The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

Leaf Excised from a Breviary of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York: The Martyrdom of Saint Denis

Leaf Excised from a Breviary of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York: The Martyrdom of Saint Denis

c. 1467–70
(French, 1420s-1489)
Sheet: 15.2 x 11.2 cm (6 x 4 7/16 in.); Framed: 44.5 x 34.3 cm (17 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

Simon Marmion was one of the most esteemed miniaturists of his generation. He was praised by the poet Jean Lemaire de Belges as the "prince of illumination." Marmion was a member of a family of painters from Amiens and likely trained in his father’s workshop before establishing his own workshop in Valenciennes. During the course of his career, he received numerous commissions from the Burgundian court, then resident in the Netherlands. In addition to manuscript illuminations, his commissions included paintings, altarpieces, portraits, and decorations for court festivities. This miniature comes from a deluxe breviary commissioned by the third duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good (r. 1419–67), but completed after his death for his son and successor, Charles the Bold (r. 1467–77), and his wife, Margaret of York. It survives with a sister leaf representing the Holy Virgins, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. These two leaves are today the sole tangible remnants from a breviary that was well-documented in its time. It once contained 624 folios, 95 full-page miniatures, 12 calendar vignettes, and several thousand small initials and marginal decoration.
  • Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1467-77)
    Rappaport, Rome (to 1930)
    Robert Lehman (1891-1969)
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 222-223, no. 82
    Gertsman, Elina, and Stephen N. Fliegel. Collectors, Commissioners, Curators: Studies in Medieval Art for Stephen N. Fliegel. Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter ; [Kalamazoo, Michigan] : Medieval Institute Publications, 2023. Mentioned: p. 215, reproduced: p. 218, figs. 11.3 and 11.4.
    Fliegel, Stephen N., "A Masterpiece in Miniature", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 46 no. 10, December 2006 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 5 archive.org
  • The Netherlandish Miniature, 1260-1550 (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2013-December 8, 2014).
    Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Bavarian Nationalmuseum, Munich (5/10/2007 - 9/16/2007), the J. Paul Getty Musuem, Los Angeles (10/30/2007 - 1/20/2008) and Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2/13/2009 - 6/7/2009): "Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art"
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 115): December 16, 2013 - December 8, 2014.
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf Excised from a Breviary of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York: The Martyrdom of Saint Denis|url=false|author=Simon Marmion|year=c. 1467–70|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.55