BLThe Bedford Hours MS Additional 18850 f 150v

The Bedford Master was a

manuscript illuminator An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

active in Paris during the fifteenth century. He is named for the work he did on two books illustrated for

John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford KG (20 June 138914 September 1435) was a medieval English prince, general and statesman who commanded England's armies in France during a critical phase of the Hundred Years' War. Bedford was the third son of ...

between 1415 and 1435. One is the

Bedford Hours The Bedford Hours is a French late medieval book of hours. It dates to the early fifteenth century (c. 1410–30); some of its miniatures, including the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, have been attributed to the Bedford Master ...

, a

book of hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...

in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

(Add. MS 18850); the other, the Salisbury Breviary, is in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

(MS lat. 17294). Another manuscript is in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

. The Bedford Master is known to have been the head of a

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

; his chief assistant is known as the

Chief Associate of the Bedford Master The Dunois Master, also called Chief Associate of the Bedford Master was a French illuminated manuscript, manuscript illuminator believed to have been active between about 1430 and about 1465. His name comes from a book of hours made for Jean d ...

. Recent scholarship has tended to move from talking about the "Bedford Master" to the "Bedford Workshop" and even the Bedford Trend, a term introduced by

Millard Meiss Millard Lazare Meiss (March 25, 1904 - June 12, 1975) was an American art historian, one of whose specialties was Gothic architecture. Meiss worked as an art history professor at Columbia University from 1934 to 1953."Meiss, Millard." ''The Columb ...

in 1967, which includes a wider period leading up to the key Bedford works. A "Master of the Bedford Trend" has also been attributed with some works. One possible candidate for the identity of the Bedford Master is "Haincelin of

Hagenau Haguenau (; Alsatian: or ; and historically in English: ''Hagenaw'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, some to the south. To the n ...

" in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, who was recorded in Paris between 1403 and 1424, and was perhaps the father of "Jean Haincelin", active between at least 1438 and 1449, and was perhaps the "Dunois Master" who has been given a group of late Bedford-style manuscripts.

Manuscripts

For John, Duke of Bedford:Royal, 52–53 *

, British Library, Add. MS 18850 *Salisbury Breviary, BnF, MS Lat. 17294 *Hours of

John Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobi ...

(named after its owner in the 17th century), Royal Collection, in part *Pontifical of Poitiers, now lost *Hours and Psalter, British Library, Add. MS 74754 *Hours,

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vi ...

, Cod. 1855 (Source: Björn R. Tammen, "Prayers and beyond" in "Prospettive di iconografia musicale" (2007)

Notes

References

*"Royal": McKendrick, Scot, Lowden, John and Doyle, Kathleen, (eds), ''Royal Manuscripts, The Genius of Illumination'', 2011, British Library, 9780712358156 {{Authority control (arts) 15th-century French painters Manuscript illuminators Anonymous artists