Scriptorium
Simon Marmion re-considered
Edith Warren Hoffman
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Warren Hoffman Edith. Simon Marmion re-considered. In: Scriptorium, Tome 23 n°2, 1969. pp. 243-271;
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43.
.)
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED*
When the great French scholar, Paul Durrieu, wrote that Jan van Eyck
began his career as a manuscript illustrator (1), he inferred the importance
of book illuminations for the development of early Flemish panel painting.
To define this situation in all its complexity required another fifty years.
In the course of these studies, it has become increasingly evident not only
that miniatures exerted a crucial influence on the beginnings of northern
panel art, but also that such book paintings have their own intrinsic merits.
These tiny images, concealed between the covers of the volumes in private
libraries, seem to have constituted a small scale private art which existed
side by side with the more monumental public forms of panels, tapestries
and wall paintings. Considerable research is presently directed towards a
comprehensive inquiry into this neglected and prodigious facet of painting
in the north of Europe between about 1360 and 1430 (2).
To the developments after 1430, however, little attention has been
given, because it is generally assumed that northern illumination at this
period— although widely practised until the end of the century— became
a minor art form; inferior to, and largely dependent on panels. In view
of the recent re-evaluation of earlier illuminations, it is pertinent to examine
more closely this assumption concerning mid and late fifteenth century
manuscript painting. Had it really become a secondary minor art, or did
it continue to be a private art form now engaged in a new and even more
intricate relationship with panel paintings? Certainly the panel medium,
after 1430 was extremely powerful. Many of the religious compositions
employed in manuscripts were borrowed from panels. It was also the
separate panel format, freed from the inherently two-dimensional page of
the written book, which allowed and encouraged artists to progress towards
an ever more naturalistic style of painting. On the other hand, at least
one illuminator of this later period has been recognized consistently as an
exception to the general decline of the medium; Jean Fouquet. More
(*) It is especially appropriate that this essay should be dedicated to M. Frederick Lyna
because it was M. Lyna and his younger colleague, M. L. M. J. Délaissé, who first aroused
my interest in Simon Marmion during my studies in Brussels in 1953-1954. At that time,
M. Lyna most generously put at my disposal all of his own unpublished knowledge and
observations about Marmion. I am further indebted to M. Délaissé and to Professor Philip
Fehl for having given of their time to read this essay and to make suggestions for its
(1) Paul Durrieu, "Les débuts des van Eycks," Gazette des Beaux- Arts, XXIX, 1903, p. 119.
(2) Recent research on the subject was given its initial impetus by Erwin Panofsky in his
Early Netherlandish Painting, Cambridge, Mass., 1953, I, p. 21-129; and is continued in the
latest work of Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry, New York and
London, 1967. This is to be followed by two additional volumes treating the Boucicaut Master
and Parisian workshops around 1400, and the Limbourgs and Rohan Master.
243
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
recently, the so-called Master of Mary of Burgundy (3) and Simon Marmion (4)
have also been placed in this same category. Quite evidently, our notions
about the later phases of manuscript illumination need to be refined by a
fuller knowledge of individual masters and of the relationship of their work
to panels. It is in this context that we are compelled to re-consider the
work of Simon Marmion.
Before detailed discussions of Marmion's work can be undertaken,
some general remarks are in order. Most importantly, it is necessary to
state unequivocably that Marmion was primarily an illuminator of
and only secondarily a painter of panels. While this has long been
recognized by manuscript specialists (5), most general publications (6) do
not sufficiently stress it. Furthermore, since Marmion's style owes something
to Roger van der Weyden, Dire Bouts and Hans Memling, there has been
a tendency to attribute to him numerous anonymous Flemish panels from
the workshops of any one of these three masters. In point of fact, among
the twenty or thirty panels assigned to him, not more than seven or eight
deserve any serious consideration (7). The miniatures, on the other hand,
are of more certain attribution, greater in quantity and, in many instances,
of higher artistic quality than the panels. At least fourteen manuscripts
containing over a hundred miniatures can be linked to the Marmion
A simple listing of these books establishes beyond dispute the
and variety of his illuminations.
Early works — circa 1449-1456
1) Brussels, B. R, Ms. 9231 (except f. 307) and Ms. 9232 (through f. 335V),
Fleur des histoires (with the Master of Mansel and helpers).
2) Haarlem, Teyler Foundation, Ms. 77, Pontifical of David of Burgundy.
3) Vienna, Schottenstift, Mss. 139-140, Fleur des histoires (missing part of
these manuscripts formerly in the Dietrichstein Collection, now lost; with
the Master of Mansel and helpers).
(3) See Otto Pâcht, The Master of Mary of Burgundy, London, 1947.
(4) Panofsky, I, n. 3 for p. 27.
(5) Most importantly, Chrétien Dehaisnes, Recherches sur le retable de Saint Berlin et sur Simon
Marmion, Lille and Valenciennes, 1892; Salomon Reinach, Un manuscrit de la bibliothèque de
Philippe le Bon à Saint-Pétersbourg (Monuments et mémoires, Fondation Eugène Piot, XI),
Paris, 1904; Friedrich Winkler, "Simon Marmion als Miniaturmaler," Jahrbuch der preussischen
Kunstsammlung, XXXIV, 1913, p. 251-80; Camille Gaspar, Le Pontifical de l'Église de Sens,
Brussels, 1925; Friedrich Winkler, Die fldmische Buchmalerei des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts,
Leipzig, 1925; L. M. J. Délaissé, La miniature flamande, le mécénat de Philippe le Bon, Brussels,
1959 and G. A. Chernova, Miniatyury Bol'shikh frantsuzskikh khronik, Moscow, 1960.
(6) See, for example, Charles Sterling, La peinture française, Les primitifs, Paris, 1938, p. 136
and Grete Ring, A Century of French Painting, 1400-1500, London, 1949, p. 25-28.
(7) In my opinion, these are (in the order of their closeness to Marmion's own hand) : Altarpiece
of Saint-Bertin (Berlin, Kaiser-Friedrich Museum and London, National Gallery); Crucifixion
(Philadelphia, Museum of Art, Johnson Collection); Testing of the True Cross (Paris, Louvre);
Lamentation (New York, Metropolitan Museum, Lehman Collection); Christ Crowned With
Thorns and Mater Dolorosa (Strasbourg, Museum of Fine Arts); Madonna and Child (Melbourne,
Australia, National Gallery of Victoria) and perhaps the Saint Jerome and Donor (Philadelphia,
Museum of Art, Johnson Collection).
244
simon marmion re-considered
Developed period —circa 1456-1466
1) Brussels, B. R., Ms. 9047, Sept âges du monde.
2) Brussels, B. R., Ms. 9215, Pontifical of Sens.
3) Brussels, B. R., Ms. 9231 (f. 307) and Ms. 9232 (f. 337 to end), Fleur des
histoires.
4) Leningrad, Nat. Lib., Ms. 88, Grandes chroniques de France (with several
helpers).
Transition period — circa 1466-1479
1) Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ms. 165, U Instruction d'un jeune prince
(one miniature).
2) Cambridge, Mass., Houghton Library, Mss. 234H and 235H, Guy de Thurno
and Visions du chevalier Tondal (with Ghent? artists).
3) San Marino, Calif., Huntington Library, Ms. H. M. 1173, Book of Hours
(with helpers?).
Late works —circa 1480-1489 (association with Ghent and Bruges workshops)
1) Berlin, Printroom, 78 B 13, Prayer book (fragment; with Master of Mary of
Burgundy).
2) Cambridge, Mass., Houghton Library, Ms. 204, Prayerbook (with Master of
Mary of Burgundy).
3) London, B. M., Huth Bequest, Add. Ms. 38126, Book of Hours (with Simon
Bening and Master of the Dresden Prayerbook).
4) London, Collection of Mrs. Lee Korner (Sotheby Sale, May 1953), Hours of
the Virgin (with Master of Mary of Burgundy and another).
5) Louvain, Bibl. de l'univ., Ms. G 5, Book of Hours of Thomas Louthe (with
Ghent? artists) (8).
(8) There are also a number of manuscripts more remotely related to the Marmion style which
are sometimes attributed to his workshop, but which present serious interpretation problems.
a) Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bib. Mun., Ms. 149, Chroniques de Hainaut.
b) Brussels, B. R., Ms. 9510, L'Estrif de Fortune et de Vertu.
c) Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ms. 304, single miniature of the Pentacost.
d) Jena, University Library, Ms. Gallia 87-88, Valere Maxime (one miniature added to a
fourteenth century manuscript).
e) London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Salting Collection, Ms. 235, Book of Hours (with Bruges
artists?).
/) Munich, Graphische Sammlung, Ms. 40051-62, Calendar fragment.
g) Naples, Nat. Lib., Ms. I. B. 51, Hours of the Virgin (La Flora), 21 inserted miniatures.
h) New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Ms. 6, Hours of the Virgin.
i) Philadelphia, Museum of Art, Johnson Collection, single miniature of the Pieta.
j) Turin, Biblioteca Già Reale, Ms. Var. 186, Missal of Claudio Villa (Crucifixion miniature
only).
k) Wimborne, Dorset, Kingston Lacy, Collection of Robert Bankes, esq., single miniature of
the Resurrection of Lazarus.
The ofted quoted Missal of Ferry de Clugnu in Siena, Bib. Com., Ms. X. V. 1. has nothing
to do with Marmion. Its frontispiece, the only miniature of quality, was long ago rightly
attributed to Guillaume Vrelant, and it is now generally recognized by manuscript specialists
as belonging to the Bruges production of the 1470 decade. See Winkler, Die flamische Buchmalerei, p. 199 and pi. 35, and Délaissé, La miniature flamande, p. 115, no. 126.
245
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
It is thus entirely fitting that Jean Lemaire de Belges should have called
Marmion the "prince d'enluminure 1" (9)
Once Marmion is properly designated as the master of a manuscript
workshop, a particular attitude towards attributions must be adopted.
It is commonly known and has been frequently demonstrated (10) that
such shops operated with a system of division of labor. Each workshop
included several artists and numerous artisans who shared the tasks of
executing miniatures and decorations and who routinely employed patterns,
usually, although not always, made by the master. Recognition of this
situation is essential to our comprehension of certain inconsistencies and
variations within Marmion's style and to our ultimate evaluation of it.
