ART IN MIDDLE AGES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 194, 14 May 1936, Page 2

ART IN MIDDLE AGES

Lecture For W.E.A. Continuing his course of lectures on “The AVork of the Artist in Books —Old and New,” for the AVorkers’ Educational Association, Air. E. C. Simpson, 8.A., gave a« interesting address at the Trades Hall on 'The Artistic Legacy of the Middle Ages,” and Showed a number of fine lantern elides and prints, mainly of the work of Fromont, Pol de Limbourg and Fouquet. Air. Simpson said that the beginning of the Court School of Gothic artists emanated from craftsmen in the monasteries, and illumination had reached its last great height by the fifteenth century in the French Books of Hours. The art had sunk very low in England, and when the English noblemen and patrons of art wanted illuminating work done they went to the French artists. Their workmanship was of rare beauty, and the great Netherlandic school of painting was. then at its prime. Air. Simpson pointed out the changes that were made in the art of book'illustration owing to the coming, of lay miniaturists, who were poor tradesmen with a family to keep. The illumin'ator in the cloister could follow old formulas in his work, but the lay miniaturist bad to be sure of regular employment and must of necessity follow the fashion, “In the second half of the Fourteenth Century,” continued Air. Simpson, “a new. element appeared, for to the host "of stationary illuminators came other wandering artists. They were found in most diverse localities, being , able to move about very easily, and this brought them many orders from kings and princes, who sent for them to decorate their palaces. Guilds of painters flourished in the north during this period, and the number of decorators in Flanders from the beginning of the Fourteenth Century was so considerable that they could not find work in their own country. So they travelled Europe, hiring themselves to whoever wanted them. This meant rivalry, aud so more rapid improvement. Some passed the Alps and became acquainted with the early Italian masters, though they were not pupils of the Italian illuminators. Italy did not know the true miniature until later, but when the French had become masters of illumination, the Italians —Giotto and Cimabine—had produced frescoes. This inverse development, from small to large in France, and from large to small in Italy, was important. The Flemish artists, in the face of the Italian fresco painting, felt higher aspirations awaken and their eyes were opened to a new ideal.” Air. Simpson referred to the Due de Berri’s passion for beautiful books in the first years of the Fifteenth Century, and the wonderful collection which be acquired from all sources. He was apparently quite indifferent to the tragic happenings of his time, and gave himself up entirely to the collecting of luxurious and expensive books. As a patron of the fine arts he did a great deal to encourage and assist the illuminators of this period, who faithfully portrayed their own epoch but ignored the customs and things of the past. When Charles the Seventh came to the •throne amid peace after 100 years of war, the centre of artistic activity had mov'd to Loire, and Jean Feuquet. who was born at Tours in 1415. was the dominating artist of this epoch. The lecturer showed how artistic workmanship gradually developed a wider outlook and the pictures of divine and sacred figures became more human, while their surroundings were less austere. The method of working in colours altered, and great patience was needed before the final results were achieved. Mr. Simpson explained in detail the various processes that were used and concluded a most informative lecture by tracing the dcvel opment of landscape painting and showing a number of fine examples of the work of Fronient, Pol de Limbourg and Fouquet. Ip his next lecture Mr. Simpson will speak of “The Change to Printed Illustration.”