A forceful influence: Saint Bridget’s Revelations, the Limbourg brothers and the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
All the papers are published under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/2383Abstract
The Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden were widespread beginning in the first decade that followed the death of Bridget. In those years, the exchanges among Italy, France and Flanders favored the circulation of the writings and models of the first Brigittine iconography. A testimony of this is found in the miniatures with the Nativity, the Coronation of the Virgin and the Fall of the Rebel Angels in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc of Berry. The aim of the article is to prove that the Brigittine literature was well known by the Limbourg brothers but also that of explaining the reasons of this interest. Through the systematic study of the sources and the identification of the context that favored interest in Bridget’s work, the article shows how the Limbourgs understood the potential of this new visionary material and paved the way for other representations by Flemish artists of the first generation inspired by the Revelations like those of Robert Campin.
Le Rivelazioni di Brigida di Svezia furono diffuse a partire dal primo decennio che seguì la morte della santa. In quegli anni, gli scambi tra Italia, Francia e Fiandre favorirono la diffusione degli scritti e dei modelli della prima iconografia brigidina. Testimoniano ciò le miniature con la Natività, l'Incoronazione della Vergine e la Caduta degli angeli ribelli contenute nelle Très Riches Heures del duca di Berry. Lo scopo dell'articolo è quello di dimostrare che la letteratura brigidina era ben nota ai fratelli Limbourg, ma anche quello di spiegare le ragioni del loro interesse. Attraverso lo studio sistematico delle fonti e l'individuazione del contesto che ha favorito l'interesse per l’opera di Brigida, l'articolo mostra come i Limburg abbiano compreso il potenziale di questo nuovo materiale visionario e spianato la strada per altre rappresentazioni di artisti fiamminghi della prima generazione ispirate alle Rivelazioni come quelle di Robert Campin.
References
Riferimenti bibliografici/References
Aili H., Svanberg J. (2003), Imagines Sanctae Birgittae: the earliest illuminated manuscripts and panel paintings related to the revelations of St. Birgitta of Sweden, 2 vol., Stockholm: The Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.
Bartolomei Romagnoli A. (1997), «Fabula picta». Le forme visive del linguaggio mistico, in Santità, culti, agiografia: temi e prospettive, Atti del 1. Convegno di studio dell'Associazio-ne italiana per lo studio della santità, dei culti e dell'agiografia (Roma, 24-26 ottobre 1996), edited by S. Boesch Gajano, Roma: Viella, pp. 165-180.
Bartolomei Romagnoli A. (2010), Agiografia e mistica nel Duecento. Le «Vitae matrum» di Tommaso di Camtimpré, «Hagiographica», 17, pp. 207-252.
Bartolomei Romagnoli A. (2013), Il diavolo nella mistica. Sogni e visioni, in Il diavolo nel Medioevo, Atti del 49. Convegno storico internazionale (Todi, 14˗17 ottobre 2012), Spoleto: Fondazione Cisam, PP. 265-305.
Bartolomei Romagnoli A. (2013), Santità e mistica femminile nel Medioevo, Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’Alto Medioevo, pp. 415-446.
Bartolomei Romagnoli A., Degl'Innocenti A., Santi F., eds. (2015-2018), Scrittrici mistiche europee, 2 voll., Firenze: Edizioni del Galluzzo.
Behling L. (1968), Neue Forschungen zu Grünewalds Stuppacher Madonna, «Pantheon», 26, pp. 11-20.
Børresen K. E. (1993), Le Madri della Chiesa. Il Medioevo, Napoli: M. D’Auria Editore.
Cazelles R., Rathofer J. (1984), Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry, Ms. N 65, Musée Condé, Chantilly, 2 voll., Luzern: Faksimile-Verlag.
Châtelet A. (2000), L’ âge d’or du manuscrit à peintures en France au temps de Charles VI et Les heures du maréchal Boucicaut, Dijon: Institut de France et éditions Faton.
Colledge E. (1956), Epistola solitarii ad reges: Alphonse of Pecha as Organizer of Birgittine and Urbanist Propaganda, «Medieval Studies», 18, pp. 19-49.
Collijn I. (1924-1931), ed., Acta et processus canonizacionis beate Birgitte, Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Cornell H. (1924), The Iconography of the Nativity of Christ, Lundequist: Bokh.
D’Aragona, Pietro (2010), in Enciclopedia Treccani, vol. 7, Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, p. 745.
De Caulibus I. (1997), Meditaciones vitae Christi olim s. Bonauenturo attributae, edited by M. Stallings-Staney, Turnholti: Brepols.
