From the Court of Burgundy

We will continue with the visit that I made to the Cleveland Museum of Art shortly before it was closed again due to the pandemic.

One of the galleries of medieval art is devoted to art from the Court of Burgundy.   In the Middle Ages the Dukes of Burgundy controlled much of northeastern France and all of the Low Countries of modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands.  With their great wealth and taste for extravagance, they were major patrons of art.  Some of the leading craftsmen and artists from many parts of Europe were drawn to the court at the city of Dijon.  Here are some of the exquisite pieces from that gallery...

This statue of the "Enthroned Virgin with the Writing Christ Child" dates from around 1400.

 It is sculpted from limestone and painted and gilded.  By its style it is thought to be the work of an artist from the Netherlands working in France.  The theme of the "Writing Christ Child" was popular in the late 1300s, and it refers to Christ's position as a teacher in adult life.

This Books of Hours is from 1404 and was done by an Italian artist living in Paris.  

Books of Hours were collections of Gospel texts, prayers and psalms that were popular with medieval aristocrats.  The vellum pages are beautifully illustrated (or "illuminated") using ink, tempera paint and gold leaf.

This stained glass window, perhaps from Alsace, is from the late 1200s.  Since at that time the Cistercian Order of monks had a ban on figural art, it is thought that this panel might have come from one of their churches.  It is the oldest piece of stained glass in the museum's collection.

This window from France dates back to the first half of the 15th century.

These statues of mourners come from the tomb of Duke Philip the Bold.  Philip had planned and commissioned an elaborate tomb for himself in a Carthusian monastery near Dijon.

The tomb was surrounded by figures of mourners.  The statues were highly realistic portraits of members of the court.  They are wearing special mourning garments.  The monastery was destroyed during the French Revolution, but these sculptures survived.

After Philip the Bold's death in 1404, his son, John the Fearless, decided that he wanted an equally ornate tomb in the same monastery.  Before work could begin, however, John was murdered in 1419.  It was left to his son Philip the Good to commission a Spanish sculptor working in Dijon, Jean de la Huerta, to design his father's tomb.  It also was surrounded by statues of mourners, and this piece also survived the French Revolution.

These marble statuettes of kneeling Carthusian monks are thought to come from the same monastery as the statues of the mourners.  They date from the late 14th century.

This alabaster statue of the Archangel Gabriel dates from around 1350.  It is part of an Annunciation group.  The accompanying figure of Mary is in the Louvre.

This gilt silver table fountain from 14th century France entertained dining guests at an aristocrat's table.

It would have been placed in a basin.  Water pumped up through the center would come out as jets through nozzles.  This would then turn a wheel and ring tiny bells.

There is still more to come from the Cleveland Museum of Art.