KERSTIN CARLVANT
SOME MODEST PSALTERS FROM THIRTEENTH-CENTURY FLANDERS (*)
During the second and third quarters of the thirteenth century, Bruges was the fountainhead of Flemish psalter illustration. The finest psalters produced there are costly, elaborate books and are readily recognizable thanks to their consistent familial characteristics (x). As early as about 1250, the Bruges school seems to have spawned a limited production of modestly psalters in the neighboring region.
This note explores one such group of Flemish provincial psalters, namely : (a) Oxford, Library, Rawl. C.940 ; (b) Bruges, Stadsbibliotheek, 335 ; (c) Arras, Bibliothèque 527 and Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale, IV. 1221 ; (d) Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D.4.3. and Laud. Lat. 85. These books, listed here according to the approximate chronological sequence, span the third quarter of the thirteenth century.
Though interrelated in various ways, the six manuscripts form a notably heterogeneous group, and, in this respect, stand in sharp contrast to the streamlined main development in Bruges. The contradictory evidence for localization raises overwhelming doubts as to whether the books could have been produced in one place. Rather, one is inclined to think in terms of artisans of different backgrounds working in separate localities while sharing iconographie and textual models and, to a lesser degree, norms of basic layout and secondary decoration. In all likelihood, the trend of these modest psalters originated in Bruges, or at least had its primary sources there. But the bookmakers and illuminators in question may subsequently have focused their activities in smaller communities of the surrounding region.
a) Oxford, Bodl. Libr. Rawl. C.940
ca. 1245-55
Psalter, with litany (calendar excised).
118 folios (considerable text losses) ; gatherings of 8 folios ; 162 x 115 (100 x 66) mm ; 20 lines of text (written from above the top line of the ruling) ; textura.
Originally, there were 1 full-page (now missing) and 9 (4 now missing) large historiated initials. The initials display effigies of seated apostles with books. Inasmuch as he is specifically identified as Andrew holding his cross, the apostle for Psalm 52 constitutes an exception (PI. 4 a). The excised calendar was probably illuminated with the occupations of the months. As the condition of the surviving figurai illustrations is poor, it is difficult to convey an accurate impression of the style through a single reproduction.
bibliography : O. Pâcht and J. J. G. Alkxander, illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, I, Oxford, 1966, p. 21, no. 283 ; Ghent, Bijlokemuseum, Gent - Duizend jaar kunst en cultuur, exh. cat., II, 1975, p. 343-44, no. 568 (K. Carlvant).
MS. Rawl. C.940 in Oxford probably is the earliest of the psalters and serves as a point of departure in studying the group (PI. 4 a). It dates about 1250 or slightly later. In style and in the apostolic scheme of the historiated initials, Rawl. C.940 bespeaks direct dependence on the Bruges tradition of the 1240's and 50's. The illustrator had perhaps received training, or may
(♦) I am indebted to M. Debae, C. Lemaire, J. Van der Straeten, and M. Wittek for advice and assistance in preparing this article.
(1) A brief outline explaining the position of Bruges within 13th-century Flemish psalter illustration was first presented in an essay in Bruges, Gruuthusemuseum, Vlaamse kunst op perkament, exh. cat., 1981, p. 141-58 (K. Carlvant). The case for Bruges is argued in somewhat greater detail in K. Carlvant, « Trends in Bruges Illumination Until 1260, Apropos a Psalter Connected with Oostkerke », Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique/ Archief-en bibliotheekwezen in Belgi'è, 1985, p. 321-63 (hereafter Trends). These essays draw on, and go beyond, my unpublished dissertation Thirteenth-Century Illumination in Bruges and Ghent, New York, 1978 (hereafter Thesis).
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