Pseudo-Jacquemart

The Pseudo-Jacquemart was an anonymous master illuminator active in Paris and Bourges between 1380 and 1415. He owed his name to his close collaboration with painter Jacquemart de Hesdin.

Biographical and stylistic elements

The artist designated under the name Pseudo-Jacquemart was a French painter perhaps of Flemish origin. It is Millard Meiss who, for the first time, distinguished his work from the works of Jacquemart de Hesdin. He worked essentially in the service of John, Duke of Berry, in the shadow of the great illuminators whom the Duke of Berry employed: besides Jacquemart, Jean Pucelle or the Limbourg brothers at the end of his career, from whom he borrowed his style. He generally realized for them the decorations annexed to miniatures: marginal scenes, small miniatures of calendar or initials. In parallel, he also worked for other anonymous sponsors for whom he realized books of hours, collaborating with other Parisian painters.

For Meiss, the style of the anonymous master is a purely servile imitation of the great painters he served. Other art historians have distinguished, from a more theatrical sense of composition than from his master, a more assured stroke and a more intense palette of colors.

He is sometimes identified with Jean Petit, brother-in-law of Jacquemart de Hesdin himself. In the texts, the two painters are mentioned in the decoration of the Palace of Poitiers at the request of John, Duke of Berry. On this occasion, in January 1398, another painter named Jean de Holland accused them of having stolen pigments and models from his box. The painter was finally killed and the two painters took refuge in the abbay of Montierneuf at Poitiers where they obtained the right of asylum. The Duke of Berry ended up obtaining them a letter of remission in May 1398.

Manuscripts attributed

December on the calendar Les Grandes Heures du duc de Berry, f.6v

• Breviary for the use of St. Ambroix of Bourges, c. 1380, municipal Library of Bourges, Ms.16
• La Légende dorée, a manuscript by Jacobus de Voragine, c. 1382, British Library, London, Royal 19 B XVII
• Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, in collaboration with Jacquemart de Hesdin and the Trinity Master, c. 1385–1390, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat.18014
• Psalter of John of Berry, c. 1386, 6 miniatures, in collaboration with André Beauneveu and Jacquemart de Hesdin, BNF Fr13091
• Les Très Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, creation of initials and footnotes during the first illumination campaign in collaboration with the Master of the Parement of Narbonne, c. 1390-1405, BNF, NAL 3093
• Book of hours for the use of Rome for an unknown lady (Marie, daughter of duke ?), in collaboration with the Mazarine Master and the Luçon Master, c. 1400, public library of Quimper, Ms.42
• Historical Bible of Guiart des Moulins, some miniatures (ff. 1, 3v-5v, 7-8, 10-16) attributed to a follower of Jacquemart de Hesdin, sometimes identified with the Pseudo-Jacquemart, BL, Harley 4381
• Book of hours for the use of Bourges, some miniatures in collaboration with the Luçon Master, c. 1405-1410, British Library, Yates Thompson 37
• Book of hours, c. 1410, National Library of Russia, St-Petersburg, Rasn. Q.v.I,8
• Les Grandes Heures du duc de Berry, realization of the small miniatures, c. 1407-1409, BNF, Lat.919
• Book of hours, c. 1410, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Ms.36
• Lectionary of the office of the Sainte-Chapelle of Bourges, in collaboration with the workshop of Boucicaut Master, c. 1410, BM Bourges
• Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, creation of the initials of the second production campaign, c. 1411-1416, Musée Condé, Chantilly, Ms.65

Bibliography

• Meiss, Millard (1967). French Painting in the time of Jean de Berry. New York et Londres: Phaidon. pp. 179–191, 263–265.
• Taburet-Delahaye, Elisabeth (2004). Paris 1400;Les arts sous Charles VI. Fayard/RMN. p. 413. ISBN 2213620229.

External links

• Notice of the Grove Dictionary of Art
• Notice on the site of the Getty Museum