Another general question which has sometimes confused the issues
concerning Marmion is whether he should be considered a French or a
Flemish artist. This question can never be decided because his work has
some characteristics of both styles; but, it is of interest for what it reveals
concerning the general circumstances of manuscript illumination at the time,
and in so far as it indicates the dual nature of his style and sources. Marmion
lived in the north of France, in Amiens and Valenciennes, at a time when
that region was controlled by Philip the Good (ca 1435-1472) who had strong
Flemish predilections. Since the days of John the Fearless, Flanders rather
than Burgundy had tended to become the center of the Burgundian state (11)
in its struggle for freedom against France. Thus it was that Philip, in the
fifteenth century, brought to the north of France a cultural patronage and
climate conducive to a flourishing of all the arts. Philip's preferred residences
at mid century were in that region, at Lille and Hesdin — only after about
1460 did he consistently reside further north in Brussels or Bruges (12).
Moreover, France was in decline, recovering from grave political and
economic chaos. With an insane king (Charles VI, 1380-1422), internal
struggles among the nobles and invasion by England, it is little wonder
that Paris had lost the position of artistic leadership which she formerly
enjoyed. Artists gravitated naturally towards the powerful Burgundian
state whose rulers had a reputation for being art patrons. With regard
to manuscript illumination, specialists have already indicated that the center
of its production, initially in Paris, seems to have followed the Burgundian
Court, moving briefly around 1450 to the north of France and climaxing
(9) ". . . et Marmion, prince d'enluminure
Dont le nom croist comme paste en levain
Par les effects de sa noble tournure . . ."
from his "Couronne Margaritique," composed in 1503; see Œuvres de Jean Lemaire de Belges,
Paris, 1891, IV, p. 162.
(10) See Henry Martin, "Les esquisses des miniatures," Revue archéologique, 4th ser., IV,
1904, p. 17 ff.; F. De Mely, Les primitifs et leurs signatures. Les miniaturistes, Paris, 1913,
and most recently, Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry, p. 9-13.
(11) See Otto Cartellieri, The Court of Burgundy, London and New York, 1929, p. 6 and 14.
(12) See Herman Van der Linden, Itinéraires de Philippe le Bon, Duc de Bourgogne (14191467) et de Charles, Comte de Charolais (1433-1467), Brussels, 1940, p. 271-424.
246
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
at the end of the century in the well-known Flemish schools at Ghent and
Bruges (13). The style of the miniatures also changed, from predominately
French to partly French and partly Flemish and finally to overwhelmingly
Flemish. Thus, Marmion, as a Frenchman in the milieu of the Flemish
orientated Burgundian state seems to be a major representative of a FrancoFlemish trend in illumination at the moment of the transferal, both
and stylistic, from France to Flanders.
As a master in such a position historically, it was inevitable that his
style should have a mixed character and sources. His immediate predecessor
and probably his teacher was a French manuscript illuminator, the socalled Master of Mansel (14). Mansel and Marmion worked together on the
two large volumes of the Fleur des histoires in Brussels (B. R., Mss. 9231-2;
Figs. 85-91) wherein their relationship is established. The Master of Mansel
is quite directly descended from the earlier Parisian manuscript tradition.
Yet, at the same time, Marmion could hardly avoid the influence of the
newly important Flemish panel paintings. The Flemish element in his style
is so powerful that some authors have hypothesized a period of youthful
study in the workshop of a more northern master, although there is no
definite evidence for this. It is from such relatively divergent influences
that Marmion created a distinctive Franco-Flemish style.
Such is the general image of Simon Marmion. A native of the north
of France during a period of brief cultural triumph for that region, he headed
a large manuscript workshop. His painters and artisans industriously
produced luxurious books for the rich of the age; they accepted even some
commissions for panels and turned to account both French and Flemish
traditions for style and compositions. We can now concentrate our attention
on the specific problem which concerns us here— the merit of Marmion' s
work in relation to contemporary panel painting. Our aim is to establish
whether or not Marmion made any significant contributions that had not
already been made by panel painters, for it is only in these terms that
his historical importance and artistic excellence can be validly measured.
I
In view of the above discussion disclosing Marmion as an illuminator
with a workshop employing numerous assistants, our initial task must be
to select a group of works most directly associated with the master himself
and so most representative of his style. The central work is perforce the
(13) See Camille Gaspar and Frederick Lyna, Philippe le Bon et ses beaux livres, Brussels,
1944, p. 6, and especially L. M. J. Délaissé, "Les 'Chroniques de Hainaut' de l'atelier de Jean
Wauquelin à Mons, dans l'histoire de la miniature flamande," Miscellanea Erwin Panofsky
(Bulletin des Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts, 1-3), Brussels, 1955, p. 52-3.
(14) For the Master of Mansel, see Winkler, Die flâmische Buchmalerei, p. 36; Délaissé, La
miniature flamande, p. 60; and L. M. J. Délaissé, Miniatures médiévales, Geneva, 1959, p. 144-7.
For Mansel's relationship to earlier illuminators, see Meiss, op. cit., p. 15-17.
247
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
Altarpiece of Saint-Bertin (15) (ca 1454-58; Figs. 80-82) because it is the
only one linked to his name by any kind of documentary evidence. It does
appear to be almost entirely the work of a single artist, apparently Marmion
himself; and the latest miniatures in two important manuscripts are closely
allied to it in style; those in the Grandes chroniques de France (16) (Leningrad,
Nat. Lib., Ms. 88; ca 1455-59; Figs. 83-84) and the Fleur des histoires (17)
(Brussels, B. R, Mss. 9231-2; ca 1458-63; Figs. 85-88). These panels and
miniatures form a representative sample of Marmion 's mature style.
This style, as already indicated, is Franco-Flemish; and it is in this
very duality that one aspect of its artistic importance seems to lie. The
synthesis which Marmion made between French and Flemish characteristics
is extremely subtle and of a type not frequently sought or achieved. The
early Flemish panel painters were not in a position either historically or
geographically to find such a combining of styles necessary or desirable.
Marmion was, and the terse, almost precarious fusion he produced constitutes
a major and more unique artistic insight than has been recognized. The
(15) Berlin, Kaiser Friedrich Museum and London, National Gallery. The small panels in
London were formerly attached to the large ones in Berlin thus forming two moveable shutters
for an Altarpiece. These originally covered and protected goldsmith work of gilded silver plaques,
which were confiscated by the French government in 1791. For a description of the lost parts,
see O. Bled, "Note sur le retable de l'Abbaye de Saint-Bertin," Bulletin de la Société des
de la Morinie, X, 1900, p. 608 fï. The Altarpiece was made for Guillaume Fillastre,
the Abbot of Saint-Bertin at Saint-Omer in the north of France. The angel behind the kneeling
donor holds an escutcheon with the devices of the families of Fillastre and Maine, and there
was formerly a chronogram below the Altarpiece which said : "Guillaume Bishop of Toul and
Abbot of this convent consecrates this work to you, O God, One in Three Persons, 1459;" see
Dehaisnes, Recherches sur le retable de Saint Bertin, p. 32. Also, a summary of the contents
of the lost records of the Abbey has four entries of large expenditures for a "tabule argentée"
made from 1455 to 1459; see Maurice Hénault, "Les (Jehan, Simon, Mille et Colinet) Marmions,
peintres amiénois du XVe siècle," Revue archéologique, 4th ser., IX, 1907, p. 412-13.
(16) Reinach, Un manuscrit de la bibliothèque de Philippe le Bon, figs. 1, 12, 14, 23, 27, 31, 39,
62, 70, 77, 83, 86, 88. The opening paragraphs of this manuscript tell us that Guillaume Fillastre
had it made as a gift for Philip the Good; and the frontispiece shows the churchman presenting
the book to the Duke. Stylistically, the miniatures appear to date about the same time as the
Altarpiece of Saint-Berlin; that is, about 1455 to 1459. Moreover, the dedication refers to
Fillastre as "Bishop of Toul," an office which he held only between 1449 and 1461.
(17) F. 307 of Ms. 9231 and f. 251, 264V, 375, 388, 407v, 423, 435, 444V, 448V, 474v of Ms. 9232.
These miniatures are the latest in date of the sixty-five compositions in this large two volume
compilation. However, all the other miniatures are stylistically closely related to this Marmion
group. Some must certainly be earlier works by Marmion himself. The earliest ones, at the
beginning of each volume, are generally attributed to an anonymous artist, the so-called Master
of Mansel whose style suggests he was Marmion's immediate predecessor and probably his
teacher. These two books were quite evidently executed over a number of years. The Master
of Mansel's compositions seem to belong stylistically to the second half of the 1440 decade.
The latest compositions (those on the folios quoted above) in the mature Marmion style must
date close to 1460 since they are somewhat more developed than the Altarpiece and Grandes
chroniques miniatures (ca 1455-1459). Moreover, one of these miniatures (B. R., Ms. 9232,
f. 448V) was copied exactly in another manuscript, the Antoine de la Salle in Brussels (B. R.,
Mss. 9287-8) which is dated 1460 in the colophon. Allowing several years for the completion
of the illustrations of the Antoine de la Salle, it seems logical to assume that the Fleur des
histoires manuscripts were probably completed, at the latest, by about 1462 or 1463. These
manuscripts have no marks of ownership, but are listed in the 1467 inventory of the library
of Philip the Good; see Joseph Barrois, Bibliothèque protypographique ou librairies des fils
du Roi Jean, Charles V, Jean de Berri, Philippe de Bourgogne et les siens, Paris, 1830, p. 124,
nos. 714 and 715.
248
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
inextricable and scarcely perceptible merger of French and Flemish elements
is most readily demonstrated by an endeavor to separate the two
Certainly, the empirical illusionistic spatial structures and convincing
placement of figures within them are borrowed from Flemish painting.
A Flemish attitude is also manifest in the observation and recording of
microcosmic details such as cloth textures, brocades and furs (Fig. 84a),
clouds and the mirror-like (Fig. 82) or undulating (Fig. 87) surfaces of seas or
harbors. Flemish too are the homey bourgeois details of the interiors;
the checkerboard floors, the clock and door closed by a drapery in the
frontispiece of the Grandes chroniques (Fig. 84a), the bed and chair of the
dying Lothair (Fig. 85), the woven straw mats in the birth and death scenes
of Saint Bertin (Fig. 80); and, in the former, the chest and pitcher in a basin
which seem to come directly from the paintings of Roger van der Weyden.
Pervasively Rogerian too, are the figure proportions.
The French aspect is perhaps even more difficult to isolate. It seems
to reside in several tendencies; the over-all clarity and precision of the
compositions, a certain abstraction and simplification of forms, and a
controlled tastefulness of emotion and color. Notice, for instance, in the
Altarpiece (Fig. 80), the logic of the architectural framework, the simple oval
shape of the face of the monk at the wine barrel, and the almost classic
structure and serenity of the landscape (Fig. 82), despite its naturalism.
