La Somme le Roy
1290 Illumination on parchment, 23,5 x 12,7 cm British Museum, London The picture shows a page from La Somme le Roy, representing Humility, Ahaziah typifying Pride, the Sinner and the Hypocrite. It was executed by the workshop of Master Honor? It is known that Louis IX built up a library of manuscripts and himself commissioned a number of works. The names of his illuminators are not known. However, the name of one of his grandson's artists was Master Honor?and he worked for the court of Philip the Fair (1285-1314). Little is known about his career. He lived in Paris on the south bank; a small group of manuscripts can be attributed to him. From them it is clear that by his time the style of Louis IX's painters had been significantly altered. Master Honor?s illumination is still extremely graceful and elegant, but architectural motifs play a far smaller part in the decoration. Faces and hands are extremely pallid and almost completely without colour, even more emphasis being laid on the drawing. By contrast, the drapery is fuller and the folds heavier. This is accomplished by a development in the modelling technique, for there is far more suggestion of light and shadow. This development may represent the first impingement of Italian Gothic painting on the north. Artist: MINIATURIST, French , La Somme le Roy , 1251-1300 , French , illumination , religious