Associates of the Painter of Additional 15677
Artists
The Painter of Additional 15677 collaborated with several associates. Two of them painted an historiated initial each. They also provided the landscape or architectural borders around some of the main artist’s miniatures and historiated initials. The more talented associate painted the initial and border on fol. 74r as well as four other landscape borders (fols. 50r, 82r, 85r, 107r). The other associate executed the historiated initial and border on fol. 25r, and further architectural borders. One of them or a third associate painted the border with peacock feathers on fol. 14r. Numerous assistants provided the strewn-flower borders, ornamental initials and line fillers throughout the volume.
Acanthus initial S and border with peacock feathers (prayer Salve sancta facies)
The indulgence prayer promises admission to heaven and it could also reduce one’s ordeal in Purgatory by thousands of years, if recited while looking at the image of Christ on the facing page (fol. 13v). The text is engulfed in peacock feathers, referencing one of Christ’s symbols – the bird of Paradise whose flesh, according to legend, did not putrefy after death.
The peacock’s plumage was favoured by discriminating patrons and Flemish artists rose to the challenge of its naturalistic depiction. On this page, the peacock feathers were rendered with complex mixtures and layers of a number of colourants, including red lead, malachite, lead white, shell gold and earth pigments. The bright blue centres of the feathers were painted with smalt, a relatively uncommon pigment obtained by grinding blue glass. This is the only occurrence of smalt identified so far in this manuscript.