In the detail (Fig. 81) of the figures from the Altarpiece, it is clear that the
artist conceived each head as a total form on which facial features and
expressions are superimposed. Here too, is a restrained and dignified
of emotions which avoids the forceful agony of Roger's less refined,
more true-to-life Flemish approach. The colors in the miniatures particularly
are pure and fresh and applied with a conscious sense of decorative
which seems to continue the discrimination and sophistication of
earlier French manuscripts.
Related to this synthesis, and in part deriving from it, is another
outstanding stylistic characteristic; the trenchant pictorial narrative (18),
what might be called a cinematic visualization of events and scenes
(especially Figs. 80, 846, 85, 87). Pictorial story-telling has frequently been
present in painting in some form or degree (19). However, Marmion's
(18) Marmion's use of narrative has not been analyzed in sufficient detail or depth. Chernova,
Miniatyury Bol'shikh frantsuzskikh khronik, p. 60-65, has studied his techniques of arranging
subject matter narratively. She describes five different methods : by showing the main events
in the foreground and the less important ones in the background; by using interior scenes in
the foreground and out door views in the background; by creating landscape settings which
correspond to all the details described in the text; by uniting in one field of action, material
relating to two events; and by departing from the text. I am indebted to Dr. Otto Pâcht for
allowing me to use an English précis of Chernova's book which was made for him by J. S. G.
Simmons of Oxford, England.
(19) For a most detailed and provocative discussion of "continuous narrative," see Kurt
Weitzmann, Illustrations in Roll and Codex (Studies in Manuscript Illumination No. 2), Princeton,
1947, p. 17-32.
249
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
narrative is remarkable because it results in an unique coalescence of Flemish
naturalism with the "continuous narrative" sequences of the French
tradition. It is narrative enhanced by the illusionistic space in which
it is presented; and, at the same time, it is space with its sense of reality
increased by the narrative it contains. The spectator thus experiences
simultaneously the illusion of a consistent three dimensional world and
a series of events occurring at different times and places. Such a
of pictorial and literary components is rare and seems not to have
been achieved, to quite the same degree, either by Marmion's predecessors
in manuscripts or by his contemporaries in panels. In the work of his
immediate precursor, the Master of Mansel (20) (Figs. 89, 90), it is quite
evidently the narrative which dominates at the expense of consistent spatial
illusion. This artist does not actually seem to be capable of creating a
spatial setting which encompasses the entire miniature — instead, each
picture is divided into four or five spatial shells each of which is separate
from the others. While impressive in details, the landscapes seem artificial
and conceived solely in order to contain the narrative events. There is a
certain tension between naturalism and narrative which this master seems
not able to resolve. In panel paintings, on the contrary (Figs. 93, 94, 95,
97, 98), the emphasis is on the spatial illusion. The choice of subject is
almost always a single incident. If other happenings connected with the
main event are included (Figs. 97, 95), they are relegated to such a secondary
position in the background that little sense of the unfolding of a story
results. The only place where one finds anything comparable to Marmion's
approach to narrative is, significantly, in the work of some of his
in manuscript illumination, who are scarcely known outside
specialist circles. Such masters as Philippe de Mazerolles (Liévin van
Lathem?) (21), the Master of the Girart de Roussillon (22) and Jean Le
Tavernier (23) also succeeded in making a harmonious marriage between
anecdote and illusion. Apparently then, this was an artistic problem which
involved not only Marmion, but a certain group of Flemish and FrancoFlemish illuminators of the mid fifteenth century.
Among these illuminators, however, Marmion's work is the most
impressive, and one of his artistic contributions is certainly his development
of personal and unique techniques with which to solve the artistic problem
of securing the best of each of the two worlds of narrative and naturalism.
His most ingenious and important tool is the employment of architecture
(20) For the Master of Mansel, see note 14.
(21) See Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der bildenden Kunstler von der
Antike bis zur Gegenwarte, Leipzig, 1930, XXIV, p. 300; Winkler, Die flâmische Buchmalerei,
p. 89-90 and Délaissé, La miniature flamande, p. 102, 130-4.
(22) Winkler, op. cit., p. 41-44 and Délaissé, "Les 'Chroniques de Hainaut' de l'atelier de
Jean Wauquelin . . .", Miscellanea Erwin Panofsky (Bulletin des Musées royaux des BeauxArts, 1-3), passim.
(23) Winkler, op. cit., p. 59-60 and Délaissé, La miniature flamande, p. 92-98.
250
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
for a dual purpose. His buildings serve a narrative function in that they
separate different events by allowing each to appear in a different interior;
and, at the same time, they contribute to the illusionistic effect of the whole
since they are all made to appear to belong to a single coherent structure.
This architecture (24) is a powerful factor in Marmion's success in showing
a number of events, which may have occurred at various times and places
without disturbing our sense of the over-all spatial unity. In the Altar piece
(Fig. 80), for example, nine events from the life of Saint Bertin are recorded.
An ecclesiastical structure separates them physically, but unifies them
visually because, in its consistency and details— the sculptured figures,
the cloister with its dance of death fresco etc. — it suggests that all the
scenes are taking place within a single building, probably the Abbey of
Saint-Bertin. In the story of Charlemagne (Fig. 846) and the life of Louis IX
(Fig. 87), a walled-in courtyard serves both as a format for an outdoor town
scene and as a means of linking the interiors at the left and right sides of
the pictures. In the right shutter of the Altarpiece (Fig. 80), in the story of
Lothair (Fig. 85) and the life of Louis IX (Fig. 87), the importance of the
architecture in defining outdoor landscape scenes is also manifest. The
architecture forms the foreground and the landscape the background. In
every instance, the buildings serve a dual purpose, to separate events and
to help unify space within the entire picture.
It is further significant that this architecture is consistently painted
in such a way that the sides of the structures through which the spectator
looks are parallel to, and identical with, the plane of the page (25). They
thus establish a pattern which maintains the two-dimensionality of the
book page and so helps prevent a comprehensive illusionism which would
undermine the narrative emphasis. Moreover, such an affirmation of the
surface on which the picture is painted, helps retain a meaningful
between the illustrations and the calligraphy of the manuscripts. This
was an increasingly difficult problem for illuminators at mid century and
later. The new three dimensional space and volumes which they borrowed
largely from panel artists were eminently appropriate in their original
medium, but rather disturbing and illogical when used on the pages of
a book. Most illuminators of the period seem to have eschewed the problem
either by painting in muted grisaille tones or by simply trusting to the
presence of generally two dimensional borders to make the transition between
(24) Certainly Marmion's architecture was to some extent influenced by the simultaneous
settings of fifteenth century mystery plays. For the general influence of the stage on artists,
see Gustave Cohen, Histoire de la mise en scène dans le théâtre au moyen âge, Paris, 1926, p. 104141, and Emile Mâle, L'art religieux de la fin du moyen âge en France, Paris, 1949, p. 35-84
and passim.
(25) For the use of architecture in a similar way for similar reasons by Giotto, see John "White,
The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space, London, 1957, p. 57-69.
251
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
the text and its illustrations. The Master of Mary of Burgundy (26) was
apparently the only artist, who, at this crucial time, deliberately sought a
real solution which turned out to be both extremely personal and eminently
successful. Although he seems to have had some contacts with the Master
of Mary of Burgundy, Marmion did not follow him in this interest. He does,
however, seem somewhat more concerned with the question than most of
his contemporaries, as witnessed by the manner in which he used his
forms. One should add, of course, that his decision to stress
narrative also lessened this problem because "continuous narrative," is,
in the final analysis, inconsistent with complete illusionism, and because
its presence lends to his style a certain abstraction wholly suitable to
Still another factor which enhances the union of narrative and
naturalism is Marmion's use of only partially consistent spatial constructions.
In all the miniatures, and especially notable in the life of Louis IX (Fig. 87)
is the fact that the foreground scenes are viewed from a different eye level
than those in the background. It is as if two separate pictures were
one above the other— our point of view moves upward to a new level
as we change from foreground architecture to background landscape. The
use of several eye levels is also an asset in the construction of narrative
scenes in which architecture does not figure. For instance, in the miniature
of Robert Guiscard (Fig. 86), the general impression is of a single huge military
engagement, but in actual fact, it shows two battles removed from one
another in both time and place; in the foreground, Robert Guiscard and
his son Bohemund are defeating the army of Alexius I Comnenus in the
Balkans, while in the background, Robert is fighting the German King
Henry IV who held Pope Gregory VII beseiged in Rome. The subtle change
in eye levels serves to suggest the presence of two stories without destroying
the continuity of the whole.
Moreover, each architectural interior tends to have a vanishing point
or area which is separate from the other interiors in the same miniature.
In the Altarpiece (Fig. 80), for example, each interior is clearly a separate
spatial unit and the cloister, which forms the background for two interiors,
has its own vanishing area, higher and separate from that of either of the
interiors. In the Charlemagne miniature (Fig. 846), the courtyard and the
two interiors each have their own vanishing areas. It should be noted too,
that the buildings are consistently so arranged that few of their exterior
orthogonals are visible. The architecture thus appears rather two
but does not conflict with the varied spatial constructions of its
interiors. It may be, of course, that Marmion was not capable of constructing
a consistent space for a number of interiors. Like the majority of northern
painters of the period, he had no knowledge of Italian perspective and
(26) See PXght, The Master of Mary of Burgundy.
252
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
proceeded empirically. However, several observations can be made which
imply this was not the case. In the Lothair miniature (Fig. 85), the two
rooms to the right do have the same vanishing area, although the one on
the left has a different one. Also, in the Altarpiece (Fig. 80) scene of the
young Saint Bertin received at LuxuëTj, the floors of the background and
foreground rooms have the same vanishing area. All this suggests a conscious
employment of less than perfect spatial renderings in order to maintain
the balance of illusion and anecdote.
Finally, when Marmion finds it necessary to represent a single event
in a miniature, he seems to search consciously for anecdotal elements that
can be shown within the scene. For example, apparently the importance
of the Battle of Crécy (Fig. 83) called for a full miniature to be devoted to it.
Yet Marmion portrays it so that we learn what will be the outcome of the
battle and some of the individual heroic deeds performed on the occasion.
