With the work of the Bedford Master tentatively identified with that of Robert Campin, that is in my opinion Hubert van Eyck, we can see this artist’s activity as a miniature painter already very well presented in several books and articles. My suggestion that he should be identical with Hubert van Eyck is supported in recent studies by D Eichberger and S Buck showing that the upper part of Jan van Eyck’s Last Judgement in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is painted by an artist with connections to Bedford illuminations. Regarding Campin’s supposed brother Haincelin van Eyck’s activity in early years there may be much research undone. Accepting my suggestion that Jean Malouel and not the Bruges artist Jacques Coene may be the artist who so long has been known only as the anonymous Boucicaut Master, it would seem as if the higher reputed Coene should not have left a single proof of his activity for posterity.

As usual one has to suspect that such an absurdity might be the result of misreadings of unclear written sources. Coene’s fame had, as mentioned before, already in 1388 reached so long that King Juan I of Aragon wanted him to enter in his service, that he in 1389 was asked to give instructions to J Alcherius on the production of colours and other painting technicalities, that he in 1399 was called to Milan as an expert at the planning of the Dome, and that he in 1404 was among the three artists who were commissioned to illuminate a bible for Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy. His expertise on colours was obviously one reason for the probably wrong supposition that he should be identical with the Boucicaut Master.

Coene’s connection to the art interested court of Aragon is interesting, as at King Alfons’s court in Valencia there is mentioned around 1440 a Netherlandish artist interpreted to have been called Jacquemart de Hesdin and to have been the son of the artist with the same name, who was in the service of Jean of Berry from at least 1384. Part of the name is in the literature spelled very differently, even in a recent art dictionary as Esdin, Esdun, Hodin, Odin and Oudain, seemingly forwarded from unclear sources. Knowing how difficult it can be to read medieval texts and the fact that variants of names are usual it is a reasonable guess, that Jacquemart de Hesdin and Jacques Coene may be the same person.

Attributed to ´Jacquemart´ is e g the Way of the Cross in the Très belles heures de Notre Dame (Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Brussels), one of several miniatures that would clearly justify the high estimation Coene had among his contemporaries. As already mentioned Coene may also have illuminated the Hours of Charles of Navarre (Cleveland Museum of Art). At the court of Jean of Berry he was probably needed after the death of the very qualified Jean le Noir. When he was working at Berry’s castle in Poitiers, he and his assistants were in 1398 accused of having stolen colours and patterns from another group of painters headed by an artist called Jean de Hollande, an interesting circumstance at a time when the new oil technique is getting more and more refined. In a confrontation Jean de Hollande’s brother-in-law Perrot Garnier was killed by Coene’s assistant Godefroy.

Jean de Hollande is mentioned as a master and a married man and can therefore not be identical with the at this time still very young Jan van Eyck. Most likely he is the here already discussed Jean Malouel, to whom I have guessed that Jan may have had some connection at the French royal court. Malouel is mentioned to have decorated harnesses at several occasions, most likely with painting in oil, a possible inspiration for Jan to take up and refine the use of oil in panel painting. One circumstance that may strengthen my suggested identification of Malouel with the anonymous Boucicaut Master is the fact, that Jean le Meingre, Marshal of Boucicaut, was a famous military hero with a probably big use for decorated harnesses.

It is true that a considerable part of the work of miniaturists at the beginning of the fifteenth century is reasonably grouped under anonymous names. True also, however, that those who have had the possibility to study the originals do not always make very clear distinctions between the few creators and a great many followers and copyists. With only reproductions available it is hardly possible to identify Haincelin with much security among followers and maybe copying assistants.

Outstanding quality has e g the miniature Charles VI with the Author and Three Nobles on fol. 4r in the version of Réponses de Pierre Salmon, that is preserved in Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire in Geneva. In this magnificent interior King Charles is seated on the edge of his bed talking privately with Pierre Salmon, the author. Standing to the left are three nobles, of which John the Fearless and Jean of Berry are clearly recognizable. The anonymous artist called the Master of the Cité des dames is supposed to have been active in the period c. 1400-15. The quality of the frontispiece of a version of Christine de Pisan’s Cité des dames in Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris suggests that it may be the question of a copy after an earlier work by the young Haincelin. The Master of the Cité des dames is interpreted to have collaborated with ´Jacquemart´ in the so-called Barcelona Hours from c. 1401 (Biblioteca Central, Barcelona). If it here should be the question of Jan van Eyck, it seems to strengthen the supposition that he may have spent some forming period in the atelier of this older artist. The miniature Christine Presents her Manuscript to the Queen, the frontispiece of a volume of Christine de Pisan’s works (British Library, London), shows a contemporary motif of high quality, probably in a copied version. One is sometimes reminded of the fact that a sister of the Van Eyck brothers, Margaret, is mentioned as a talented painter and assistant.

