UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date March 6, 2008 I, Thomas Haders hereby submit this work as part of the degree requirement for the degree of: Master of Arts in: Art History It is entitled: Hapsburg-Burgundian Iconographic Programs and the Arthurian Political Model: The Expression of Moral Authority as a Source of Power This work and its defense approved by: Chair: Diane C. Mankin, Ph.D. Lloyd C. Engelbrecht . Teresa Pac . Hapsburg-Burgundian Iconographic Programs and the Arthurian Political Model: The Expression of Moral Authority as a Source of Power A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Art History of the School of Art of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning 2008 By Thomas M. Haders B.A., University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 1990 Committee Chair: Dr. Diane Mankin Abstract This study will examine the art made for a select group of fifteenth-century European monarchs; all were Burgundian or had strong connections to Burgundy. The art was intended to illustrate the concept of Vicarus Dei in order to validate their rule. The hereditary monarchies addressed in this thesis based their royal authority upon the concept that God ordained a king or even a duke to rule in the terrestrial realm as God’s representative, and this celestial authority was passed on to their progeny. The earthly ruler, therefore, emphasized this divine ordination in various symbolic ways in the arts. In order to further justify, establish, and legitimize the existence and reign of royal dynasties, sacred bloodlines were traced back to biblical and mythological sources. For this reason, the male ruler was often depicted in the guise of a legendary warrior or a warrior saint. Part of the mythology is that such a ruler cannot really die. He is akin to King Arthur, who according to Sir Thomas Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur, was taken to a mystical realm from which he may one day return. This thesis also explores the iconography of mainly Burgundian royal brides, which emphasized characteristics and roles considered gender appropriate in the fifteenth century. Essential to the heavenly designed political system was the establishment of the female consort as a sacred vessel for bearing the awaited messianic male heir who was to continue the holy dynasty. iii iv Table of Contents Abstract iii Table of Contents v List of Illustrations vi Introduction 1 Chapter One The Marriage of Philip the Good and Isabelle of Portugal 8 Chapter Two The Last Valois Duke, His Consort, and Heir 43 Chapter Three The Marriage of Arthur of Wales and Katherine of Aragon: 77 The Rise of the Triumvirate Chapter Four The Lily and the Eagle: The Apotheosis of the Last 118 World Emperor Conclusion 153 Bibliography 159 v List of Illustrations Chapter One Figure 1.1 Ghent Altarpiece, open. St. Bavo’s, Ghent, 1432. Figure 1.2 Ghent Altarpiece, closed. St. Bavo’s, Ghent, 1432. Figure 1.3a Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, detail of The Just Judges, detail. St. Bavo’s, Ghent, 1432. Figure 1.3b Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, The Just Judges, lower panel of Ghent Altarpiece, St. Bavo’s, Ghent, 1432 Figure 1.2 John Palaeologus VIII, Byzantine Emperor, medal by Pisanello Figure 1.3 Hereford Mappa Mundi, Hereford Figure 1.4 Jan Van Eyck, Three Marys at the Tomb, ca. 1426, Museum Van Boijmans Beuningen. Figure 1.5 Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Figure 1.6. Flag of Constantinople, ca. 1426. Figure 1.7. Dove-shaped Eucharistic Vessel, Figure 1.8 Dove-shaped Eucharistic Vessel Laguenne; Reconstruction Drawing (E Rupin ).of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Figure 1.9 Exterior of the Ghent Altarpiece. Figure 1.10 Petrus Christus (copy), Fountain of Life, Prado, Madrid. Figure 1.11 Isabelle of Portugal, unknown location. Figure 1.12 Double Portrait of Philip the Good and Isabelle of Isabelle of Portugal, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent. Figure 14.1 Portrait of a Young Man (Tymotheos), 1432, Oil on wood, 34, 5 x 19 cm National Gallery, London Figure 1.15, Jan Van Eyck, detail Ghent Altarpiece, 1432, St. Bavo’s, Ghent, Cumaean Sybil Figure 1.16 Jan Van Eyck, detail Ghent Altarpiece, 1432, St. Bavo’s Ghent Erythraean Sybil Figure 1.17 The Annunciation, Jan van Eyck, c 1434. Oil on panel, 91 x 40 cm vi National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Fig 1.18 Bladelin Triptych (left wing) , 1445-50, Oil on oak, Staatliche Museum, Berlin Figure 1.19 Habsbourg Master, Fragment of an Altarpiece showing Frederick II as a Magus. Vienna, Oesterreichishe Galerie Figure 1.20 Isabelle of Portugal, Follower of Rogier Van Der Weyden, J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu. Figure 1.21, Bladelin Triptych (central panel), 1445-50, Oil on oak panel, 91 x 89 cm Staatliche Museum, Berlin Chapter Two Figure 2.1 Vial of the Holy Blood, ca. 1200, Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges. Figure 2.2a Philip the Good Watches the Baptism of Clovis, Figure 2.2b Juana of Castile in the Guise of Esther from Les Grandes Chroniques de France, Fifteenth century. Bibliotheque National, Paris. Figure 2.3 Anonymous master. Charles the Bold as Vicar of Christ, in Ordinance Book of Charles the Bold, Montpellier, Biblioteche Municipale. Figure 2.4 Reliquary of Charles the Bold, Gerard Loyet, 1467 Gold and enamel, 53 x 17.5 x 34 cm; Liege, Treasury of St Paul’s cathedral (?)