De Floriani A. (2007), Appunti per una storia del collezionismo di manoscritti miniati fran-co-fiamminghi a Genova, in Nord/Sud. Presenze e ricezioni fiamminghe in Liguria, Veneto e Sardegna. Prospettive di studio e indagini tecniche, Atti del Workshop internazionale (Ge-nova, 28-29 ottobre 2005), edited by C. Limentani Virdis, M. Bellavitis, Padova: Il Poligra-fo, pp. 55-60.
De Voragine J. (1998), Legenda Aurea, 2 voll., edited by G. P. Maggioni, Firenze: Edizioni del Galluzzo.
Dinzelbacher P. (1988), Das politische Wirken der Mystikerinnen in Kirche und Staat: Hil-degard, Birgitta, Katharina, in Religiöse Frauenbewegung und mystische Frömmigkeit im Mittelalter, edited by P. Dinzelbacher, D. R. Bauer, Köln: Böhlau, pp. 265-302.
Duffy E. (1992), The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c. 1400-v.1580, New Haven-London: Yale University Press.
Eklund S. (1972), Opera minora. II. Sermo angelicus, Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Eklund S. (1991), Opera minora. III. Quattuor oraciones, Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Frugoni C. (1992), Le mistiche, le visioni e l’iconografia: rapporti e influssi, in Mistiche e devote nell’Italia tardo medievale, edited by D. Bornstein, R. Rusconi, Napoli: Liguori, pp. 127-155.
Gejrot C. (2000), The Fifteen Oes: Latin and Vernacular Versions. With an Edition of the Latin Text, in The Translation of the Works of St. Birgitta of Sweden into the Medieval Eu-ropean Vernaculars. Proceedings of the International Conference of Beverly-Hull (July 1997), edited by B. Morris, V. M. O’Mara, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 213- 238.
Gerson J. (1973), Œuvres complètes, vol. XI, edited by P. Glorieux, Paris: Desclée.
Gross W., Urban W., eds. (1999), Wunderschön prächtige. Die »Stuppacher Madonna« zu Gast im Diözesanmuseum Rottenburg. Ein Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart (19 Februar ˗ 25 April 1999), Ulm: Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft.
Hamburger J. F. (1998), The Visual and the Visionary. Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany, Cambridge: Zone Books.
Husband T. B. (2008), The Art of Illumination. The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry, Catalogue of the exhibition J. Paul Getty Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art (Los Angeles 18/11/2008 – 8/2/2009 and New York 22/9/2009-3/1/2010), New Haven: Yale University Press.
Jönsson A. (1989), Alfonso of Jaén. His Life and Works with Critical editions of the Epistola Solitarii, the Informaciones and the Epistola Servi Christi, Lund: Lund University Press.
Leonardi C. (2011), Agiografie medievali, edited by A. Degl’Innocenti, F. Santi, Firenze: Edizioni del Galluzzo.
Longnon J., Cazelles R. (1969), Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Musée Condé, Chantilly, London: Thames and Hudson.
Manselli R. (1980), Birgitta di Vadstena tra la Svezia e Roma, in Génèse et débuts du Grand Schisme d’Occident. 1362-1394, Colloque international du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, (Avignon, 25-28 septembre 1978), edited by J. Favier, Paris: Éditions du CNRS, pp. 329-335.
McDonald G. (2015), A Further Source for the Ghent Altarpiece? The Revelations of Bridget of Sweden, «Oud Holland», 128.1, pp. 1-16.
McGinn B. (1994), ed., Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics: Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete, New York: Continuum.
Meersseman G. (1948), Les frères précheurs et le mouvement dévot en Flandre au XIIIe S., «Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum», 18, pp. 69-130.
Meiss M. (1945), Light as Form and Symbol in Some Fifteenth-Century Paintings, «The Art Bulletin», 27, pp. 175-181.
Meiss M. (1968), The Boucicaut master. French Painting in the time of Jean de Berry, vol. 2, London: Phaidon.
Meiss M. (1974), The Limbourgs and their contemporaries. French Painting in the time of Jean de Berry, vol. 3.1, London: Phaidon.
Montag U. (1968), Das Werk der heiligen Birgitta von Schweden in oberdeutscher Über-lieferung, Munchen: C. H. Beck.
Montag U. (2000), The Reception of St. Birgitta in Germany, in The Translation of the Works of St. Birgitta of Sweden into the Medieval European Vernaculars. Proceedings of the International Conference of Beverly-Hull (July 1997), edited by B. Morris, V. M. O’Mara, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 106-116.
Montag U. (2005), The translation of St. Birgitta’s Revelations into German, «Birgittiana», 20, pp. 241-247.
Morris Westcott C. (1992), Birgittine devotion and the Campinesque Virgin in the Apse, «Athanor», 11, pp. 32-41.
Nordenfalk C. (1961), Saint Bridget of Sweden as represented in illuminated manuscripts, «De Artibus Opuscola XL: Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky», 1, pp. 371-393.
Panofsky E. (1971), Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. 1, New York: Harper & Row.
