''The Moulins Triptych'', c. 1498, oil on panel, Moulins Cathedral

Jean Hey (or Jean Hay) (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

c. 1475 – c. 1505),Brigstocke 2001, p. 338 now generally identified with the artist formerly known as the Master of Moulins, was an

Early Netherlandish painter Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian Netherlands, Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as the Flemish Primitives. It flour ...

working in France and the

Duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; ; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering th ...

, and associated with the court of the

Dukes of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon () is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont, and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. In 1416, wit ...

Life and works

Little is known about Hey, whose style has led to speculation that he may have studied under

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes ( – 1482) was a Flemish painter who was one of the most significant and original Early Netherlandish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduced i ...

. It is possible that he spent his last years in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Hey's most well-known work, the

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

Moulins Cathedral Moulins Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Moulins, Allier, France. It is also known as Notre-Dame de Moulins. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Moulins. It is a national monument. The cathedral contains two ...

, dates from the end of 15th century. The central panel shows the

Madonna and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

adored by angels, and is flanked by portraits of the duke Pierre II and the duchess Anne de Beaujeu with their daughter Suzanne. The triptych's state of preservation is generally excellent, although at some time before the 1830s the top and bottom of the wings were trimmed (the left wing more at the bottom and the right wing more at the top).

Identifying the Master of Moulins

Until the 1902 '' Exposition des primitifs flamands à Bruges'', the name of the painter of the Moulins Triptych was unknown, although art historians identified a number of other works that were evidently by the same hand. Georges Hulin de Loo first made the connection between this artist and a ''Jehan Pérreal de Paris'' when he compared the drapery and sleeves of the Mary Magdalene lent from the Léon de Somzee collection, to the Moulins triptych. File:Meister von Moulins 002.jpg, ''Mary Magdalene'' from the Somzee collection in the 1902 exhibition File:Hay7.JPG, ''Portrait of Francis de Chateaubriand'', also on loan from Glasgow to the 1902 exhibition File:Georges Hulin de Loo - Titlepage Maitres Anonymes 1902.jpg, Extract of Hulin de Loo's critical catalog with his anonymous master identifications The first monograph on the Master of Moulins, written in 1961 by Madeleine Huillet d'Istria, argued that this artist did not actually exist, and that more than 12 different artists were responsible for the corpus of works traditionally ascribed to him.Châtelet, p. 517 The Master's identity was established after an inscription was found on the reverse of a damaged painting, ''Christ with Crown of Thorns'' (1494) in the

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (, ; , ) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They are part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and consist of six museums: the Oldmasters Museum, the ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, identifying the artist as Jean Hey, ''teutonicus'' and ''pictor egregius'' ("the famous painter"), and identifying the patron as Jean Cueillette, who was secretary to the King and an associate of the Bourbon family.Reynolds 1996, p. 733 Stylistic similarities link this painting to the works attributed to the Master of Moulins. The Master of Moulins appears to have been the court painter for the Bourbons,Reynolds 1996, p. 734 and from a surviving account for 1502–03, it is clear that the court painter's name was Jean; other candidates once considered plausible, such as

Jean Perréal Jean Perréal (-), sometimes called Peréal, Johannes Parisienus or Jean De Paris, was a successful portraitist for French Royalty in the first half of the 16th century, as well as an architect, sculptor and limner of illuminated manuscripts. He ...

and Jean Prévost (an artist from

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

who worked in stained glass), have proven untenable in the light of subsequent research. The term "Teutonicus", or "German" included

Flemings Flemish people or Flemings ( ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Flanders, Belgium, who speak Flemish Dutch. Flemish people make up the majority of Belgians, at about 60%. ''Flemish'' was historically a geographical term, as all inhabita ...

at this date. File:The Annunciation, 1490-1495, by Jean Hey (Master of Moulins) - Art Institute of Chicago - DSC09637.JPG, ''The Annunciation'', 1490–1495,

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

File:Meister von Moulins 004.jpg, Portrait of Charles II of Bourbon File:Master of Moulins - The Dauphin Charles-Orlant - WGA14467.jpg, ''Le dauphin Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France'', 1494 File:Meister von Moulins 003.jpg, ''The Virgin and the Child'' File:Master of Moulins - Pierre II, Duc de Bourbon, Presented by St Peter - WGA14464.jpg, Pierre II, Duc de Bourbon, Presented by St Peter File:Hey Anne of France presented by Saint John the Evangelist.jpg, Anne of France presented by Saint John the Evangelist File:Jean hey, ecce homo, 1494.JPG, Christ with Crown of Thorns (Ecce Homo), 1494

Notes

References

*Brigstocke, H. (2001). ''The Oxford companion to Western art''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Châtelet, Albert (1962). "A Plea for the Master of Moulins". ''The Burlington Magazine'' 104 (717): 517–524. *Gowing, Lawrence (1987). ''Paintings in the Louvre''. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. *Reynolds, Catherine (1996). "Master of Moulins", ''The Dictionary of Art'' xx. 731–734. *Zerner, Henri (2003). ''Renaissance Art in France: the invention of classicism''. Paris: Flammarion.

External links

Jean Hey at ArtcyclopediaFifteenth- to eighteenth-century European paintings: France, Central Europe, the Netherlands, Spain, and Great Britain
a collection catalog fully available online as a PDF, which contains material on Jean Hey (no. 3) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hey, Jean Early Netherlandish painters Moulins, Allier