening the text: there are no parallels in other works by the Master.
Two masterpieces of Renaissance French painting: a vibrant and imaginatively painted pair of miniatures by the Master of François de Rohan, illuminator for France's first great Renaissance monarch, François I.
180 x 117mm. The miniature with David and Bathsheba opening the Seven Penitential Psalms; Job on the Dungheap opening the Office of the Dead from a Book of Hours (edges cropped, some smudging and show-through). Pasted down on card.
The illuminator, active c.1525-1546, was originally named 'The Master of François I' after a Book of Hours made for the great Renaissance French monarch and patron of the Arts (the only extant fully illuminated Book of Hours made for François I), sold at Christie's London, 7 July 2010, lot 47, and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was renamed 'The Master of François de Rohan' by François Avril after a copy of the Archbishop of Lyons' 1530 translation of the Fleur de Vertu (Paris, BnF, ms. fr. 1877), and studied comprehensively by Myra Orth. Although he worked on a variety of texts 'The Master of François de Rohan [...] excelled in the illustration of these pious books [of hours], often surpassing his contemporaries in imaginative subject matter and lively narration' (M. Orth, 'The Master of François de Rohan: A Familiar French Renaissance Miniaturist with a New Name', Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters, Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse, 1998, p.77). More than twenty manuscript codices and leaves, half a dozen woodcuts and (in part) a triptych on vellum have been attributed to the artist (for an extensive list of attributed works see M. Orth, Renaissance Manuscripts, The Sixteenth Century, 2015, I, p.292).
The decoration of the present miniatures clearly demonstrates the adoption of Renaissance taste in France: both boast full architectural borders filled with Renaissance motifs and features such as trompe-l'oeil pieces of parchment bearing the text, inventively in this case with animated roly-poly putti ripping their way through the vellum. The style combines strong, bright, colours; voluminous, swirling draperies; crisply delineated faces and physical features; and slightly chubby facial types reminiscent of some of those by German artists. A particularly unusual feature of the present miniatures are the archaising initials opening the text: there are no parallels in other works by the Master.
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