Puma G. (2012), La Nativité italienne: une histoire d’adoration (1250-1450), Diss., Univer-sité Sorbonne Nouvelle.
Putaturo Murano A. (2009), La bottega del maestro del Liber Celestium Revelationum, in Santa Brigida, Napoli, l’Italia, Atti del convegno di studi italo-svedese (Santa Maria Capua Vetere, 10-11 maggio 2006/University of Stockholm), edited by O. Ferm, A. Perriccioli Saggese, M. Rotili, Napoli: Arte Tipografica Editrice, pp. 209-219.
Réau L. (1955-1957), Iconographie de l’Art Chrétien, 3 voll., Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Reuelationes S. Brigittae, olim à card. Turrecremata recognitæ, nunc à Consaluo Duranto notis illustratae. Locis etiam quam plurimis ex manuscriptis codicibus restitutis, acemenda-tis 1606, Romæ: apud Stephanum Paolinum.
Richterová P. (2009), The Iconography of the Nativity of Christ in Medieval Bohemia and the Visions of Bridget of Sweden, «Annali di Scienze Religiose», 2, pp. 199- 216.
Ritchie J. A. (2000), The Nativity Panel of Isenheim Altarpiece and its relationship to the Sermo Angelicus of St. Birgitta of Sweden, MA thesis, University of North Texas.
Sahlin C. L. (1996), Birgitta of Sweden and the Voice of Prophecy. A Study of Gender and Religious Authority in the Later Middle Ages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scheja G. (1969), Der Isenheimer Altar des Matthias Grünewald, Köln: M. Du Mont Schau-berg.
Schiller G. (1971), Iconography of Christian Art, vol. I, London: Lund Humphries.
Schmidt V. M. (1999), Northern artists and Italian art during the late middle ages. Jean Pucelle and the Limbourg brothers reconsidered, in Italy and the Low Countries artistic re-lations. The Fifteenth Century, Proceedings of the Symposium Held at Museum Catharijne convent (Utrecht, 14 March 1994), edited by M. Schmidt, J. Van der Gert, Firenze: Centro Di, pp. 21-38.
Sensi M. (1993), Alfonso Pecha e l’eremitismo italiano di fine secolo XIV, «Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia», 47, pp. 51-80.
Skaug E. (2001), St Bridget’s vision of the Nativity and Nicolò di Tommaso’s late period, «Arte Cristiana», 89, pp. 195-209.
Skaug E. (2004), Niccolò di Tommaso of Florence, St Bridget of Sweden’s first painter, «Acta ad archaeologiam et historiam pertinentia», 18, pp. 289-321.
Sterling C. (1987), La peinture médiévale à Paris. 1300-1500, vol. 1, Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts.
Stirnemann P. D. (2004), Les Trés Riches Heures du duc de Berry et l’enluminure en France au début du Xve siècle. Exposition au Musée Condé du 31 mars au 2 août 2004, Paris: So-mogy Éditions d‘Art.
Svanberg J. (2009), The oldest images of Birgitta and her Revelations, in Santa Brigida, Napoli, l’Italia, Atti del convegno di studi italo-svedese (Santa Maria Capua Vetere, 10-11 maggio 2006/University of Stockholm), edited by O. Ferm, A. Perriccioli Saggese, M. Ro-tili, Napoli: Arte Tipografica Editrice, pp. 161-169.
Undhagen C. G. (1960), Une source du prologue (Chap. 1) aux Révélations de Sainte Brigit-te par le cardinal Jean de Turrecremata, «Eranos», 58, pp. 214-226.
Wilhelm P. (1970), Geburt Christi, in Lexikon der Christlichen Ikonographie, vol. 2, Frei-burg: Herder.
Vauchez A. (1983), Saint Brigitte de Suède et sainte Catherine de Sienne: la mystique et l’église aux derniers siècles du moyen âge, in Temi e problemi della mistica femminile tre-centesca, Convegno del centro di studi sulla spiritualità medievale (Todi, 14-17 ottobre 1979), edited by O. Capitani, Todi: Accademia Tudertina, pp. 227-248.
Vauchez A. (1999), La diffusion des "Révélations" de sainte Brigitte dans l’espace français à la fin du Moyen âge, in Saints, prophètes et visionnaires: le pouvoir surnaturel au Moyen Âge, edited by A. Vauchez, Paris: Albin Michel, pp. 162-174.
Vavra E. (1985), Bildmotiv und Frauenmystik - Funktion und Rezeption, in Frauenmystik im Mittelalter, Wissenschaftliche Studientagung der Akademie der Diozese Rottenburg-Stuttgart (Weingarten, 22-25 Februar 1984), edited by P. Dinzelbacher, D. Bauer, Ostfildern: Schwabenverlag, pp. 201-230.
