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Artykuły
DOI Artikel:Płonka-Bałus, Katarzyna: "En grant affection": an unusual portrait of Jean Chenart in a French fifteenth-century prayer book in the Princes Czartoryski Library in Cracow
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32786#0036
36
identification of the character of representation allows to
distinguish in it individual features that set it apart from
numerous other founder portraits depicted in the pages
of illuminated books of hours dating from the period of
their flowering. Therefore the miniature in question - re-
gardless of the fact whether it is treated as an expression of
a profound, personal religious experience of the donor or
if it is considered merely as a manifestation of typical and
widespread devotional practices of the epoch - seems to
be the most puzzling component of the pictorial decora-
tion of MS Czart. 2948 I.
The miniature was executed on the verso of a separate
sheet that was sewn into the book independently of the
quires (the recto of the sheet remained blank), which sug-
gests that it was added to a finished book and that it bears
no relationship to the manuscripts basic contents. There
are no grounds for negating its conscious association with
the neighbouring full-page miniature, so the questions
about Chenarts likeness we formulate here are based on
the assumption that his image was intended, according to
his wishes, for the prayer book preserved in the Czartoryski
Library. There is, of course, a possibility that it was added
later, by chance, and was sewn into the book as a separate
sheet bearing an indulgence prayer. This however, does not
contradict (and, conversely, only emphasises) the fact that
it exists as an independent work of art that can be analysed
separately, regardless of the rest of the book. The proposed
research procedure concerns three problems, each of which
requires a different methodological approach. The first and
at the same time the basic one, is the question of the iden-
tity of the portrayed person, which in turn will determine
the iconographic formula of the representation, reveal
the historical setting as well as the time and place of the
production of the prayer book and its earliest history. The
second problem, closely related to the so-called first art his-
tory, has to do with an attempt at determining the place of
Chenarts portrait in the pictorial tradition. The third prob-
lem is the deepest-reaching, as it searches for the meaning
that the sitter who commissioned the portrait associated
with it himself.
The small prayer book on parchment (162 leaves, 120
by 85 mm), bound in re-used (?) threadbare purple vel-
vet, secured with metal fittings and a clasp, was written
in Latin and French in Gothic textualis formata script. At
present, its decorative programme consists of eight full-
page miniatures (heterogeneous in style, as they originat-
ed in different times) and stylistically homogeneous floral
borders and initials in forms that are typical of Paris and
the Ile-de-France area of the second half of the fifteenth
century. * * * * * 6 This stylistic identification is confirmed by the
painting from St Johns church in Toruń], [in:] Magistro et amico -
amici discipulique. Lechowi Kalinowskiemu w osiemdziesięciolecie
urodzin, ed. J. Gadomski et al., Kraków 2002, p. 542.
6 At an unspecified time (judging from the style ofminiatures, it must
have been in the first decade of the sixteenth century), two deco-
rated leaves were added to the book (currently pages 26 and 62).
contents of the liturgical calendar which is closely asso-
ciated with the diocese of Paris. 7 The text of the prayer
book, for the most part following the standard contents of
the hours, would have been typical if it had not been for
prayers in French that escape the canon, added in pages
25-32 and 309-316. 8 Worthy of particular attention is the
above-mentioned oration in page 28. Both the contents
and form of the prayer are inseparably associated with the
image of the adorant figure who is at the same time the
narrator of the text, quoted below in the original spelling:
Mon redempteur, qui tespie[d]s et tes mains
Laissas percier et en la croix esta[n]dre
Pour rachet[er] de chartre les humains
Dont ta[n]t de mal endura ta charte[n]d[re]
De ton s[er]«a[n]f Jehan Chenart entendre
Teplaise et Icy la supplication
Et a mercy doulx Jhesus vueillepre[n]d[re]
Ton pelerin meu de devotion
Qui visita en grant affection
Mil CCC soixante et six iadis
Ton saint sep[n\]cre en ceste intencion
Quilgaigneroit apres mortpa[ra]dis
The above text provides data that allow the identifica-
tion the person depicted, clearly determine the date of
execution - shortly after 1466 - and reveal a motivation
behind such an untypical portrayal.
The composition of the text is organised around
a cross, whose slender shape, brought out by a distinct
contour painted in gold ink, stands out against the ‘back-
ground’ covered in script and divides the text into two
irregular columns that merge together. The letters, writ-
ten in blue ink on both arms of the cross which were
left in the natural colour of parchment, form the name
Their location within the book seems not to have been changed
during the re-binding of the volume, as both of them are logi-
cally related to the already extant miniatures. The Vision ofEm-
peror Augustus is facing The Visitation, and opposite The Annun-
ciation there is The Meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden
Gate, which supplements the iconographic programme of the
prayer book with a Marian-Immaculist theme. K. Płonka-Ba-
łus, Katalog rękopisów iluminowanych Biblioteki Czartoryskich
[Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts in the Princes Czartoryski
Library], vol. II/2: Francja XV-XVI w. [France, i5 th-i6 th c.] (type-
script).
7 In the calendar, the names of local patron saints: Genevieve
(3 January), Denis (9 October) and Saint Louis (15 August), were
highlighted with letters in gold.