In the splendid Grandes heures de Jean, duc de Berry, completed in 1409 with contributions from the supposed Jacques Coene and other artists (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), there is one in quality outstanding page with a small miniature of Jean of Berry being welcomed at the gate of Paradise. Among the portrayed nobles we recognize the ugly John the Fearless. Two others may be meant to represent Philip the Bold and the bearded Lewis of Bavaria, Queen Isabeau’s brother. The mastership and humour we see in this picture point at Jan van Eyck as a possible creator.

In 1403, the first year that Haincelin is mentioned, he was already educated enough to be commissioned to paint decorations at the court of Queen Isabeau. One may guess that he had started to learn in some atelier at the age of about 13, and that this first education lasted for about four years. Then may have followed a couple of years, when he travelled and practiced in different art centres, probably also some time in at least northern Italy. When he is mentioned next after Jacques Coene in 1404, this may mean that he was then connected to this artist’s atelier, probably after studying and practicing during at least 7 years. Jan van Eyck may therefore have been born around 1384 or a little earlier. He was thus probably about 57-year-old at his death in 1441.

It may be possible to date with reasonable certainty the scene that represents January in the Calendar part of the Très riches heures. The Duke of Berry is shown as an old and disillusioned man, the supposed Dauphin Louis at a rather mature age and acting as the man in power instead of the sick King Charles VI behind him. In the summer of 1412 Duke Jean of Berry had been forced to give up the defence of Bourges in the war that Duke John the Fearless, together with Charles VI and Dauphin Louis, had started against him. As King Charles soon fell sick again, it was Dauphin Louis who presided at the peace conference in Auxerre in August. A time of reconciliation followed. Many of the men in power proceeded to Melun, where the end of the war was celebrated with a series of festivities, to which Louis of Guyenne’s court painter probably contributed with decorations.

As two of the noble servants in the January miniature have dresses marked with an M, one might guess that the represented scene would be from the former royal palace at Melun, the fortified castle 46 km south of Paris, where Queen Isabeau and her children took refuge in connection with the disturbances after the murder of Louis of Orléans and where she, the royal children and sometimes also King Charles often resided. It is in fact possible that parts of the composition with Dauphin Louis and Cardinal Louis of Bar may have been sketched here in August 1412 at the time when the since long married couple Dauphin Louis and Margaret of Burgundy probably started to live together and Louis of Bar may have officiated at a ceremony. The arms and the emblems (bears and wounded swans) of Jean of Berry on the wall behind him show, however, that it is the question of one of Berry’s castles, probably Mehun-sur-Yèvre, given in 1414 to Dauphin Louis.

The miniatures for January and August are painted on the same sheet of parchment, and so are the miniatures for April and May. These four scenes seem therefore to have been composed in one campaign with the help of earlier sketches. In the January miniature we see that the supposed Charles of Orléans is no longer dressed in black, as he is mentioned to have been until around the third week of August 1413, when John the Fearless after the Caboche uprising was forced to leave Paris and not to return for five years. If Duchess Margaret’s red forearm in the August miniature really points at her as involved in the poisoning of her consort, it should mean that this painting was completed after Dauphin Louis’s death on 18 December 1415.

The engagement scene that represents April in the Calendar, here supposed to show Philip of Nevers and the Duke of Berry’s grand-daughter Bonne of Artois and Eu, may be based on sketches from 1413, the year when this couple was married in June. The sketches on which the miniature for May is based were maybe executed in 1414, because Charles of Orléans was not present in Paris in May 1413 or 1415, and because the supposed Duchess Margaret of Burgundy is represented as married. The miniature for August is probably based on sketches made in connection with some festivities in 1412 after the war against Jean of Berry.

There may be little doubt that those who wanted the dramatic moment we see in the January miniature to be remembered must have been the old and disillusioned Duke Jean of Berry in cooperation with the to him closely related Charles of Orléans. Although John the Fearless had been forced to leave Paris, he was still intriguing for a return to power. Dauphin Louis of Guyenne was certainly now on the side of Berry and his Armagnac friends, but he was not held to be fully reliable. In October 1414 Jean of Berry gave Mehun-sur-Yèvre to Louis, who shortly thereafter is told to have travelled disguised as a valet at the court and accompanied by only a few to this castle, where he stayed for some weeks. It has been guessed, that this was an arrangement that aimed at keeping him away from the government and from John the Fearless. A rough copy, dated December 1, of a letter that John the Fearless seems to have had his daughter-in-law Michelle of France, married to Philip of Charolais, to write to Queen Isabeau is preserved. In this Michelle asks for help as her brother Louis should not have been allowed to return to Paris. It is not known, however, if this letter was ever sent, and around December 6 Dauphin Louis is reported to have been back in Paris.

