Boucicaut Master.

This manuscript page is from a book that was illustrated by an artist working in the early 1400s in France known today as the Boucicaut (BOO-see-koh) Master. The name Boucicaut derives from the identification of this artist's hand in a manuscript made for a patron named Boucicaut; his real name remains a mystery to us. We know only that this artist was influential in Paris, contributing to the great innovations that were taking place in painting, including the three-dimensional representation of space and the use of expressive gesture to convey human emotion. The art of the Boucicaut Master represents a transition between earlier artistic traditions of the Middle Ages and new ideas about picture making that blossomed during the Renaissance.

The text of the book is a French translation of a work by the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (boh-KAH-chee-oh) (1313-1375). Concerning the Fates of Illustrious Men and Women tells the stories of famous people from biblical times up to Boccaccio's own day and the often cruel destinies they faced following their rise to power.

The Context

Illuminated manuscripts are books written and decorated entirely by hand. Before the invention of the printing press in Europe in 1455, such books were among the most precious objects made. They were often decorated with costly, colorful pigments as well as gold and silver.

Many hands went into the making of a book. First, a craftsman prepared the pages of the book from calf, sheep, or goat skin. Then, a scribe ruled the pages and copied down the words, often from a text written many centuries earlier. An illuminator, like the Boucicaut Master, then created elaborate paintings to accompany the text. Finally, a binder put all the pages together to make a book. It was a time-consuming and expensive process. We don't know who originally owned this book, but you can be sure that the person was proud of it, sharing it with friends as a sign of status and good taste.

The Work

The Boucicaut Master began this book with a colorful and detailed illustration of the story of Adam and Eve. He placed the pivotal moment--when Adam and Eve are tempted to eat fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge--in the center. The events that follow are arranged in clockwise order around the garden enclosure, starting on the left with an angel driving Adam and Eve out of Eden. At the top, Adam toils in the field while Eve spins wool and tends a flock, their punishment for disobeying God's command. An elderly and stooped Adam and Eve at the bottom right approach Boccaccio at his lectern in the lower left corner to relate their story. The elaborate border is filled with leafy, spiraling vines and rich blue columbine and cornflower blossoms. The small miniatures set into the border depict six scenes from the Bible's account of the creation of the world, starting on the upper right and proceeding clockwise. At the top center of the page is a medallion of the Lord blessing the entire scene.

For the Viewer

The Boucicaut Master carefully posed each figure and gave them telling gestures that dramatize the story. For example, compare Adam's proud, upright stance in the central scene with the shame, fear, and longing that his hunched posture, poignant hand gestures, and backward glance convey as he is banished from the garden.

When examining this and other illuminated manuscript pages, it's important to look at the page in its entirety, including the text and borders--try not to focus on just the "picture" part. Viewing the Boucicaut Master's page as a whole reveals how the artist saw the story of Adam and Eve as the culminating scene in the larger story of the creation of the world, which included the creation of Adam and Eve. It also helps you appreciate the careful balancing of border, text, and image; the symmetrical layout; and how the artist used deep blues throughout the page to unify it and splashes of red and deep rose to enliven it.

Questions about Meaning

1) Why might Boccaccio have decided to place the story of Adam and Eve first in a book about great men and women in history? According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were the first people on earth, and he believed that the sin of the "first parents" gave rise to all the calamities that were described in the subsequent chapters of this history book.

2) Why would someone take so much time and trouble to decorate a page with just a couple of paragraphs of text? The elaborate illumination shows the great importance of the story of Adam and Eve and helps the reader envision, understand, and remember it.

3) What do each of the angels' gestures and facial expressions seem to say? Many answers are possible, including fear, surprise, delight, dismay, and righteousness.

4) What makes this page different from a page in a modern-day printed book with color illustrations? Many answers are possible. The illuminated page is made of parchment, it was written and decorated by hand, the colors are from gold leaf and paints, it is a unique work of art, and only a very wealthy person at that time would have been able to purchase it.

Key Concepts and Themes

The Boucicaut Master is known for his ability to tell a story through gesture and posture. He also excelled in the use of natural details. Although he is justly famous for his paintings in Concerning the Fates of Illustrious Men and Women, it's important to remember that, as the manuscript's illuminator, he was but one member of an entire team of craftsmen who produced the lavish volume in which this page is found.

Activities/Extensions

Elementary

Have small groups select a familiar story from literature (or make one up) and then create a picture that tells the story as a sequence of four events. Students should place the most important moment in the center of the picture and draw the other three events around it.

Middle School

1) Show students other works of art that tell the story of Adam and Eve. (Check in art books for works with this subject by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Hieronymus Bosch and Edvard Munch. The National Gallery of Art's Web site also includes full-screen images of such works at: www.nga.gov/search/search.html type in "Adam and Eve" in the Key Words in Title box.) Have students compare the Boucicaut Master's picture with them.

2) Ask students to say a few words or write a short paragraph to describe their vision of a "perfect place." Compare their descriptions to the Garden of Eden shown in the Boucicaut Master's picture.

High School

1) Have students read the account of Adam and Eve in the Bible (Gen. 2:4-3:24) and then look at the illumination closely and see which details mentioned in the Book of Genesis are in the picture. (The artist was very inventive in how he represented some details, such as the box of water that stands for the source of the four rivers of Paradise!) Can the students find anything in the picture that isnit mentioned in the biblical account (such as the medieval towers, the garden wall, and Boccaccio)?

2) Have each student select a figure in this illumination and write down the thoughts that are going through that person's mind. Then invite students to do a dramatic reading of their work.

Diane Mark-Walkers is a Writer and Editor in the Education Department; and Lisa Vihos is the Manager of Educational Resources at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California.