New Perspectives on Flemish Illumination

In 1959 Léon Delaissé organized an exhibition entitled La miniature flamande. Le mécénat de Philippe le Bon (The Flemish Miniature. The Patronage of Philip the Good). Seen in Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris, it was a ground-breaking initiative. Now, more than fifty years later, our knowledge of the illuminated manuscript in the Southern Netherlands during the Burgundian period has vastly increased, in large part thanks to new research techniques and topics. Traditional approaches such as connoisseurship and codicology have refined our understanding of the chronology and geographic distribution of manuscript production.
In recent decades, moreover, considerable attention has been directed towards historical contextualization – guild organization, actual working practices in the shop, and the complex relationship between word and image. The part played by the commissioner in the production, use and spread of illuminated books is hugely important. Attitudes to and the handling of the medieval parchment heritage in later centuries is also currently explored.

The Flemish Miniatures exhibition (Brussels-Paris, 2011-2012) provides the occasion for this colloquium. Its aim is to establish the current position vis-à-vis recent research results and the new perspectives they offer. Connections between illumination and panel painting, sculpture, engraving, woodcuts, stained glass and tapestry will be discussed. The intention is to achieve a fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue.

Registration: http://www.illuminare.be/registrationcolloquiumkbr.htm

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2011

5 – 8 pm: Registration

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2011

9 am: Registration and coffee
MORNING SESSION, CHAIR: Prof. Dr. Jan Van der Stock, Illuminare (K.U.Leuven)
9.45 am: Introduction by Prof. Dr. Patrick Lefèvre, Director of the Royal Library of Belgium
10 am: Manuscript research, codicology and conservation. Flemish manuscripts revealing new challenges, Dr. Lieve Watteeuw, Illuminare (K.U.Leuven)
10.30 am: Imaging history – imagining history: the concept of the past in miniatures for the Burgundian court and its pictorial traditions, Till-Holger Borchert, Groeningemuseum Brugge
11 am: Questions
11.15 am: Coffee
11.45 am: A Mass of St. Gregory by the Master of the Houghton Miniatures: Tradition, Innovation and Artistic Self-Consciousness in Fifteenth-Century Flemish Manuscript Illumination, Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Hamburger, Harvard University
12.15 noon: Stories without words: the vocabulary of Loyset Liedet, Dr. Catherine Reynolds, London
12.45 noon: Questions
13.00 noon: Lunch (Naster Room)
AFTERNOON, CHAIR: Dr. Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, KIK-IRPA
2.15 pm: Alexander, Arthur and Charlemagne: tradition and innovation in Flanders in the Late Middle Ages, Prof. Dr. Alison Stones, University of Pittsburgh
2.45 pm: The Illuminating Contents of Bodley 264: About a New Alexander and the English Court in the Low Countries, Dr. Janet van der Meulen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
3.15 pm: Questions
3.30 pm: Coffee
4 pm: Mise-en-page in manuscripts containing polyphonic music: The Choirbook for Philip the Fair and Juana of Castile of 1504/06 (KBR, MS 9126), Dr. Mara Hofmann, University of London
4.30 pm: Re-Thinking Margins and Miniatures: Collaborative Practices in Flemish Manuscript Painting around 1500, Dr. Anne Margreet As-Vijvers, Universiteit van Amsterdam
5 pm: The Flemish Miniatures exhibition, an introduction, Sara Lammens, Royal Library of Belgium
5.15 pm: Questions
5.30 – 7 pm: Visit to the exhibition Flemish Miniatures
7 – 10 pm: Walking dinner

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2011

9 am: Registration and Coffee
MORNING SESSION, CHAIR: Dr. Thierry Delcourt, Bibliothèque nationale de France
9.30 am: The Books of Hours of the Wauquelin's Alexander Master, Prof. Dr. Gregory Clark, University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
10 am: Le Maître de l'Évangéliaire de Tournai et ses collaborateurs, Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Legaré, Université Lille 3
10.30 am: Jean Le Tavernier: une réévaluation de sa biographie et de son œuvre à la lumière d’un livre d’heures inédit, Dr. Dominique Vanwijnsberghe - Dr. Erik Verroken, KIK-IRPA
11 am: Questions
11.15 am: Coffee
11.45 am: “Benois seront les misericordieux”, the illumination of KBR ms. 9296 compared to panel paintings by the Master of the View of Saint Gudule and the Master of the Legend of Saint Barbara, Dr. Griet Steyaert, Royal Museums for Fine Art of Belgium
12.15 noon: Dissolving Boundaries: The Thresholds of Netherlandish Triptychs and Flemish Manuscript Illuminations, Prof. Dr. Lynn F. Jacobs, University of Arkansas
12.45 noon: Questions
13.00 noon: Lunch
AFTERNOON, CHAIR: Prof. Dr. Barbara Baert, K.U.Leuven
2 pm: Painting techniques in the grisailles. From Jean le Tavernier to Willem Vrelant, Prof. Dr. Anne Dubois, UCL – Dr. Marina Van Bos, KIK-IRPA – Dr. Lieve Watteeuw, Illuminare (K.U.Leuven)
2.30 pm: Of 'Flesh color well made': techniques for painting flesh tones in fifteenth-century Flemish manuscript illuminations, Nancy Turner, J. Paul Getty Museum
3 pm: Codicological Puzzles and Artistic Interchange in Flanders, Dr. Elizabeth
Morrison, J. Paul Getty Museum
3.30 pm: Questions
3.45 pm: Concluding Remarks by Dr. Bernard Bousmanne, Royal Library of Belgium
4.15 pm: End

Supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) & the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS)

Location:
Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België – Bibliothèque royale de Belgique
Keizerslaan 4 – Boulevard de l’Empereur 4
1000 Brussels