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The Hastings Hours and the Master of 1499

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The Hastings Hours and the Master of 1499 THE HASTINGS HOURS AND THE MASTER OF 1499 BODO BRINKMANN THE book of hours once belonging to William, Lord Hastings (now BL, Additional MS. 54782) is both a fascinating historical document and a work of art of the highest quality. It is of interest to the student of English history because of the important role Hastings played at the court of Edward IV. More specifically, having been produced and illuminated in Flanders, the manuscript appears to be an appropriate testimony to the connections between England and Burgundy which Hastings's diplomacy helped to establish.' To the student of Flemish art it is important as one of the early masterpieces of a group of illuminators of the so-called *Ghent Bruges School', who achieved a remarkable standard of technical skill and realistic representation. The exact place of the Hastings Hours in the history of the Ghent-Bruges School has, however, not yet been determined and, as we shall see, the attribution of this manuscript is far from clear. This is at least partially due to the fact that the Hastings Hours was in private hands until 1968 and therefore comparatively little studied.^ Thus the late D. H. Turner, in his brilliant introduction to the facsimile edition, drew largely upon the broad range of valuable information on the owner himself and gave only a brief and sensible summary of art historical opinion on the manuscript.^ As a matter of course art historical consideration has to take the historical evidence as a ' starting point. The very fact that William, Lord Hastings was beheaded on 13 June 1483 provides a terminus ante quem for two books of hours bearing his coat of arms: the book of hours in the British Library and that in the Museo Lazaro-Galdiano in Madrid (Inv. No. 15503).'* This is only true, however, if in both cases the arms can be regarded as authentic. In both hours the Hastings shield is surrounded by the garter. William was the first member of his family to receive this honour, being followed by Sir Edward Hastings in 1555. ^The coats of arms could refer to either of them. But neither in the Madrid nor in the London manuscript do they have the appearance of mid sixteenth-century additions. In both the drawing of the crest resembles that in the acanthus borders, and the pigments are much the same. It may therefore be concluded that both hours were made for William, Lord Hastings prior to 1483. Yet there is a problem with the arms in the London Hastings Hours: although they occur in appropriate places, at the beginnings of all important text sections, they have been added to the otherwise completed borders.^ In fact they have been painted over go underlying acanthus scrolls or blossoms. In addition, the Hastings arms on the banner in the miniature of the Mass of the Dead (fol. 184^') are painted over the royal arms of England and there isa historiated border at None (fol. 126'') showing a barge with banners of the royal arms and the motto of the Order of the Garter."' It may be concluded that the Hastings Hours was at first destined for a member of the royal family. This could have been Edward V, then Prince of Wales, because the hours contains suffrages to St David of Wales accompanied by a highly unusual representation of the saint as a prince (fol. 40"^).^ Apparently the commission changed and the Hastings arms were added. As this seems to have been done by the same workshop that decorated the rest of the book, it is likely that the change took place while the manuscript was still in the process of completion. It is not even necessary to assume a change in patronage. The same person may have commissioned the hours that he or she first intended to give to Edward V, but subsequently decided to present it to Hastings. Turner has drawn attention to a passage in Lady Hastings's will which matches the situation intriguingly well, where she mentions 'a fair primer which I had by the gesture of Queen Elizabeth'.^ While it necessarily remains an open question whether this 'primer' may be identified as the Hastings Hours in the British Library, it should be born in mind that there is no evidence that the arms refer to Edward rather than William, Lord Hastings and that therefore the Hastings Hours may be dated before 1483. The illumination of the Hastings Hours is now generally attributed to the so-called 'Master of the Older Prayerbook of Emperor Maximilian'. He is named after Vienna, ONB, Cod. 1907 and in a recent article by Patrick De Winter has been credited with a vast oeuvre.