The Rohan Master
Artists
The Rohan Master, who was probably trained by the Giac Master, may have worked as both a panel painter and an illuminator.
He is named after a Book of Hours that belonged to the Rohan family of Brittany (Paris, BnF, MS lat. 9471). Active c. 1420-1440, he was one of the last and most individualistic proponents of the International Gothic style in 15th-century France. He contributed six large miniatures to the Hours of Isabella Stuart. They show his tall, sinuous figures with expressive faces and elongated limbs. They also reveal his idiosyncratic drawing style, with strings of loops indicating drapery folds.
Last Judgement (Seven Requests to our Lord)
This miniature displays the salient features of the Rohan Master’s style: the juxtaposition of super-large and extra-small, Christ’s facial type (hotspot 1) and skeletal frame, and the background angels highlighted in gold ink. The idiosyncratic underdrawing is visible to the naked eye through the thin pink washes on Christ’s drapery. Infrared imaging clearly reveals the festoons of loops cascading down or congregating into pools of drapery folds (see Infrared Layer). On the surface, the folds and shadows are defined by thin parallel strokes of dark green and pink over the lighter green and white base layers (hotspots 2 and 3).