/Saint Lambert et Notre Dame (?) Figure 2.5 Master of Girart de Roussìlon, Margaret of York Performing the Seven Acts of Mercy, in Nicolas Finet, Benoit Seront les Misericordieux, Brussels, Biblioteque Royal MS. 9296, fol. 1 Figure 2.6 Master of Girart de Roussìlon, Margaret of York Kneeling before the Church of St. Gudule, in Nicolas Finet, Benoit Seront les Miserìcordieux, Brussels, Biblioteque Royal MS. 9296, fol. 17. Figure 2.7 Master of Margaret of York, Margaret of York and Charles the Bold Watch the Vision of St. Colette, in Pierre de Vaux vie de St. Colette , Ghent Convent of the Poor Claires, Ms. 8, fol. 40v vii Figure 2.8 Image of Margaret of York and the risen Christ, Nicolas Finet, Dialogue de la duchesse de Bourgogne à Jésus Christ. Made for Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, Follower of the Girart Master, Brussels, shortly after 1468, 200 x 1 40 mm, Add. MS 7970, ff. 1v-2 Figure 2.9 Follower of Van Der Weyden, Deposition, ca. 1485, Netherlandish, about 1490 Figure 2.10 Baldwin II, Arnulf I, Baldwin III and Arnulf II, Counts of Flanders, with their Wives, Flemish, 1480, Groot Seminary, Bruges Figure 2.11 Louis de Male’s Funeral Monument at Lille, Engraving in A. L. Millin, Antiquites Nationales, 1797/98. Figure 2.12 Tomb of Philip the Bold, Musee Beaux Arts. Dijon. Figure 2.13 Tomb of Philip de Pot, Paris, Louvre. Figure 2.14 Tomb of Mary of Burgundy, Lineage of Philip of Burgundy Figure 2.15 Israel van Meckenem, engraving of Tree of Jesse Chapter Three Figure 3.1 Portrait of King Richard II, gilt and tempera on wood panel, Westminster Abbey, ca. 1390. Figure 3.2 Otto III from the Gospels of Otto. 997-1000, Vellum, Bayerische 1000, Vellum, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Figure 3.3 Column of Constantine, 330 A.D., in its original form. Istanbul, Turkey. Figure 3.4 Regentsburg, Henry II crowned by Christ, from the Sacramentary of Henry II, from Bamberg, Clm. 4456, folio 11. 1002/14. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Figure 3.5 Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece (1432), central panel God Almighty enthroned, St. Bavon’s Cathedral, Ghent. Figure 3.6 Anthony van Wyngaerde, sketch of Richmond Palace, 1555, viii Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Figure 3.7 Hans Memling. The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine. (Central panel of the St. John Altar). 1474-1479. Oil on wood. Figure 3.8 Hans Burgkmair, woodcut, Cosmic Wheel, Illustration for Weisskunig. Figure 3.9 Unknown artist (possibly Michael Sittow?), King Henry VII National Portrait Gallery, London; oil on panel, arched top, 1505 16 3/4 in. x 12 in. (425 mm x 305 mm) Figure 3.9a detail of Henry VI, by Michel Sittow. Figure 3.10 Michiel. Sittow, Katherine of Aragon, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, ca. 1505. Figure 3.11 Sittow Assumption of the Virgin, Oil on panel, ca. 1505, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Figure 3.12 Michiel Sittow, De Guevara Diptych, oil on panel, left, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; right, National Gallery of Art, Washington, ca. 1515. Figure 3.13 Michiel Sittow, Katherine of Aragon as Mary Magdalen, Detroit Institute of Art, ca.1515. Figure 3.14 Bernard van Orley, Margaret of Austria as Mary Magdalene, oil on panel, Bayer, Staatsgemaldecsammlungen, Munich . Chapter Four Figure 4.1 Joos van Cleve, Maximilian I, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum. Figure 4.2 Workshop of Joos van Cleve, Maximilian I, Brussels Musees des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . Fig 4.3 Statute Book of the Order of the Golden Fleece, ca. 1519, Maximilian I, Vienna, Osterreische Nationalbibliothe ix Figure 4.4 Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Figure 4.5 Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Harvey D. Parker Collection. Figure 4.6 The Great Triumphal Arch of Maximilian I, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (on loan from the Centenary College of Shreveport, Louisiana). Figure 4.7. The betrothal of Maximilian I to Mary of Burgundy, from The Great Triumphal Arch. Figure 4.8. The betrothal of Philip the Fair to Joanna of Castile, from The Great Triumphal Arch.