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Description: NMB 2409
A cutting from the Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours illuminated by Simon Bening. 
[Bruges, c.1520]

Catalogue raisonné: NMB 2409
A cutting from the Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours illuminated by Simon Bening. 
[Bruges, c.1520] 

Physical Description
MATERIAL: Gouache and shell gold on parchment.
DIMENSIONS: 174 × 125 mm.
NUMBER OF LEAVES: 1.
FOLIATION: Unknown
RULING: No ruling visible.
LANGUAGE: No language visible.
SCRIPT: No script visible.
RUBRICATION: No rubrics visible.

Text
No text visible.

Sister leaves
1. Kassel, Landesbibliothek, MS 50
2. Stockholm, Kungliga Bibliotheket, MS A.227

Decoration
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 a window containing the scene in the upper right. In the scene are a pope to the right and an angelic figure to the left. The pope has a white alb, red dalmatic, and a red brocaded cope held together with a clasp with a blue gem. He is wearing a red three-crowned papal tiara. He has a papal cross in his left hand and raises his right hand in a papal benediction. The angelic figure to the pope's right-hand side wears a white robe and is bare headed with golden curly hair. The angel is holding a long scroll in both hands on which is illegible writing. The two figures stand in front of a doorway leading into a grey brick building. To the right of the door is an alcove with a statue of a saint. To the left of the pope is a low brick wall. Behind the wall is a landscape scene with hills, fields, and trees, typical of contemporary Netherlandish art at this time. Three people are rowing in a boat in a large river. On the opposite side of the river's bank are two fortified towers. The border is divided into diagonal blue, red, green, and yellow strips. Within the border are Trompe-l'oeil painted acanthus leaves and flowers, including daisies, roses, and irises. Engellau-Gullander (1996) draws comparisons with the Grimani Breviary, which is believed to have been commissioned for Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) in 1510-1520 and illuminated by Simon Bening (1484-1561), among others. Comparison with the iconography of the image of St Peter found on folio 602v in the Grimani Breviary led Engellau-Gullander (1996) to indicate this is the papal figure found on NMB 2409. Investigations on missing images from the Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours also point to the papal figure being St Peter. 

Provenance
Parent volume
1. Made in the workshop of Simon Bening in Bruges for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg in c.1520.

Present leaf
1. Owned in the first half of the 20th century by Beata Mårtensson-Brummer and her husband Joseph Brummer in New York.
2. The cutting passed to Märta Liljedahl in Stockholm upon the death of Mårtensson-Brummer in 1956. 
3. Donated to the Nationalmuseum by Liljedahl in 1996. 

Exhibited
Not exhibited.

Commentary
The miniature was illuminated by Simon Bening or by a member of his workshop in Bruges in c.1520. It was part of the Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours. This book was made according to Testa (1992) for Melchior Pfinzing (1481-1535), who was secretary to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (r.1508-1519). Hindman et al. (1997) believe that the manuscript was made for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545), an influential 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 (see NMB 1699) and the Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg. The NMB 2409 cutting was owned at one point by the Swedish artist Beata Mårtensson-Brummer (1880-1956) and her husband, the Hungarian American art dealer Joseph Brummer (1883-1947). They ran the Brummer Art Gallery in New York, specializing in medieval and Renaissance art. Beata Mårtensson-Brummer assisted her husband in arranging the many exhibitions at the gallery and worked as a conservator. Upon her death, the cutting passed on to Märta Liljedahl. 

Bibliography
Engellau-Gullander, Cecilia, 'The Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours, Yet another illumination identified', in The Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm, Vol 3, (1996), pp. 82-86.
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.
Pächt, Otto, ‘Die Evangelistenbilder in Simon Benings Stockholmer Stundenbuch’ in Nationalmuseum Bulletin, Vol. 7.2, (1983), p. 78.
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
Testa, Judith Anne, The Stockholm-Kassel Book of Hours: A Reintegrated Manuscript from the Shop of Simon Bening, Acta Bibliothecæ Regiæ Stockholmiensis LIII (Uddevalla: Bohusläningens Boktryckeri AB, 1992).

Research project 2022-2023, Illuminated Manuscript, Christian Etheridge, Art Historian

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