8 The prayer book consists of the following texts, which were typi-
cally included in books of hours: the calendar (pp. 1-24), passages
from the Gospels (pp. 24-45), Marian prayers (including Obsecro
te and Stabat Mater, pp. 46-61); Officium BMV (pp. 63-162), the
Seven Penitential Psalms (pp. 168-197), litany (pp. 197-212), Of-
ficium de cruce (pp. 212-308), Offcium mortuorum (pp. 309-316)
and the suffrages of saints (pp. 316-320).
identification of the character of representation allows to
distinguish in it individual features that set it apart from
numerous other founder portraits depicted in the pages
of illuminated books of hours dating from the period of
their flowering. Therefore the miniature in question - re-
gardless of the fact whether it is treated as an expression of
a profound, personal religious experience of the donor or
if it is considered merely as a manifestation of typical and
widespread devotional practices of the epoch - seems to
be the most puzzling component of the pictorial decora-
tion of MS Czart. 2948 I.
The miniature was executed on the verso of a separate
sheet that was sewn into the book independently of the
quires (the recto of the sheet remained blank), which sug-
gests that it was added to a finished book and that it bears
no relationship to the manuscripts basic contents. There
are no grounds for negating its conscious association with
the neighbouring full-page miniature, so the questions
about Chenarts likeness we formulate here are based on
the assumption that his image was intended, according to
his wishes, for the prayer book preserved in the Czartoryski
Library. There is, of course, a possibility that it was added
later, by chance, and was sewn into the book as a separate
sheet bearing an indulgence prayer. This however, does not
contradict (and, conversely, only emphasises) the fact that
it exists as an independent work of art that can be analysed
separately, regardless of the rest of the book. The proposed
research procedure concerns three problems, each of which
requires a different methodological approach. The first and
at the same time the basic one, is the question of the iden-
tity of the portrayed person, which in turn will determine
the iconographic formula of the representation, reveal
the historical setting as well as the time and place of the
production of the prayer book and its earliest history. The
second problem, closely related to the so-called first art his-
tory, has to do with an attempt at determining the place of
Chenarts portrait in the pictorial tradition. The third prob-
lem is the deepest-reaching, as it searches for the meaning
that the sitter who commissioned the portrait associated
with it himself.
The small prayer book on parchment (162 leaves, 120
by 85 mm), bound in re-used (?) threadbare purple vel-
vet, secured with metal fittings and a clasp, was written
in Latin and French in Gothic textualis formata script. At
present, its decorative programme consists of eight full-
page miniatures (heterogeneous in style, as they originat-
ed in different times) and stylistically homogeneous floral
borders and initials in forms that are typical of Paris and
the Ile-de-France area of the second half of the fifteenth
century. * * * * * 6 This stylistic identification is confirmed by the
painting from St Johns church in Toruń], [in:] Magistro et amico -
amici discipulique. Lechowi Kalinowskiemu w osiemdziesięciolecie
urodzin, ed. J. Gadomski et al., Kraków 2002, p. 542.
6 At an unspecified time (judging from the style ofminiatures, it must
have been in the first decade of the sixteenth century), two deco-
rated leaves were added to the book (currently pages 26 and 62).
contents of the liturgical calendar which is closely asso-
ciated with the diocese of Paris. 7 The text of the prayer
book, for the most part following the standard contents of
the hours, would have been typical if it had not been for
prayers in French that escape the canon, added in pages
25-32 and 309-316. 8 Worthy of particular attention is the
above-mentioned oration in page 28. Both the contents
and form of the prayer are inseparably associated with the
image of the adorant figure who is at the same time the
narrator of the text, quoted below in the original spelling:
Mon redempteur, qui tespie[d]s et tes mains
Laissas percier et en la croix esta[n]dre
Pour rachet[er] de chartre les humains
Dont ta[n]t de mal endura ta charte[n]d[re]
De ton s[er]«a[n]f Jehan Chenart entendre
Teplaise et Icy la supplication
Et a mercy doulx Jhesus vueillepre[n]d[re]
Ton pelerin meu de devotion
Qui visita en grant affection
Mil CCC soixante et six iadis
Ton saint sep[n\]cre en ceste intencion
Quilgaigneroit apres mortpa[ra]dis
The above text provides data that allow the identifica-
tion the person depicted, clearly determine the date of
execution - shortly after 1466 - and reveal a motivation
behind such an untypical portrayal.
The composition of the text is organised around
a cross, whose slender shape, brought out by a distinct
contour painted in gold ink, stands out against the ‘back-
ground’ covered in script and divides the text into two
irregular columns that merge together. The letters, writ-
ten in blue ink on both arms of the cross which were
left in the natural colour of parchment, form the name
Their location within the book seems not to have been changed
during the re-binding of the volume, as both of them are logi-
cally related to the already extant miniatures. The Vision ofEm-
peror Augustus is facing The Visitation, and opposite The Annun-
ciation there is The Meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden
Gate, which supplements the iconographic programme of the
prayer book with a Marian-Immaculist theme. K. Płonka-Ba-
łus, Katalog rękopisów iluminowanych Biblioteki Czartoryskich
[Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts in the Princes Czartoryski
Library], vol. II/2: Francja XV-XVI w. [France, i5 th-i6 th c.] (type-
script).
7 In the calendar, the names of local patron saints: Genevieve
(3 January), Denis (9 October) and Saint Louis (15 August), were
highlighted with letters in gold.
8 The prayer book consists of the following texts, which were typi-
cally included in books of hours: the calendar (pp. 1-24), passages
from the Gospels (pp. 24-45), Marian prayers (including Obsecro
te and Stabat Mater, pp. 46-61); Officium BMV (pp. 63-162), the
Seven Penitential Psalms (pp. 168-197), litany (pp. 197-212), Of-
ficium de cruce (pp. 212-308), Offcium mortuorum (pp. 309-316)
and the suffrages of saints (pp. 316-320).