He seems to tell the story of the entire progression of the battle. To the left,
is the English king; crowned and mounted on a white horse, he leads the
attack on the French army at the right. The disarray of falling men and
horses and the crushed masses of soldiers on the right side of the picture
in contrast to the phalanx-like sturdy thrust of the body of men at the
left suggests that the French lost the battle. The French king seen at the
upper right withdrawing from the field leaves no doubt of the English
victory. The blind king of Bohemia, who fought so bravely in this battle,
is shown on a white charger with his sword raised above his head in the
center foreground of the fighting. Just to the right of the center on the
second plane, the French prince, who is wounded and falls forward on his
horse, seems to symbolize the great number of French nobles who lost
their lives in this historic struggle. This kind of internal narrative thus not
only keeps the literary content in individual scenes but is incidentally one
element which makes Marmion a particularly effective painter of battles.
The frontispiece of the Grandes chroniques (Fig. 84a) also shows a
single incident, the presentation of the manuscript to Philip the Good
by one of his favorite ecclesiastics, Guillaume Fillastre (27). Here a sense
of narration is achieved by the amazing individualization of each person
present and the meticulous attention given to the reactions of each of them
to the event. Fillastre, attired in bishop's mitre and cope, proudly offers
the book to Philip who receives it with the bearing of a prince and
The two monks—probably from the Abbey of Saint-Bertin —
who accompany Fillastre, seem reverent and somewhat uncomfortable in
(27) For Fillastre, see "Guillaume Fillastre, Évêque de Tournai, chroniqueur," Souvenirs de la
Flandre wallonne, XX, 1880, p. 65 ff.; Biographie nationale, Brussels, 1880-3, VII, cols. 61-70;
L. De Farcy, "Chape de Guillaume Fillastre au Musée de la Halle aux Draps à Tournai," Revue
de l'art chrétien, VI, 1895, p. 187-89; Joseph Du Teil, Guillaume Fillastre, Paris, 1920; and
Tourneur-Nicodème, "La brigandine et mitre de Guillaume Fillastre," Bulletin de la Société
d'Archéologie royale de Bruxelles, 1949, p. 16 ff.
253
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
the presence of the great Prince— they fidget and finger the sleeves of their
robes. The layman behind them seems, like Fillastre, proud of an
it is likely he had in some way a part in the making of the
Certainly his head is meant as a portrait, but there is no evidence
as to who he is; he might be the author, the translator, the editor, the scribe
or even Marmion himself. In the right foreground, the aged Chancellor
Rolin clutches his belt with a certain familiar dis-interest in a ceremony
which he must have witnessed many times in his long life. The young Count
of Charolais at the end of the bench appears curious and eager to open
the book and inspect its luxurious miniatures. Beside him, the failing
Bishop of Tournai, Jean Chevrot, seems to look on with nostalgia, and
Antoine, Philip's bastard son, has the worldly air befitting a young
The fact that this is a private presentation occurring apparently
in Philip's own chambers and with only his two sons and two favorite
ecclesiastical persons present, also gives it a momentary anecdotal quality.
At this period, a formal more timeless presentation scene with the prince
enthroned and surrounded by eight to twelve members of his court was
the usual one. Indeed, from the time (ca 1448-9) of the establishment
of that formula in the famous Chroniques de Hainaut (Brussels, B. R.,
Ms. 9242) frontispiece miniature (28), there seem to be very few depictions
which effectively depart from it. We cannot know, of course, whether
Marmion's informal version was due to a concern with narrative, a desire
for originality in relation to the established form, or to a recording of the
actual event which possibly could have been private in view of the special
personal relationship which existed between Fillastre and Philip. In any
case, it is hard to believe that Marmion was not conscious of the anecdotal
aspects thus created.
From these discussions, it seems quite evident that Marmion's use
and control of narrative was developed independently of panel artists and
indeed constitutes an important artistic contribution.
Historically too, Marmion's narrative synthesis is important because
it represents the climax of a tradition in French manuscript illumination
which was begun by the Boucicaut Master (Fig. 926) (29) sixty years earlier.
This artist seems to be one of the earliest of the French illuminators to have
been seriously concerned with pictorial anecdote. He too, has been credited
with the first use of a kind of decorative architecture (30) which is the
ancestor of Marmion's buildings. The line of development from the Boucicaut
Master through the Bedford and Mansel Masters to Marmion is clear and
illus. For the Chroniques de Hainaut frontispiece, see Délaissé, Miniatures médiévales, p. 120-23,
(28)
(29) For the Boucicaut Master, see Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, I, p. 53-61.
(30) Grete Ring, "Primitifs français," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XIX, 1938, p. 156.
254
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
consistent. The Bedford Master (Fig. 92a) (31) developed the narrative,
the naturalism, and the architecture of the Boucicaut Master a little further.
The Master of Mansel, with more Flemish figure types and details, created
even greater anecdotal emphasis. In the Fleur des histoires manuscripts
which were begun by Mansel and completed by Marmion, the gradual
development of both narrative and architectural devices from Mansel' s
rather naive approach to Marmion' s assured and sophisticated one is
graphically illustrated (Figs. 89, 90, 91, 85 respectively). In fact, the changes
which occur from miniature to miniature in these manuscripts are so logical
and continuous that the hand of Marmion cannot always be separated from
that of Mansel and assistants (Fig. 91). It should be mentioned too that
the narrative tradition was generally shunned by fifteenth century panel
painters so that it was preserved and developed only in the manuscript
illuminations. When, in the sixteenth century, panel masters such as Bosch
and Bruegel gave narrative a new importance, they were necessarily inspired,
to an extent
Marmion'
s rare
notgift
yet as
clearly
a narrative
defined painter
(32), by both
the earlier
summed
manuscripts.
up the pastThus,
and
provided some foundations for the future.
Finally, Marmion's narrative style may be historically notable as
an example of the interrelationship of style and function in art. That is
to say, the narrative emphasis seems to be extremely well adapted to the
political purposes some scholars have associated with such manuscripts
as the Grandes chroniques and Fleur des histoires (33). It is known that the
Dukes of Burgundy and many great « seigneurs » of the age used selected
historical texts in order to exalt their rule and personal importance by
drawing parallels between the past and present. For example, Charles the
Bold was said to have always carried with him a copy of the life of King
that For
(31)
a member
bibliography
of his workshop
and generalwasremarks
established
aboutatthe
Lille
Bedford
and soMaster
very directly
as well influenced
as the theory
the
Master of Mansel, see Panofsky, op. cit., p. 284-85 and n. 3 for p. 61. See also Eleanor
P. Spencer, "The Master of the Duke of Bedford : The Bedford Hours," Burlington Breviary,"
Magazine,
GVII, 1965, p. 495-502; Idem, "The Master of the Duke of Bedford : The Salisbury
Burlington Magazine, GVIII, 1966, p. 607-612.
(32) Particularly Dirk Bax in his Ontcijfering van Jeroen Bosch, The Hague, 1948, has indicated
the importance of the manuscript tradition for this master, and most authors acknowledge
some influence from manuscripts on Bruegel. See also Suzanne Sulzberger, "Jérôme Bosch
et les maîtres de l'enluminure," Scriptorium XVI, 1962, p. 46-49, and Robert L. McGrath,
"Satan and Bosch. The 'Visio Tundali' and the 'Monastic Vices'," Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
LXXI, 1968, p. 45-50.
(33) The meanings which historical writings held for the Court of Burgundy have been largely
neglected until very recently. Georges Doutrepont, La littérature française à la cour des Ducs
de Bourgogne — Philippe le Hardi, Jean sans Peur, Philippe le Bon, Charles le Téméraire, Paris,
1909, p. 490, merely made the point that many of the historical works written for the Burgundian
princes were really "mémoires bourguignons." Délaissé discusses the question to some extent
in "Les 'Chroniques de Hainaut' de l'atelier de Jean Wauquelin . . .," Miscellanea Erwin
Panofsky (Bulletin des Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts, 1-3), but the only detailed study is the
recent analysis of the text of the Grandes chroniques made by Chernova, Miniatyury Bol'shikh
frantsuzkikh khronik, p. 34-57.
255
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
Cyrus whom he wished to emulate (34). Philip the Good owned a sumptuous
copy of the story of Girart de Roussillon (35), the venerable hero who
defeated the King of France a dozen times and so proved a perfect model
for a Duke of Burgundy who wished to assert his independence from France.
The story of the antique hero, Alexander the Great, captured the imagination
of many a fifteenth century prince or count. Anyone who could afford
to offer such a flattering manuscript to an important person could hope
to gain his favor. The lord, in turn, might use such texts to add a certain
lustre of authority to his position by having them read aloud (36) to members
of his immediate following.
Both the Grandes chroniques and the Fleur des histoires appear to
have served this kind of purpose. The frontispiece miniature (Fig. 84a) and
opening paragraph of the Grandes chroniques indicate that the manuscript
was a gift to Philip the Good from one of his favorites, Guillaume Fillastre,
an ambitious ecclesiastic whom the Duke had already made Bishop of Toul
and Abbot of Saint-Bertin. A recent detailed study of this manuscript (37)
has also shown that Fillastre apparently edited the text and illustrations
in order to make it a special Burgundian interpretation of French history.
One example, among many, is the emphasis given to text and miniatures
devoted to the life of Louis IX, the French King who was the direct ancestor
of the Burgundian rulers (miniatures 70 and 73, f. 338 and 354V). The Fleur
des histoires has never been thoroughly studied from this point of view (38).
It has no marks of ownership but is recorded in the 1467 inventory of the
library of Philip the Good. It does contain a number of miniatures with
pro-Burgundy content similar to that in the Grandes chroniques ; for instance,
the life of Louis IX is also illustrated here (Fig. 87) as well as the Battle of
Cassel (Ms. 9232, f. 407v), one of those in which Flemish independence from
France was established. Thus, the Fleur des histoires also seems to have
been made for a pro-Burgundian "grand seigneur" and was probably valued
for political and personal as well as artistic reasons.
Illustrations of any sort must have helped considerably to make
this kind of political content visible, especially as most of the texts were
extremely lengthy and were customarily read aloud to a small audience
which could appreciate the pictures. However, some styles would appear
(34) G. Peignot, Catalogue d'une partie des livres composant la bibliothèque des Ducs de Bourgogne
au XVe siècle, 2nd éd., Dijon, 1841, p. 18-19.
(35) Vienna, Nat. Bib., Ms. 2549; see Winkler, Die flamische Buchmalerei, p. 41-57 and 206,
and Délaissé, loc. cit., passim.
(36) For the medieval practice of reading aloud, see Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy,
Toronto, 1962, p. 83-90, 93 and 110. For a miniature in the Chroniques de Hainaut (Brussels,
B. R., Ms. 9243, f. 1) showing that manuscript being read aloud at the Burgundian Court, see
Gaspar and Lyna, Philippe le Bon et ses beaux livres, pi. XXVI.
