ST JAMES THE PILGRIM, a leaf from a Book of Hours illuminated by the Master of Jacques de Luxembourg [Eastern France or Paris, c.1465]

A vibrant and lively example of the work of the Master of Jacques de Luxembourg, active in Paris in the 1460s and 70s. He is named after the patron for whom he illuminated a Book of Hours now at the Getty (Ludwig MS. IX. II), Jacques de Luxembourg, Seigneur de Richebourg, Chambellan du Roi under Louis XI and lieutenant general of the French army. Though known to have worked in Paris, his narrative style and earthy sense of visual detail (particularly his landscapes and architectural settings) reveal a debt to Flemish art.

The miniature is from the Suffrages (short prayers or memorials to particular saints) of a Book of Hours and depicts St James, son of Zebedee, patron saint of Spain. He is depicted as a pilgrim, with his broad hat, pilgrim’s staff and satchel with the characteristic scallop shell so popular with pilgrims on the way to the apostle's shrine at Santiago de Compostela.

Provenance:
From the same parent manuscript as two other leaves now at the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection, 2011.63.

Measurements:
239 x 184mm.

Bibliography:
- S.N. Fliegel, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, Cleveland, 1999, no 49.
- R. Wieck, Painted Prayers, 1997, p.48.
- J. Plummer, The Last Flowering, 1982, p.60.

-