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Description: NMB 1699
A cutting from the Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg illuminated by Simon Bening. 
[Bruges, c.1522-1523]

Catalogue raisonné: NMB 1699
A cutting from the Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg illuminated by Simon Bening. 
[Bruges, c.1522-1523] 

Physical Description
MATERIAL: Gouache and shell gold on parchment.
DIMENSIONS: 188 × 136 mm.
NUMBER OF LEAVES: 1.
FOLIATION: Unknown
RULING: No ruling visible.
LANGUAGE: None visible.
SCRIPT: No script visible. 
RUBRICATION: No rubrics visible.

Text
No text visible.

Sister leaves
1. Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophia Hermetica, BPH 40
2. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1950-257
3. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 294 a-e, MS 3-1996
4. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.1.2481
5. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, 64.11.6

Decoration
Nordenfalk (1979) has this scene as Christ before Pontius Pilate, while Hindman et al. (1997) have this as Christ before Caiaphas. The appearance of nearly identical scenes in the Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (folios 128v and 138v) demonstrates that NMB 1699 shows Christ before Pontius Pilate. The scene is set within a window in a broad frame, typical of Flemish Books of Hours in this period. The frame, as in so many Books of Hours, has the window containing the scene in the upper right. The scene is set in a typical Flemish townscape of the turn of the 16th century. Christ, who is nimbed with a bright halo and wearing a blueish green robe while having his hands tied with rope, is being led up a set of stairs to Pilate by guards, with the high priest Caiaphas in front of them. Caiaphas wears a red fur-trimmed cloak in the fashion of a turn of the 16th century Flemish burgher. He holds a blue hat in his left hand, pointing toward Christ while looking directly at Pilate. Standing to the right of Christ, the main guard wears a cream-coloured surcoat over a green garment. Beneath these clothes, he wears a chainmail hauberk and blue hose. The guard has a large sword in his belt and wears a red Phrygian-style hat. The guard to Christ’s left wears a great tunic over his chainmail armour and wears a helm. He gestures towards Pilate with his left hand. The other guards are less distinct. Only two are shown with faces. The others are just depicted with the top of their helms to indicate a large number of them. They carry a variety of spears and halberds. Pilate stands in a high building, which represents one of the towers of Fort Antonia in Jerusalem, with another man who resembles a priest.   Pilate is dressed in an ochre robe highlighted with gold. He wears a broad-brimmed cream hat and has a long beard indicating wisdom. In his right hand, he holds his staff of office and looks towards Christ. To his right stands a man wearing a green turban with a blue cone. The man holds a staff in both hands, looks down in contemplation, and is swathed in a cream robe. Fort Antonia is depicted as a typical late Gothic building in greenish grey, with grey pillars. Underneath the tower with Pilate is a sewer, possibly indicating the corruption under this symbol of Roman authority. In the background, there is a gatehouse through which the guards have led Christ to Pilate. Behind Christ is a red-tiled brick late Gothic townhouse with a chimney in the style typical of Flanders in this period. The frame is in a Renaissance style and is decorated with acanthus leaves and flowers in the bottom part of the frame. The left-hand part of the frame has two sea creatures, a putto blowing a trumpet, and a monogram with IHS. The scene derives from a composition in the Berlin Hours of Mary of Burgundy, fol. 129v., c.1480 illuminated by Master of Mary of Burgundy. Simon Bening created a scene with almost the same composition in the Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, fol. 138v, c.1525-1530.

Provenance
Parent volume
1. Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg finished c.1522-1523.
2. Purchased in Rome in 1856 by Frederick William Robert Stewart, IV Marquess of Londonderry.
3. Ex libris of Stewart painted on the back of the detached leaves.
4. Rev. E.S. Dewick bought some of the leaves in the second half of the 19th century.
5. These leaves were sold by Dewick’s son by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1918.
6. The sixth Cambridge leaf was owned by Captain G. Pitt-Rivers in the early 20th century when it was sold in his sale in Christie’s 14th March 1929, lot 130.
7. This leaf was purchased by Horace A. Buttery. 
8. It was then owned by Phyllis M. Giles, who bequeathed it to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1996. 
9. The New York leaf was acquired by Robert Lehman from Buttery in 1929.
10. Lehman donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1975. 
11. Howard A. Noble donated the Pittsburgh leaf to the Carnegie Museum of Art in 1937. 
12. The Amsterdam leaf was purchased by the Rijksmuseum in 1950. 
13. The main manuscript was owned by William Waldorf Astor, first viscount Astor (1848-1919).
14. It was sold at Sotheby’s in 1988 to the Bibliotheca Philosophia Hermetica.