(37) Chernova, op. cit., p. 34-57.
(38) For the several redactions and various copies of the Fleur des histoires, see Leopold
Delisle, "La 'Fleur des histoires' de Jean Mansel," Journal des Savants, LXXXV, 1900, p. 16-26
and 106-17; and De Poerck, Introduction à la 'Fleur des histoires,' Mons, 1936. De Poerck,
p. 21-42, gives the most complete published summary of the contents of the Brussels copy.
256
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
to be better adapted to this purpose than others. Marmion's narrative
approach is one such because it allows a great number of pertinent past
events to be shown while still retaining an impressive artistic form.
it must have been an invaluable asset in the communication
of this special content, and so might even be called a kind of narrative
political style. Marmion's propensity in this direction may have helped
gain him such commissions, while the demands of this function in turn
may have encouraged his narrative approach and that of other illuminators
of the period.
It is apparent from the above discussions, that the manuscript
medium made different aesthetic and practical demands on artists than
the panel medium. In solving these problems, the miniaturists could not
borrow from panels and were forced to show their own mettle. There is
every evidence in the style of Marmion that the best of them proved
equal in ingenuity and originality to panel painters.
II
Turning now to iconography, it is patent that the illustration of
the texts of the manuscripts required the representation of many subjects
both inappropriate and unnecessary in panels. For one thing, a great many
of the manuscripts of this period contained profane texts, and so called for
illustrations of secular scenes for which few established traditions existed.
The miniatures from the Grandes chroniques and Fleur des histoires
here amply illustrate the fecundity and perspicuity of Marmion's
imagination in this respect. It must be remembered too, that these are
only a fraction of his total creation— the Grandes chroniques contains twentyone large and sixty-nine small miniatures, the Fleur des histoires has sixty-five
large
"œuvre"
compositions;
with such and
narrative
there are
compositions.
besides someAllother
these
manuscripts
illustrations
in are
his
perfectly co-ordinated with the texts, and no design is repeated.
When illustrating standard religious texts, the Marmion workshop
regularly employed the compositions of panel artists with few changes.
However, quite a few of the religious texts required unusual or even unique
themes for which no tradition seems to have existed in either panels or
miniatures. A case in point is the so-called Creation of the Human Soul
miniature (Fig. 88), which illustrates a didactic moralistic tract in the
Fleur des histoires. A discussion of this miniature will serve to demonstrate
the special nature of some of the religious imagery of manuscripts and the
demands it made on the artists.
The subject here is indeed so unusual that we must begin by asking
if the identification, Creation of the Human Soul, is correct. This title
was given because the introductory rubric of the treatise illustrated begins
257
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
"Cy parle de la noblesse de la création de l'âme humaine par nature . . .,"
and the nude sexless figure is clearly meant to be the human soul. This
does not, however, explain or identify the three persons who accompany
the soul. The text refers only to nature and God as the creators of the soul.
Besides, the rubric promises not only a description of the soul's creation
but also of its deformation by sin and of its return to God by penitence
and Divine Grace. We must thus ask if any other part of the fifteen page
text offers a more adequate explanation of the miniature.
Within the first section which treats more of the qualities and aspects
of the soul than of its creation, there is a passage which does indeed seem
to be a better description of the picture than the opening rubric. The
reader is here asked to contemplate the Puissance of the Soul which is above
that of all other creatures because of the gifts of its spouse, Jesus Christ.
These gifts are all the powers of nature which are made to serve the soul (39).
Then follows a detailed description of how nature serves the soul and of
the three characteristics which make it so puissant; Affection ("affection"),
Understanding ("entendement") and Learning ("subget").
First, the angels purge and enflame all her (the soul's) affection, illuminate
and inform all her understanding and intensify and imard her learning . . . The
sky serves the soul by its movement, and the stars by their influence. The sun
causes day for her, the moon lights the night for her. The fire tempers for her the
coldness of the air, the air mitigates the great heat of the fire. The water cleanses
her of all corruption and mitigates the ardor of her thirst and fertilizes the vigor
of the earth. The earth sustains her (the soul) by its firmness, re-creates her by
its fertility and delights her by its amenity . . . (40)
The aspects of nature, sun, moon, stars, fire, water and earth, which
are described in this text, are all present in the miniature. It seems very
possible that the three figures could represent Affection, Understanding
and Learning, and the crosses on the hill in the right middle ground may
even refer to Christ, the generous bestower of all these gifts, who is called
the "spouse of the soul." The miniature would thus appear to represent
the Puissance of the Human Soul rather than its creation. The only real
difficulty is to be certain of the identity of the three figures since they are
(39) B. R., Ms. 9232, f. viii°xviv. "Apres ceste noblesse doit une chascune p sonne adrecier
le ray de sa contemplation a la puissance que son ame a par dessus toutes autres creatures la
quelle pussance est moult admirable pour les biens que son espeux lui a donnez voie donques
tout ce monde car toute nature adreste son cours afin quelle desserve aux utilitez et plaisirs
de lame. Et que sans cesser elle serve a toutes ses obleitations et délites selon la distribution
du tamps."
(40) B. R., Ms. 9232, f. yiiicxviv-viiicxvii. "Premièrement les angeles purgent et enflàment
toute son affection enluminent et informent tout son entendement et parfont et gardent tout
son subget ... Le ciel fait a lame service par son mouvement et les luminaires par leur influence.
Le soleil lui cause le jour. La lune lui enlumine la nuit Le feu lui atëpre la froidure de l'air Lair
lui mitigue la grant chaleur de feu Leaue lui nectoie toute ordure et lui mitigue lardeur de
sa soif et féconde la vigueur de la terre. La terre la soustient par sa solidité. La recrée par
sa fertilité et la délite par son aménité."
258
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
personifications rare in artistic representations and since these figures have
no attributes other than costume, age and sex to aid the interpretations.
The few earlier representations of Affection, Understanding and
Learning listed in the Princeton Art Index (41) do not seem to provide
prototypes for Marmion's figures. On the other hand, all three figures
do agree to a certain extent with the descriptions in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia.
Although Ripa's work was published in Italy and more than a century later
than the miniature, we are justified in using it as evidence because many
of Ripa's sources (42) were medieval writers who could have been familiar
to a fifteenth century artist or to an ecclesiastical adviser who may have
collaborated in this instance. Comparing Marmion's figures with Ripa's
descriptions, one has the impression that both men depend upon a common,
although
("Affectione"
not identical,
or "Benevolenza")
symbolic heritage.
(43)Ripa's
as a winged
characterization
woman modestly
of
dressed in green — a color suggesting cheerfulness and gaiety— fits the woman
in the simple green "cotte" at the left of the miniature. The matronly
figure at the right also agrees generally with Ripa's description of Knowledge
or Understanding ("Scienza") (44) as an older woman to indicate that much
time is required to comprehend her teachings and with wings on her head
because no Understanding exists which cannot be elevated by the "contemplatione della cosa". However, about her costume, Ripa says only that
she is dressed in blue, signifying her understanding of natural things, with a
gold trim, indicating her knowledge of the divine. Marmion's figure is
dressed in red with a white trim although her hood or capuchon is blue.
The choice of red, a color symbolic of the passion of Christ, is in keeping
with the text of the manuscript which emphasizes Christ as the spouse
of the soul. The form of her garment is also appropriate to her status as
an elevating and perfecting aspect of the soul. She wears a conservative
wide sleeved surcoat which is similar to religious garments, and a wimple
which is generally regarded as the most decorous of headgear (45). She has
too an unusual hood or capuchon with a pointed top. Such a hood was
(41) There is no example in which all three of these personifications appear together, and no
example of Affection. Learning or Doctrine is represented in a manuscript of about 1240, Berlin,
Staatsbibl., Theol. lat., Ms. 379, Bible of Heisterbach, f. 275V (Hans Swarzenski, Die lateinischen
illuminierten Handschriften des XIII. Jahrhunderts in den Lândern an Rhein, Main und Donau
(Deutscher Verein fur Kunstwissenschaft), Berlin, 1936, p. 91, no. 10, pi. 24, no. 123. A figure
called "entendement" appears in a manuscript in The Hague, Meermano-Westreenianum,
Ms. 10 D 1, dated 1376, Aristotle, Éthiques, f. 110 (Munchener Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst,
VI, 1955, p. 112, fig. 41). These are not really related to Marmion's figures, however; and the
paucity of examples suggests there was no tradition for the representation of these personifications
in the Middle Ages.
(42) For a discussion of Ripa's sources, see Erna Mandowsky, Untersuchungen zur Iconologiae
des Cesare Ripa, Hamburg, 1934, p. 26-49.
(43) Cesare Ripa, Delia novissima iconologia, Padua, 1625, p. 70.
(44) Ibid., p. 590-91.
(45) Joan Evans, Dress in Medieval France, Oxford, 1952, p. 23.
259
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
most commonly worn by peasant or servant women (46). When upper class
women wore it, it was evidently a sign of mourning, retirement from the
world and humility (47), all of which fit the nature of Understanding.
Finally, the male figure must represent Learning. Ripa describes him
("Ammaestramento") (48) as a man of magnificent venerability and gravity
dressed in a long flowing habit. Certainly Marmion's figure has an
mien, and the choice to particularize the long robe as an academic
costume (49) is in keeping with the erudition attributed to the personification
and consistent with the increasing expansion and importance of university
education in fifteenth century Flanders. The costume consists of a caputium
or cope of purple, the color worn by the higher faculties, the usual fur-lined
hood and a red pileus or cap of the Doctor of Philosophy. Ripa does not
mention wings for Learning, but we can easily imagine Marmion taking
the liberty of adding them in order to make all three figures uniform and
consistent with the fact they are conceived as naturalistically hovering
above the earth. Again, of course, the wings could refer to an elevated
form of Learning achieved through contemplation especially as the entire
text has the form of a meditation.
It must be added though that Ripa assigns several attributes to each
of his three personifications while Marmion's figures have none. This lack
of attributes seems at first curious in view of the fact that Marmion himself,
in another miniature in the same manuscript, the Fleur des histoires, shows
the four cardinal virtues each holding several objects by which they can
readily be identified. It has been demonstrated, however, that these virtue
figures were copied from earlier manuscript depictions of the same subject
which apparently set a new iconographie tradition beginning about 1450 (50).