^^ In my opinion, however, the group of manuscripts bearing this label seems to be quite heterogeneous and the attributions urgently in need of revision. The following remarks seek to demonstrate this and to provide a starting point for such a revision. The first difficulty lies within the manuscript from which the artist has been named. For heraldic reasons the Older Prayerbook cannot be dated before Maximilian's coronation in 1486/^ yet border style in the Hastings Hours seems more advanced than that in the Vienna hours: most of the borders in the Hastings Hours are accompanied by rectangular frames of an illusionistic, metal-like quality, reminiscent of picture frames. While this device is common in manuscripts dating from about 1500, it is still completely absent from the Vienna hours. If both manuscripts were decorated by the same artist, or at least in the same workshop, the development of border style within this workshop would seem rather obscure. De Winter has clearly seen this problem and consequently reiterates old doubts as to whether the Hastings arms in the London hours might be later additions and that the manuscript might therefore be dated later than 1486.'-^ But we have seen that this is a rather weak argument. If the Hastings Hours came from a different workshop, the problem would be resolved, for one workshop could easily have attained a more modern border style slightly earlier than another. Stylistic comparison substantiates this doubt. For instance, one can compare the four representations of the Virgin from the Hastings Hours (fig. i), the Older Prayerbook, the Hours of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy in Berlin (fig. 2), and the Hours of Queen g. I. BL, Add. MS. 54782, fol. 59^': Madonna Isabel la Catolica in Cleveland (fig. 3), all of which are now attributed to the Master of the Older Prayerbook of Maximilian. '^ The comparison gives an insight into the variety of feminine appearance: the type and outline of the face change as well as the treatment of certain details such as eyes, eyelids, nose, mouth, and chin; modelling and colouring ol flesh, hair, and draperies differ as well as the depiction of textile values. This is true even of the miniatures in London and Cleveland, which are drawn after the same pattern. The head of the London Virgin is very rounded and bulbous, while the Cleveland Madonna has a more plain and lengthy head and her hair is much fuller. The eyes of the London Virgin are markedly round, and the upper eyelids nearly cover them. In Cleveland the eyes are clearly open and have a different shape. Folds bend very sharply in London, softly and in a much more modelled fashion in Cleveland, where hands and fingers are also thicker and more fleshy. The whole treatment may be described as rather draftsmanlike in London, while it is more painterly in Cleveland. Consequently, the sentiment of the representations is completely different. From this comparison it may be concluded that a thorough distinction is to be made between underlying pattern and individual style in Ghent-Bruges miniatures. Never- theless, at the present state of research, the repetition of patterns continues to be a 92 Ftg. 2. Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Printroom, MS. 78Bt2, fol. 284^ Madonna principal argument in making attributions. The vast oeuvre of the Master of the Older Prayerbook has, on the whole, been established in precisely this way.*'^ Yet repetition of patterns is a very common phenomenon within the Ghent Bruges School. To illustrate this I have compiled the following list of repetitions of compositions from the Hastings Hours. It is based on the articles by De Winter and Alfons W. Biermann and extended by my own additions, but is probably still far from complete.'^ fol. Mass of St Gregory: Vienna 1907, S.n.2844; Cleveland; Add. 35313; MMW 10E3; Beels-Coll.; Astor (figure of pope only). fol. 20^' Trinity: Cleveland; Mayer van den Bergh; Grimani; Namur Breviary. fol. 38^ St Paul: Astor (close-up as Bartholomew). fol. 39^ St Leonard: Add. 35313 (closc-up as Lawrence); Astor (close-up as Vincent); Brussels IV, 40 (close-up as Lawrence). fol. 42V Magi: Ludwig IX, 19; Vatican, Vat.lat.3770. fol. 48V St Christopher: Vienna 1907. 93 Fig. 3. Cleveland, Museum of Art, Purchase, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Bequest, CMA 63.256, fol. 159^: Madonna fol. St Anthony: Namur Breviary (as Barnabas); Madrid Vit. 25-5 (historiated border). fol. St Erasmus: Astor; Vienna 2706; Pommersfelden. fol. St Nicholas: Astor (twice: as Gregory holding a book and close-up as Blaise). fol. Madonna: Vienna S.n.2844; Cleveland; Ludwig IX, 18. fol. St Margaret: Madrid, Lazaro Galdiano (figure only). fol. St Elizabeth: Add. 35313 (close-up); Grimani; Ludwig IX, 18. fol. St Catherine: Add. 35313 (close-up); Naples. fol. St Barbara: Brussels IV, 40 (palm and book exchanged). fol. 73^ Annunciation: Vienna 1858, 2706; Stonyhurst; Munich 28346; MMW 10E3; Add.
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