Simon Bening (c. 1483 – 1561) was a Flemish

miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

, generally regarded as the last major artist of the

Netherlandish The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Both Belgium and the Netherlands derived their ...

tradition. Bening, born either in Ghent or

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, was probably trained by his father, illuminator

Alexander Bening Alexander Bening (died 1519), also Sanders Bening, was an early 16th-century Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature painter of the Ghent-Bruges school and Netherlandish#Netherlandish, Netherlandish tradition. His date of birth is unknown. ...

, in the family workshop in Ghent. He travelled between Ghent and

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

and became a member of the

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

of San John and Saint Luke in Bruges as an illuminator in 1508. He made his own name after moving to Bruges in about 1510, where he had lived since. From 1517 to 1555 he is listed regularly in the guild's annual accounts. Bening served as a dean of the calligraphers, booksellers, illuminators and bookbinders in the Guild of Saint John and Saint Luke three separate times (1524, 1536, 1546). He was married twice and had six daughters. Two of them continued the family artistic tradition:

Levina Teerlinc Levina Teerlinc (1510s – 23 June 1576) was a Flemish Renaissance miniaturist who served as a painter to the English court of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. She was the most important miniaturist at the English court between ...

became a miniature painter, mostly of

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

s, and emigrated to England, and Alexandrine Claeiszuene became a successful art dealer.

Works

Bening specialised in

Books 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 manuscript ...

, but by his time these were produced only for royal or very rich patrons. He also created genealogical tables and portable altarpieces on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

as well as oil paintings on wooden panels. He was known to extend miniature painting into the borders. His usage of illusionistic picture frames serve to function as small devotional panels. Many of his finest works are Labours of the Months for Books of Hours which are largely small-scale

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

s, at that time a nascent genre of painting. In other respects his style is relatively little developed beyond that of the years before his birth, but his landscapes serve as a link between the 15th-century illuminators and

Pieter Brueghel the Elder Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genre ...

. His

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

and other portraits equally are early examples of the

. He produced books for German rulers, like Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, and royalty like

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fro ...

and Don Fernando, the

Infante of Portugal Infante of Portugal ( Portuguese: ''Infante de Portugal''; f. Infanta), is the royal title of the Kingdom of Portugal, granted to the sons or daughters of the King and Princes of Portugal who were not the heir to the throne. It is also used to den ...

. Robert de Clercq, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Ter Duinen ("Les Dunes") at

Koksijde Koksijde (; french: Coxyde ; vls, Koksyde) is a town and a municipality in Belgium. It is located on the North Sea coast in the southwest of the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises apart from Koksijde, the villages of O ...

, near Bruges, commissioned a Benedictional from him sometime between 1519 and 1529. Bening portrayed the abbot in a colourful

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

scene. Bening’s usage of illusionism, pictorial narrative and creative adaptation demonstrates his influence from the leading illuminators, printmakers and painters of his near contemporaries such as

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...

Mary of Burgundy Mary (french: Marie; nl, Maria; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled a collection of states that included the duchies of Limburg, Brabant, Luxembourg, the counties of ...

Martin Schongauer Martin Schongauer (c. 1450–53, Colmar – 2 February 1491, Breisach), also known as Martin Schön ("Martin beautiful") or Hübsch Martin ("pretty Martin") by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter. He was the most important ...

Gerard David Gerard David (c. 1460 – 13 August 1523) was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color. Only a bare outline of his life survives, although some facts are known. He may have been the Meeste ...

, and

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

Selected works

* Labours of the Months * Munich-Montserrat Book of Hours *Codex of the Order of the Golden Fleece, Patrimonio Nacional, Spain.

Gallery

File:Benedictional of Robert de Clercq.jpg, Benedictional of Robert de Clercq:

, f. 4v,

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

, Cambridge File:Simon Bening Decorated text Page.jpg, Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg: text page with decorated borders, f 124,

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

, Los Angeles File:Simon Bening (Flemish - The Arrest of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg, Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg: The Arrest of Christ, f 107v,

, Los Angeles File:September- Four men playing a game that resembles golf - The Golf Book (1520-1530), f.27r - BL Add MS 24098.jpg, Four men playing a game that resembles golf. The Golf book, British Library File:Breviarium Grimani - February.jpg, February, Breviarium Grimaldi (1515–1520), Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice (Italy) File:Simon Bening - April.jpg, Labors of the Months: April, from 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 manuscript ...

File:Simon Bening - Mai.jpg, Labors of the Months: May File:Simon Bening - Juni.jpg, Labors of the Months: June File:Simon Bening (Flemish - Christ before Caiaphas - Google Art Project.jpg, Christ before

Caiaphas Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famously pr ...

File:Simon Bening Virgin and Child.jpg, Virgin and Child File:Felipe II con el manto de la Orden del Toisón de Oro (Libro del Toisón de Oro).jpg, Phillip II as The grand master of the order. Codex of the Golden Fleece Order 1536. Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. File:Tríptico de san Jerónimo Simon Bening.jpg, ''Tripthyc of St. Jerome'', tempera on parchment adhered to panel. Monastery of El Escorial,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. File:Simon Bening The Annunciation to the Shepherds.jpg, The Annunciation to the Shepherds

References

Sources

*Hindman, Sandra et al. ''Illuminations in the Robert Lehman Collection''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. *Morrison, Elizabeth and Kren, Thomas (eds). ''Flemish Manuscript Painting in Context''. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2006.

External links

*
''Gerard David: Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF)
The Hennessy Book of Hours
c. 1530–1540
The Golf Book
c. 1540
Book of Hours
c. 1525, from the collection at Waddesdon Manor
Grimani Breviary: a Remarkable Artistic Collaboration between Simon Bening and Other Artists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bening, Simon 1483 births 1561 deaths Flemish Renaissance painters Manuscript illuminators Painters by city