This new tradition established the use of specific attributes to replace the
earlier practice of differentiating virtues only by having each carry a shield
with an identifying symbol or inscription. Italian representations had fewer
and simpler attributes and some northern manuscripts, as late as 1470,
still show the virtues with no attributes (51), the artists either not being
familiar with the new symbols or preferring not to use them. It would seem
that the mid fifteenth century was a time of change and fluidity in
traditions and the time when attributes began to come into use for
(46) Ibid., p. 58, pi. 57, and Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and France,
London, 1939, p. 161, figs. 277 and 278.
(47) For example, Margaret of Anjou is shown wearing such a hood as well as a wimple in a
manuscript made in 1475 after the death of her husband; see Herbert Norris, Costume and
Fashion, London, Toronto and New York, 1927, II, p. 418, fig. 575.
(48) Ripa, p. 27.
(49) The best summary of present knowledge of early academic costume is given by Hastings
Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1936, III, p. 385-92.
(50) For a reproduction of Marmion's Four Virtues miniature and a discussion of the source
of its iconography, accompanied by a full bibliography, see Rosemond Tuve, "Notes on the
Virtues and Vices," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXVI, 1963, p. 264-303.
(51) See Male, L'Art religieux de la fin du moyen âge en France, p. 309-28.
260
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
personifications. That Marmion should use newly established formulae for
the virtues but not for the attributes of the soul suggests, it would seem,
that there was as yet no established tradition for the latter, a supposition
which underlines the rarity of the subject and the originality of the artist's
conception. The attributes which Ripa mentions are probably those which
developed after Marmion's time. The discrepancies between Ripa and
Marmion' s figures thus appear to be explained by the fact that Marmion
was one of those who helped make the traditions which Ripa later recorded.
There seems then good reason to believe that the three figures do represent
Affection, Understanding and Learning and that the miniature gives visual
form to an abstract conception, that of the Puissance of the Human Soul.
Certainly this is a rare and unusual subject not found in panel
It seems to have been created directly in relation to the text and as
a specific illustration of it. Thus, in order to establish whether or not
Marmion was its originator, we must examine all other known copies of this
tract and their illustrations. As it happens, the text, "Création de l'âme
humaine . . ." is extremely rare — aside from the Brussels Fleur des histoires,
I have discovered only three manuscripts which contain it. It appears as
the third and last part of a longer devotional work entitled Miroir d'humilité
which is preserved in two manuscripts : Valenciennes, Bib. Mun., Ms. 240 (52)
and Paris, Bib. de l'Arsenal, Ms. 5206 (53). The Paris volume is quite
evidently the later of the two and is a direct copy of both the text and
miniatures of the Valenciennes book. The Valenciennes manuscript was
made about the same time as the final miniatures in the Fleur des histoires,
ca 1461-3 (54); but the two manuscripts do not otherwise seem related (55).
The Miroir d'humilité was written at Bruges in the large Burgundian cursive
hand of David Aubert while the Fleur des histoires was apparently written
(52) For this manuscript, see J. Mangeart, Catalogue descriptif et raisonné des manuscrits de
la bibliothèque de Valenciennes, Paris and Valenciennes, 1860, p. 232-36, no. 231. The Miroir
d'humilité in Madrid, Bib. Nac, Ms. Vit. 25-2 is not the same text as the Arsenal and Valenciennes
manuscripts. It was believed to be the first volume of the Valenciennes manuscript, but
Délaissé has recently denied this; see his La miniature flamande, p. 141, no. 172 and p. 122-23,
no. 142.
(53) See Henry Martin, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris, 1889,
V, p. 152-54.
(54) The Valenciennes Miroir d'humilité is dated 1462 in the colophon. For the dating of the
Brussels Fleur des histoires, see note 17.
(55) The two texts themselves are not word for word the same, nor is it possible to establish
that one was copied before, or from, the other. They seem instead to derive from a common
source. Although Jean Mansel is considered the author of the Fleur des histoires, his work
seems to have consisted more of collecting than composing texts so that it appears extremely
doubtful that he was the author of the "Création de l'âme . . ." tract. It probably derives
rather from the mystic tradition of the low countries. For example, its division into three
sections calling for contemplation of things exterior, interior and superior does seem related
to the great Ruysbroeck's "Ornament of the Spiritual Marriage," see Jan van Ruysbroeck,
Œuvres de Ruysbroeck l'admirable, traduction du flamand par les Bénédictins de Saint-Paul de
Wisques, 2nd éd., Brussels, 1928, III. It is worth noting, however, that the Valenciennes Miroir
d'humilité is signed by the Burgundian scribe David Aubert who later (1474) copied a manuscript
of the Visions du chevalier Tondal of which the illustrations are attributed to the Marmion
workshop; see p. 245 above.
261
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
in the north of France (56) in a small French cursive. Most importantly,
the Valenciennes Miroir d'humilité (and of course the Arsenal copy too)
has an entirely different illustration for the beginning of the "Création de
l'âme ..." text. It shows the Holy Trinity sending a tiny soul on rays
of light to a married couple in bed (57); that is, the creation of an individual
soul literally illustrated. Marmion's miniature is certainly independent of
this one and at once more eloquent, abstract and theological.
The Fleur des histoires text itself was extremely popular in the fifteenth
century and over forty manuscripts of it have been preserved (58).
the "Création de l'âme ..." tract is one of five short treatises (59)
added to the basic text and which seem to have been a part of only two
copies, the Brussels manuscript and one in Vienna (Schottenstift, Ms. 139140) (60). Unfortunately, direct comparisons of these two copies cannot
be made because the latter part of the Vienna manuscript, containing the
"Création de l'âme ..." has been lost. It is only from the index that we
learn the manuscript once contained additions similar, if not identical, to
those in the Brussels copy. Instead of the "Création de l'âme ..." however,
this index offers "Cy après s'ensieut une meditation moult prouffitable" (61).
Thus, in fact, we cannot be absolutely certain this is the same text, nor
can we know if or how it is illustrated. It is important to indicate however,
that the Vienna manuscript has all the characteristics of the Mansel workshop
and that the missing portion in question is most probably to be identified
with a fragment of a Fleur des histoires, formerly in the Dietrichstein
(62), which has a number of miniatures, one of which has been
attributed to Marmion (63). There is little doubt then, that this composition,
even if it does exist also in the lost portion of the Vienna manuscript, was
an invention of the Marmion workshop. Moreover, while the Vienna manu(56) Délaissé, La miniature flamande, p. 60-61, located Marmion's workshop in Valenciennes
because the artist is documented in that town most of his life; see Hénault, "Les Marmions,
peintres amiènois du XVe siècle," Revue archéologique, IX, 1907, p. 413-17 and X, 1907, p. 112-13.
The Brussels Fleur des histoires would certainly seem to have been completed there although
it was probably begun elsewhere, either at Amiens where Marmion was born and served his
early years of apprentice (Hénault, loc. cit., IX, p. 411-12) or at Hesdin where its author,
Jean Mansel resided (for Mansel, the author, see De Poerck, Introduction à la 'Fleur des histoires',
p. 85-92).
(57) For a reproduction of this scene in the Valenciennes manuscript, see Adelheid Heimann,
"Trinitas Creator Mundi," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, II, 1938, p. 53,
pi. 8d; for the Arsenal miniature, see Victor Leroquais, Le Bréviaire de Philippe le Bon, Paris
and New York, 1929, II, pi. 38.
(58) The most complete list of copies is given by De Poerck, op. cit., p. 11-18.
(59) They are : a history of the Belgians; a history of the Popes of Rome and their constitutions;
the story of Griseldis; examples of the four cardinal virtues; and the creation of the human
souls— Brussels, B. R., Ms. 9231, f. 306v-357 and B. R., Ms. 9232, f. 435-489.
(60) For this manuscript, see Ernest Spreitzenhofer, La Fleur des histoires, Vienna, 1907
(from Jahresbericht des kais. ko'n. Ober- Gymnasiums zu den Schotten in Wien, 1907), and
Délaissé, op. cit., p. 63, nos. 55 and 56.
(61) De Poerck, op. cit., p. 42.
(62) Sold to an unknown purchaser in 1933, see H. Gilhofer and Ranschburg, Catalogue de
vente, Bibliothek Furst Dietrichstein, Lucerne, 1933, p. 72-73, no. 373.
(63) By Friedrich Winkler in "Simon Marmion," Panthéon, XIII, 1934, p. 72, illus.
262
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
script seems in general somewhat earlier in date than the Brussels copy,
the additions in question were certainly made somewhat later for the portions
of the index announcing them are in a different and later hand than the rest.
There is then, no reason to assume that any illuminations which might
exist in the lost portion of the Vienna manuscript were prototypes for those
in the Brussels book. In fact, the very opposite is suggested by the fact
that the Brussels copy of the Fleur des histoires is more profusely illustrated
and more consistently of high quality than the Vienna copy, and indeed
than any other known copy. That is, it seems logical that if a decision
were made to add special and unusual texts and pictures to a book, the book
chosen would be the one of highest quality. It may have been that they
were added also to the Vienna manuscript simply because it happened
to be the only other copy of the text in the workshop at the time. Only
the discovery of the missing portion of the Vienna manuscript can ultimately
resolve these questions, but it does seem safe to assume that the Puissance
of the Human Soul miniature was an original creation of the Marmion
and most probably was made especially for the Brussels manuscript.
The recognition of the newness and individuality of Marmion' s
image entails consideration of two further questions; who the recipient
of the manuscript was, and whether or not a religious adviser was consulted.
The decision to add such a distinctive and original miniature to an already
sumptuous two volume work suggests the manuscripts were at least finished
for an important and discriminating patron; and, the sophisticated religious
symbolism of the image implies strongly the probability of an ecclesiastical
adviser.
The Fleur des histoires has no marks of ownership although it is
recorded already in the 1467 inventory of the library of Philip the Good (64).
The absence of a dedication miniature is almost certain proof that the
books were not begun for Philip, but there is no reason why they could
not have been completed for him. Three of the five added texts are
moralistic didactic works, the very kind of advice literature which was
extremely popular at the Court of Burgundy at this time. Interestingly
enough, one text, the story of the faithful wife, Griseldis (65), is appropriate
for dedication to a lady. In the "Création de l'âme . . ." text itself, the
designation of Christ as the Spouse of the Soul is also an association which
appears fairly frequently in feminine didactic literature (66) of the middle
ages. One cannot help but wonder if there could have been some relation
of the completion of the manuscripts with Philip's third wife, Isabel of
Portugal. It is worth noting that in 1457, the Duke and his son, the Count
(64) See note 17.