In the January miniature of the Très riches heures we probably see a dramatic scene from a culmination of the powerplay in France in these days, seemingly telling that John the Fearless none the less had succeeded in planning what was thought to be a secret meeting with Dauphin Louis in Mehun-sur-Yèvre, but that he here unexpectedly was met by a grim Jean of Berry and an ashamed Dauphin Louis. The painted words aproche aproche would then be an irony against the hiding John the Fearless. The reception of the newcomers by a jester, and this dwarf’s dress, may also be meant as an irony. The golden crowns on the supposed Count Philip’s dress spread golden rays. On the jester’s red dress, richly decorated with gold, there is a blue cloud between the crowns and the rays. Berry’s jester Hannequinet is mentioned several times in this period in connection with received gifts, e g a houppeland de drap rouge fourrée de petit-gris and a huque, garnie d´orfèvrerie.

The miniatures here attributed to the young Haincelin van Eyck show the artist as a very distinct personality. He prefers obviously from the start of his career to paint real persons and the real world instead of conventional religious legends, quite as the Jan van Eyck we know from preserved paintings in oil and from a few miniatures ascribed to him on good grounds in the Turin-Milan Book of Hours. Precious objects like those placed on the table in the January miniature may have been part of his work, all of which now obviously lost. Most of his time Jan seems to have worked for rulers who could pay him well, hard-hearted despotic realists like Queen Isabeau and Dauphin Louis in Paris, Duke John of Bavaria in The Hague and Duke Philip ´the Good´ of Burgundy, probably also some time for Duke Jean of Berry, e g during the few months that Jean lived longer than Dauphin Louis.

For the teenaged Dauphin Louis he seems to have worked during no less than six of his young and probably very inventive years. This prince was obviously interested in splendour and magnificence, he knew Latin and owned books, partly at least taken from the rich library in the Louvre, partly received as gifts. He is known to have presented illuminated books himself to e g Jean of Berry in 1409 and 1412, but it may be wrong to call him a bibliophile as were so many before him in the French royal family. Objects of gold and silver, often with perls, are, however, frequently mentioned in preserved documents relating to him. L Pannier, who in 1873/74 published studies of Les joyaux du duc de Guyenne, observed that the presents this prince often gave were paintings on wood où il y a un ymaige de N(otre) D(ame) tenant son enfant dormant entre ses braz, fait de paincture, et dessus le dit ymaige a un tabernacle doré enlevé, et par devant a une courtine vermeille. One can only guess on the possibility that such a production may have been part of the young Haincelin’s work.

From what is remembered of Dauphin Louis, who died only 18 years old, it seems difficult to see him as really interested in high artistic quality. He is mentioned to have had little interest in military things and in political discussions, that he preferred to retire to his own rooms together with a few others, enjoying song and music, playing on harp and clavichord, often all the night and then sleeping half the day. In 1414 he fell in love with La Cassinelle, the beautiful daughter of Guillaume Cassinel, chambellan at Queen Isabeau’s court. He had still the following year, writes E de Monstrelet, in sa compagnie une sienne amye qu’il tenoit en lieu de sa femme, while he had banished his wife Margaret of Burgundy to Saint-Germain. When the artist, as mentioned before, in two different paintings has coloured the right hand red on the lady I have guessed is Margaret, this may indicate that it was considered that she had been involved in the poisoning of her consort. Maybe Louis doubted himself the moral quality of his life, as he is rumoured to have been busy assembling money and commissioning the best available ouvriers for the building of a splendid church decorated with precious objects, where there was to be prayed for his soul.

Duke Charles of Orléans, the later renowned poet, who by me is interpreted to be seen together with Dauphin Louis in no less than three of the four courtly Calendar scenes, was like Jean of Berry no doubt competent to make qualified artistic judgements, as seen in the poems he later wrote. It’s interesting to note that Charles is known to have paid Haincelin for some work just in 1409, the same year as the artist according to P Durrieu became connected to Dauphin Louis as a court painter. It points at the possibility that the older, more experienced and at this time very active Charles may have been the one who inspired the then only 13-year-old Louis to engage Jan van Eyck as his court painter, and later on to paint the realistic and poetic scenes in remembrance of some brilliant and significant festivities at the court in which both Louis and Charles are prominent.

Charles was after the battle of Agincourt in 1415 imprisoned in England until the end of 1440. Shortly after his landing in Calais he was greatly welcomed by Duke Philip the Good, his near acquaintance since their common sojourns in Paris in the early years of the century. As a Burgundian arrangement the 49-year-old Charles married on 26 November the 14-year-old Marie of Cleves. If not already now, Charles must surely have met also Jan van Eyck a few days later in Bruges, at about the time when some more Calendar miniatures are interpreted to have been added to the Très riches heures.

Copyright © 2001-2007 Knut Andersson. All rights reserved.