Present leaf
1. Purchased in Rome in 1856 by Frederick William Robert Stewart, IV Marquess of Londonderry.
2. Ex libris of Stewart painted on back of leaf.
3. Owned by Captain G. Pitt-Rivers in the early 20th century.
4. Inscription in pencil, Bening 1570-20.
4. Purchased in 1956 from Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam.

Exhibited
1. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter, December 1987-March 1988.

Commentary
The miniature was illuminated by Simon Bening (1484-1561), with the border painted by a member of his workshop in Bruges in 1522-1523. It was part of the Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg. The dating is indicated by the arms of Pope Adrian VI (1522-1523) appear in the manuscript. Much of this manuscript is now in the Bibliotheca Philosophia Hermetica in Amsterdam. Detached leaves are found in the Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545) was a powerful clergyman and elector in the Holy Roman Empire and an art collector. He commissioned three manuscripts from the miniaturist Simon Bening, including the Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg. Some of the miniatures in these manuscripts are derived from members of Simon Bening’s workshop, and this seems to be the case for NMB 1699 as it is not quite as exquisitely made as illuminations by the Flemish master. The other manuscripts are the Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg and the Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours (see NMB 2409). 
The Amsterdam, Cambridge, New York, Pittsburgh, and Stockholm leaves were in Rome by 1856 when they were acquired by Frederick William Robert Stewart, IV Marquess of Londonderry (1805-1872). The backs of the leaves were then painted with the elaborate ex libris of the Marquis with the FREDERICH MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY ROMA MDCCCLVI. Five of the Cambridge leaves (MSS 294a-e) were then owned by Rev. E.S. Dewick (1844-1917) and purchased from his son by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1918. The sixth Cambridge leaf (MS 3-1996) was owned by Captain G. Pitt-Rivers (1890-1966) when it was sold in his sale in Christie’s 14th March 1929, lot 130, and purchased by Horace A. Buttery (1902–1962). It was then owned by Phyllis M. Giles, Keeper of Manuscripts and Printed Books at the Fitzwilliam Museum (1947-1974), who bequeathed it to the museum in 1996. The New York leaf was acquired by Robert Lehman from Buttery in 1929 and donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1975. Howard A. Noble donated the Pittsburgh leaf to the Carnegie Museum of Art in 1937. The Amsterdam leaf was purchased by the Rijksmuseum in 1950. It seems that NMB 1699 was also sold at the Pitt-Rivers sale. The main manuscript was owned by William Waldorf Astor, first viscount Astor (1848-1919), and was sold at Sotheby’s in 1988 to the Bibliotheca Philosophia Hermetica.

Bibliography
Abel, Ulf, and Nils Göran Hökby (eds.), Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1987), no. 84, p. 72.
Biermann, Alfons, ‘Die Miniaturenhandschriften des Kardinals Albrecht von Brandenburg (1514-1545)’ in Aachener Kunstblätter, Vol. 46, (1975), pp. 15-20.
Binski, Paul and Stella Panayotova (eds.), The Cambridge Illuminations: Ten Centuries of Book Production in the Medieval West (London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2005), No. 97, pp. 217-219
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Leaves from the Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg, https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/illuminated/manuscript/discover/leaves-from-the-hours-of-albrecht-of-brandenburg/section/artist
D’Ancona, Paolo and Erhard Aeschlimann, Dictionnaire de miniaturists (Milan, Hoepli, 1949), p. 27
Hindman, Sandra, Mirella Levi D’Ancona, Pia Palladino and Maria Francesca Saffiotti, The Robert Lehman Collection IV: Illuminations (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997), no. 13, pp. 99-112.
Nordenfalk, Carl, Bokmålningar från medeltid och renässans i Nationalmusei samlingar (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1979), no. 26, pp. 100-101.
Sandgren, Eva Lindqvist, Illuminated Manuscripts in Swedish Collections, https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/resultList.jsf?dswid=7830&p=1&searchType=EXTENDED&sortString=creationYear_sort_asc&noOfRows=10&af=%5B%22ARCHIVE_ORG_ID_facet%3A67%22%5D&query=&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22HOST%22%3A%22alvin-record%3A471052%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D
Winkler, Friedrich, ‘Das Gebetbuch des Kardinals Albrecht von Brandenburg’ in Aachener Kunstblätter, Vol. 24/25, (1962-1963), 7-107, p. 11
Wormald, Francis and Phyllis M. Giles, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Additional Illuminated Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum Acquired Between 1895 and 1979 (Excluding the McClean Collection) 2 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 271.

Research project 2022-2023, Illuminated Manuscript, Christian Etheridge, Art Historian.

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