(65) For this text and its popularity in northern Europe, see Élie Golenistcheff-Koutouzoff,
L'Histoire de Griseldis en France au XIVe et au XVe siècle, Paris, 1933.
(66) See Alice A. Hentsch, De la littérature didactique du moyen âge s'adressant spécialement
aux femmes, Halle, 1903, p. 21, 32, 37, 59, 183 and 211.
263
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
of Charolais, had a violent quarrel in which the Duchess took the part of
her son and consequently retired to a convent in the forest of Nieppe (67).
The next year, however, when Philip became ill, she came out of her seclusion
in order to nurse him, and they were re-united (68). Apparently Isabel
continued to spend considerable time at the convent, for in February of
1462, she is again designated as leaving Nieppe to come to the bedside of
the ailing Duke (69). The devotion of Isabel to her husband despite her
disapproval of his treatment of their son has a direct parallel in the story
of Griseldis who remained steadfastly loyal to her husband notwithstanding
that he feigned the murder of their children. Such an analogy could have
readily been made in an age when a king could be compared with Julius
Caesar and Alexander the Great and considered a descendant of the
Trojans (70). The date of Isabel's last expression of devotion to her husband,
1462, coincides too with the apparent date of the completion of the Brussels
Fleur des histoires (71). While we lack sufficient evidence for any degree
of certainty, it seems entirely possible that some faithful follower of Philip
saw the magnificent Fleur des histoires manuscript in the Marmion workshop
and decided to purchase it and present it as a gift to the Duke, or to both
the Duke and Duchess. Since the manuscript was already completed,
he could easily have conceived the idea of adding a few flattering texts
and miniatures at the end rather than inserting a separate presentation
frontispiece. The didacticism of the additions as well as the unique nature
of the Puissance of the Human Soul image suggest an ecclesiastic was
responsible. He must have been a learned man, a favorite of Philip, a
patron of the Marmion workshop and someone who had good reasons to
wish to flatter the Duke in about 1462-3. The person of Guillaume
Fillastre (72) fits this description very well. Fillastre was a man of some
intellectual stature; he held a doctorat from the University of Louvain,
and was the author of a three volume work entitled Histoire de la Toison
d'Or. He received many favors from Philip and enjoyed a personal intimacy
with the Duke which was accorded to few others. Moreover, Fillastre was
one of Marmion's most important patrons, and had, already before 1460,
commissioned from him two major works; the Altarpiece of Saint-Bertin
(Fig. 80) (73) and the Grandes chroniques manuscript (Figs. 83, 84) (74).
Finally, it was in 1461 that Philip granted Fillastre a final favor, the
to the highly desirable Bishopric of Tournai. It is entirely conceivable
that Fillastre felt a certain debt towards his protector in the years imme67)
68)
69)
70)
71)
72)
73)
(74)
264
See M. de Barante, Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne, Paris, 1842, V, p. 85-86.
Ibid., p. 111.
Ibid., p. 202.
Ibid., p. 137.
See note 17.
For Fillastre, see note 27.
See note 15.
See note 16.
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
diately following this appointment, saw a beautiful manuscript without
a patron in the Marmion shop and decided to present it to the Duke,
it by adding devotional tracts at the end, some of which referred
to the relationship between Philip and his wife.
On the other hand, Délaissé (75) has proposed the theory that the
Fleur des histoires belonged to Fillastre himself and came into Philip's
library in 1465 when the Count of Charolais began to gain control of the
state from his failing father and confiscated the property of the Croy
family (76) and their followers, one of whom was Fillastre. This is an entirely
plausible theory, although it does not take into account the nature of the
additions at the end of the manuscript; unless we are to assume that Fillastre
added them for his own pleasure. Whatever future research may reveal
to be true, we have here established that the Puissance of the Human Soul
miniature has not only artistic and iconographie originality but also
historical importance.
Ill
Although we have been able to isolate both stylistic and iconographie
aspects of Marmion' s work which do not in any way depend on panel
paintings, there is no doubt that he did borrow some things from them
and that there was inter-action between the two media. The true nature
of the relationship can be learned only by making more direct comparisons
between miniatures and panels than have yet been attempted. The
of such a method will be shown here by one such confrontation— a
precise comparison of Marmion's landscapes and those in Flemish panels.
In Marmion's style, it is everywhere evident that landscape was
important and well developed. Especially the panoramas in the Grandes
chroniques and Fleur des histoires (Figs. 83, 85, 86, 87, 88) (77) seem impressive
for their apparent dates of about 1455 to 1459 (78) and 1458 to 1463 (79)
respectively; and they invite comparison with Flemish panels. The only
contemporary Flemish painter, who was similarly concerned with
and whose panels have been preserved, is Dire Bouts. His landscapes
which seem closest to those of Marmion are in a documented and dated
work, the Sacramental Altarpiece (Louvain, Saint-Peter's) (80). This altar(75) Miniatures médiévales, p. 147.
(76) See P. Bonenfant and J. Stengers, "Le rôle de Charles le Téméraire dans le gouvernement
de l'État bourguignon en 1465-1467," Annales de Bourgogne, XXV, 1953, p. 11, n. 3.
(77) For reproductions of other landscapes from the Grandes chroniques and Fleur des histoires,
see the plates in Reinach, Un manuscrit de la bibliothèque de Philippe le Bon, Chernova,
Miniatyury Bol'shikh frantsuzskikh khronik, and Délaissé, La miniature flamande, pli. 28,
29 and 3 in text.
(78) See note 16.
(79) See note 17.
(80) For this Altarpiece, see Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, I, p. 318-19 and n. 2
for p. 318.
265
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
piece, recorded as commissioned from Bouts in 1464 and finished in 1468,
is close in date to Marmion's Fleur des histoires compositions. The three
landscapes in this altarpiece (Figs. 93, 94, 95) are in some ways similar
to Marmion's, yet different enough to show that the miniatures were not
based on Bouts' panels.
Both artists use an analogous system of overlapping areas or coulisses
projecting into the picture. In some instances (for example, Figs. 86, 95)
both employ a form extending across the entire scene which is like the rear
wall of a stage directly behind the foreground figures. This creates a rather
abrupt transition into the next layer of space and thus recalls the slightly
less developed method favored especially by Petrus Christus. Otherwise,
the progression into the middle and backgrounds is quite continuous in the
work of both artists and is enhanced by conscious atmospheric perspective
in Marmion and by a kind of "Stimmung," or mood in Bouts. Foreground
figures, in both instances, are arranged both horizontally and diagonally
into depth within the picture space so that they have a fairly convincing
feeling of being actually in the landscapes. But here the resemblance ends.
The most important difference is that Bouts' pictures have a greater
sense of depth than Marmion's —Bouts' projecting coulisses are somehow
more three dimensional. Also, Marmion's backgrounds go upward as well
as backward into depth. They are more panoramic and have higher horizon
lines than those of Bouts. On the other hand, his individual elements seem
more naturalistic and less artificial than those of Bouts. Bouts' rock
and grassy mounds seem rather stagy (Figs. 93, 94, 95) because
they all tend to be the same general shape despite their naturalistically
and closely observed details. This seems to be due to a conscious desire
of this master to create a strong sense of order in his pictures based on the
repetition of geometric shapes, particularly triangular ones. This is entirely
absent from Marmion's landscapes. There is great variety among the general
shapes of his hills, rocks and tree clumps, and the over-all arrangement
of elements seems freer and less planned (especially Figs. 83, 86, 87).
Also, there is a less detailed rendering of rock structures, trees and
cities in Marmion's work. They are treated in a free and even sketchy and
illusionistic manner as compared to Bouts' which have each crevice, each
leaf and every window delineated. It is this which makes Marmion's
of individual objects seem the more naturalistic. It cannot really
be said that either one of these two masters is the more advanced in
rendering since Bouts achieves more naturalistic space while Marmion
paints a more convincing view of the countryside. Rather, it is that Bouts'
interest is in space and Marmion's is in landscape. This difference in
orientation combined with the disparities in details suggest that their
treatments of landscape may derive from two different traditions.
Doubtless, Marmion was familiar with some of the landscapes of
Jan van Eyck, Roger, Christus and even Bouts, but the differences from
266
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
Bouts just noted suggest that his major inspiration came from the earlier
French manuscript development of which his work is the climax. Marmion's
landscapes, no less than his general approach and style, depend upon the
miniatures of the Master of Mansel (81). As indicated earlier, Marmion and
Mansel collaborated on the illustration of the Fleur des histoires manuscripts.
Apparently Mansel began the work aided by the young Marmion who finally
completed the volumes on his own, possibly because of Mansel's death.
If one regards a selection of miniatures in the order of their position in
these books, from beginning to end (Figs. 89, 90, 91, 86 respectively), the
landscape development is evident. There is a progressive advance in the
feeling of depth, the naturalistic observation of individual details and use
of atmospheric perspective. There is, too, a relaxation in schematization
and in the number and intensity of details. One can even trace this type
of landscape further back to the Bedford (Fig. 92a) (82) and Boucicaut
(Fig. 926) (83) masters. Here appears to be the source of this approach.
Their landscapes are two-dimensional, decorative and much less related
to the foreground figures than Mansel's, but the development through the
Master of Mansel to Marmion is clear. The panoramic aspect and high
horizons which particularly distinguish Marmion's work from Bouts' are
common to all these manuscripts. In fact, these aspects seem especially
appropriate to the book form because they allow a sense of space and
yet do not completely destroy the surface of the pages. The more
sketchy details may also have been encouraged by the manuscript format.
That is, the relatively small size and great number of illuminations as well
as their non-public nature tended to permit such a relaxation in the painting
of details.
The source of Bouts' landscapes is not so apparent; the question is
instead one of the most difficult problems in the entire history of fifteenth
century northern painting. One theory is that they developed from a Dutch
tradition characterized by the paintings of Albert Ouwater and emanating
from the town of Haarlem (84). This theory will probably never be
proven one way or the other due to the loss of all of Ouwater's
landscapes. Thus, an alternative and equally plausible supposition is also
possible; namely, that there was no real Haarlem school and that Bouts
developed proficiency in landscape by merely extending the discoveries
of Van Eyck, Roger and Christus (85). In either case, Bouts' approach
seems to have developed almost entirely from panels and to be un-related
(81) See note 14.
(82) See note 31.
(83) See note 29.
(84) For the most recent and detailed study and bibliography of the whole question of the
early Dutch school of painting, see James E. Snyder, "The Early Haarlem School of Painting,
Art Bulletin, XLII, 1960, p. 39-55.
