Master of James IV of Scotland
Encyclopedia
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
manuscript illuminator
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
and painter most likely based in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, or perhaps Bruges. Circumstantial evidence, including several larger panel painting
Panel painting
A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel made of wood, either a single piece, or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, it was the normal form of support for a painting not on a wall or vellum, which was used for...
s, indicates that he may be identical with Gerard Horenbout
Gerard Horenbout
Gerard Horenbout was a Flemish miniaturist, a late example of the Flemish Primitives. He has been identified with the Master of James IV of Scotland.-Biography:...
. He was the leading illuminator of the penultimate generation of Flemish illuminators. The painter's name is derived from a portrait of James IV of Scotland
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
which, together with one of his Queen, is in the Prayer book of James IV and Queen Margaret, a book of hours
Book of Hours
The book of hours was a devotional book popular in the later Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and...
commissioned by James and now in Vienna. He has been called one of the finest illuminators active in Flanders around 1500, and contributed to many lavish and important books besides directing an active studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
of his own.
Stylistically, the Master's miniatures are distinguished by their collections of robust and unidealized figures, set against colorful landscapes and detailed interiors. He had a knack for depicting narrative, and would frequently use obscure Biblical images when constructing his paintings; his scenes of daily life, designed for calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
illuminations, are considered particularly vivid. Most importantly, the Master was interested in experimenting with the layout of his drawings on the page. Using various illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....
istic elements, he often blurred the line between the miniature and its border, frequently using both in his efforts to advance the narrative of his scenes.
The Master's work is sometimes associated with the work of the Master of the Lübeck Bible
Master of the Lübeck Bible
Master of the Lübeck Bible was a Flemish manuscript illuminator and printmaker. He is named for a series of woodcuts designed for a Bible printed at Lübeck, Germany in 1494. He has long been known as a contributor to several early printed books; only recently, however, has their style been...
. Major works include the "Spinola Hours" in the Getty Museum, "the most pictorially ambitious and original sixteenth-century Flemish manuscript", the Grimani Breviary in Venice, the Holford Hours in Lisbon (1526, probably his last work), the "Rothschild Prayerbook
Rothschild Prayerbook
The Rothschild Prayerbook or Rothschild Hours , is an important Flemish illuminated manuscript book of hours, illuminated over the period c. 1500-20 by a number of artists. It has 254 folios, with a page size of 228 x 160 mm...
" (or "Hours"), the "Vatican Hours" and two detached miniatures in the Cloisters Museum. On large projects he often collaborated with other masters.
Gerard Horenbout
Gerard Horenbout was court painter, from 1515 to about 1522, to Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands. He then went, with his son Lucas HorenboutLucas Horenbout
Lucas Horenbout, often called Hornebolte in England, was a Flemish artist who moved to England in the mid-1520s and worked there as "King's Painter" and court miniaturist to King Henry VIII from 1525 until his death...
and daughter Suzanna, to England, where he was recorded in 1528 (Lucas had been there since 1525 at least), and later returned to the Continent, probably after 1531; he had died in Ghent by 1540. It has been suggested that their move was in connection with an attempt by the King, or possibly Cardinal Wolsey, to revive English manuscript illumination by establishing a workshop in London, but this is controversial. Susanna, who was also an illuminator, is recorded in 1529 as married to a John Palmer and in England.