(85) This is the position maintained by Panofsky, op. cit., I, p. 314-24.
267
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
to the Marmion manuscript tradition. If he did develop his landscapes
purely from Flemish panels, one may still wonder if he was familiar also
with the French manuscript tradition (86). If, on the other hand, Bouts'
landscapes do represent a Haarlem school tradition, then there must have
been two separate schools of landscape painting in the north in the fifteenth
century, one of Dutch panels and the other of French manuscripts, a
which has never to my knowledge been considered.
Further, since Marmion did not die until 1489, it is relevant to ask
how landscape evolved in his later works and how it compares with the
development in later fifteenth century panels. Unfortunately, the
to Marmion of miniatures of the 1480 decade are less certain than
the earlier ones for several reasons. Most importantly, all the late works
seem to have some relation to the Ghent or Bruges school of illumination
while Marmion is never documented in either one of these towns. In all
instances, the miniatures attributed to Marmion are in manuscripts which
also contain illustrations by Flemish artists (87). The borders and secondary
techniques are those of the more northern regions, and even Marmion's
own style seems to have become much more Flemish and less French. Also,
the Marmion illuminations of the preceding 1470 decade do not form a
truly coherent stylistic transition between the earlier miniatures and those
of the 1480's. In fact, there are few attributions to Marmion for the 1470
decade (88) and these do not have a very direct stylistic relation to the
Altarpiece, Fleur des histoires and Grandes chroniques. Some do already
have a connection with Ghent or Bruges workshops. Perhaps the very
confusion of this era is indicative of the change; although the situation is
far from clear. The fact remains that there exists a group of miniatures,
dating in the 1480's and associated with the Ghent-Bruges schools which
are at the same time related, in some ways, to the earlier Marmion style.
Whatever the exact position of these later miniatures within the Marmion
group, their landscapes do represent a further development of his earlier
approach and so may legitimately be considered in relation to later panels.
Two typical examples of 1480 decade landscapes from the Marmion
workshop have been selected for discussion here; those in the Saint Anthony
miniature (Fig. 96a) in a Book of Hours in Louvain (Bibl. de l'Univ.,
Ms. G 5) (89), and in a Saint Jerome in the Wilderness miniature (Fig. 96b)
(86) The relationship of Bouts' landscapes to those in the manuscript tradition has never been
studied; for instance, note the similarity between the landscape in the Baptism of Christ
miniature in the Bedford workshop Salisbury Breviary (Paris, B. N., Ms. lat. 17294, f. 278V)
and that in the Bouts' panel of John the Baptist With Christ and Donor in Munich, Collection
of the Crown Prince Rupprecht (Wolfgang Schône, Dieric Bouts und seine Schule, Berlin and
Leipzig, 1938, p. 106-7, no. 11, pi. 32).
(87) See p. 245, "Late works."
(88) See p. 245, "Transition period."
(89) See Joseph Casier and Paul Bergmans, L'Art ancien dans les Flandres, région de l'Escaut.
Mémorial de l'exposition rétrospective organisée à Gand en 1913, Paris, 1921, II, p. 148 fî., and
Délaissé, La miniature flamande, p. 191-92, no. 271.
268
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
in a Book of Hours in the Huth Collection in London (B. M., Add.Ms.
Ms. 38126) (90). Compared to the landscapes in the Grandes chroniques
and Fleur des histoires (Figs. 83, 86), these later ones differ most in being more
integrated. This is so partly because they are less panoramic, less extensive
in the amount of country-side shown. The spectator's view is limited to a
single building and one or two small hillocks in contrast to the vast mountain
ranges, cities, forests and harbors in the earlier miniatures. Perhaps it is
also this more concentrated and specific view which allows the artist to
construct these scenes so that the point of view of the observer seems more
single and unified. That is, the landscape and figures seem to be viewed
from both the same distance and the same height, or one might say from
a single vanishing point. As already discussed, in the Fleur des histoires
and Grandes chroniques there are always several points of view.
Secondly, the Huth Book of Hours miniature of Saint Jerome in the
Wilderness (Fig. 96 b) in particular has an entirely new relationship between
landscape and figures. Not only are the persons truly in, and surrounded
by, the landscape, they are so hidden and overpowered by the mood of the
forest scene that their religious message seems almost subordinate to the
pervasive evocation of nature. There is a de-emphasis of the human being
which seems quite astonishing for a date apparently before Marmion's
death in 1489.
Of course, this new progressive approach to landscapes is incompatible
with the narrative of the earlier miniatures which has thus all but disappeared
in the 1480 group. The change is not merely in the rendering of landscapes,
but in the artist's entire style and even in the function of his work. Such a
remarkable development is certainly evidence of Marmion's talent.
It now remains to compare the integrated landscape and the new
relation of background to figures of these miniatures to the interpretations
in the panel paintings at the end of the century. After Bouts, those panel
artists most proficient in, and concerned with, landscape, were Geertgen tot
Sint Jans and Gerard David. Geertgen's landscape in his Saint John in the
Wilderness (Fig. 98) is very like that in the Louvain Saint Anthony (Fig. 96a).
The sense of unity in the landscape and the kind of relationship it has to
the single seated figure are very much alike in these two pictures.
neither the miniature nor the panel can be specifically dated.
Stylistically, the miniature seems to date around 1480, and the panel is
also generally assigned to the 1480 decade (91). It is thus impossible to
know which is the earlier; but the closeness of date, and the stylistic and
(90) See London, British Museum, Department of Manuscripts, Catalogue of the Fifty
p. 16, and Winkler,
Printed Books
Die Bequeathed
flàmische Buchmalerei,
to the Britishp.Museum
178, pi. by10.Alfred H. Huth, London, 1912,
(91) The Louvain manuscript can be dated only by its style and secondary decorations. For
the dating of Geertgen's works, see Panofsky, op. cit., I, n. 2 for p. 243. For the theory that
Hugo van der Goes also painted a Saint John in the Wilderness, see Ibid., n. 3 for p. 329.
269
EDITH WARREN HOFFMAN
even iconographie connections between the two do suggest contact and even
collaboration between miniaturists and panel painters. In this connection,
there is considerable evidence that a number of late fifteenth century panel
painters were not only familiar with manuscript compositions but may
also have executed some miniatures. Gerard David is the best known
example (92), but Geertgen too was a miniaturist. He was first apprenticed
to an illuminator, and his earliest known work is a miniature, a tiny Madonna
in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan (93). It must also be observed that
his Saint John in the Wilderness panel is an especially small picture (only
16£xll inches) probably meant as a private devotional image, and so is
akin to a miniature in both its size and non-public nature. The Marmion
workshop miniature in the Huth Book of Hours (Fig. 96 £) gives landscape
an importance in relation to figures for which it is impossible to find a
real parallel in contemporary panels. Even Gerard David, after 1500,
allows this kind of submergence of man in nature only in secondary figures;
for instance, in the right middle ground of his Baptism of Christ (Fig. 97) (94).
As a major motif in a panel, such a dominance of landscape over figures
seems to appear only in the second decade of the sixteenth century in the
work of such artists as Patenir and Altdorfer.
That manuscripts may have preceded panels in the development
of landscape does not mean that panel artists lacked the requisite insight
or talent. More probably this resulted from the different functions (95)
of the two media. The main function of the panel painting in fifteenth
century Flanders was to present a religious message which was public and
formal. The purpose of the miniature was to illustrate a text, either sacred
or profane for informal and largely private use. The former goal would
seem to commit the artist to emphasize a few main figures and allow him
(92) See William Henry James Weale, Gerard David, Painter and Illuminator, London, 1895
and Winkler, op. cit., p. 134-35. Hans Memling is another artist whose relation to miniaturists
could probably be profitably studied. Two of his panels are extremely miniaturelike, the Life
of Christ and the Virgin (Munich, Alte Pinakothek) and the Passion of Christ (Turin, Sabauda
Gallery); see Max-J. Friedlander, Die altniederldndische Malerei, Berlin, 1929, VI, p. 22;
Karl Voll, Memling, des Meisters Gemàlde (Klassiker der Kunst, XIV), Stuttgart and Leipzig,
1909, p. xxv-xxvii, 172; and G. Aru and Et. de Géradon, La Galerie Sabauda de Turin (Les
primitifs flamands, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux au XVe siècle, 5),
Antwerp, 1952, pli. XXII-XL. There are also some stylistic and iconographie similarities
between Memling and Marmion. For instance, compare Memling's Madonna and Child in the
Ufflzi (Friedlander, op. cit., pi. XXXV) and the Marmion workshop Madonna and Child
in Melbourne, Australia, National Gallery of Victoria (Ursula Hoff, "Simon Marmion, Madonna
and Child," Bulletin of the National Gallery of Victoria, VIII, 1954, p. 2). It may not be without
significance that an eighteenth century tradition attributed the Altarpiece of Saint-Bertin to
Memling.
(93) See Panofsky, op. cit., I, p. 326.
(94) For this picture, see A. Janssens de Bisthoven and R. A. Parmentier, Le Musée
de Bruges (Les primitifs flamands, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux
au XVe siècle, 1-4), Antwerp, p. 20-27.
(95) The question of function has not yet been thoroughly treated by art historians.
E. H. Gombrich has given it the most attention; see his Art and Illusion (Bollingen Series
XXXV, 5), New York, 1956, p. 91-178 and Idem, Meditations on a Hobby Horse and Other
Essays on the Theory of Art, London, 1963, p. 1-11.
270
SIMON MARMION RE-CONSIDERED
less range of subject matter or possibility of experimentation than the latter.
Thus, the very purpose of the panel medium probably dictated that
should be a secondary motif while the nature of the manuscript
illustration made it a much better medium for making such secondary
interests into primary ones. It seems then quite consistent that mid fifteenth
century miniature landscapes might be in advance of those in panels, that
later fifteenth century panel painters should collaborate with illuminators
in developing landscapes, and that the sixteenth century landscapes of even
the great Pieter Bruegel might be indebted to earlier manuscript
(96).
There emerges from these discussions an entirely new image of Simon
Marmion. It is now clear that his miniatures have an artistic merit and
historical significance independent of contemporary panel painting, and
that he should be accorded the status of a major artist. In a broader sense,
it is evident too that some of the importance of Marmion's miniatures
resides in the nature of their relationships with panels. The implication
is that a more comprehensive understanding of all later fifteenth century
manuscript art and its interconnections with panels would undoubtedly
provide a more accurate and complete interpretation of Northern
painting.
Hamden (Connecticut)
Edith Warren Hoffman
(96)Toynay,
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1965, p.
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271