Page 148 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

ing reads across the top of the two pages: "First born about 1480, possibly in Holland, he was mainstream in Lisbon, which had absorbed recent
Table: The Kings'' on folio 7, and "of Portugal" named by Dom Manuel i to the post of heraldic developments in other European art. The quality
on folio 8. The representation at the bottom of officer in 1518, a position he continued to occupy of Hollanda's painting on pages which he illumi-
the page of sixteenth-century Lisbon, shown into the reign of Dom Joao in (Haupt in Thieme- nated lacks the refinement of his drawing. It
under siege, is one of the earliest known pano- Becker 1907-1950,1:595-596; Seguardo 1970, appears competent but flat and dull — his charac-
ramic views of the city (Aguiar 1962,104). The 12,142,175-177, 228, 454, 460, 503-505, 512). He ters lack expression—when compared to Bening's
last two tables, on folios 9 and 10, represent the was alive in 1553, when his son Francisco wrote work.
complex array of descendants of John of Gaunt, about him to Michelangelo, but he probably died a The leaves by Simon Bening tell quite a dif-
duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine (d. 1399), whose few years later (Segurado 1970, 142, 505, 54). ferent story. He has breathed life into the Portu-
progeny included fifteenth-century kings and Hollanda's primary prototype for the genealogi- guese artist's refined drawings. A range of lively
queens of the houses of Lancaster, Burgundy, cal tree was Hans Burgkmair's woodcut series of personalities is apparent in the Genealogical Tree
Hapsburg, Portugal, and Castile (Kaemmerer- 1509-1512, The Genealogy of the Emperor Maxi- of John, Duke of Lancaster, one of the illumina-
Strohl 1903, 1:9). Visual and genealogical lacunae milian i (Hollstein 1949-, 5:nos. 324-415). How- tor's most unusual and beautiful miniatures.
among various folios strongly suggest that the ever, Burgkmair's woodcuts depict only rows of Bening gives his illuminations a sculptural quality
Genealogy was intended to be considerably more single figures unrelated by arboreal motifs. The and places them in a deeper, more tangible space.
extensive than the existing thirteen leaves, and composition of the Hollanda design recalls Tree of The colors, blues and reds in particular, are richer
over thirty may have been planned. It has been Jesse imagery. Hollanda's draftsmanship was prob- and the textures of a leaf, a brocade, velvet, or
argued persuasively that the genealogy, long con- ably inspired by the technique of German artists, armor are differentiated in an even light. He had
sidered that of the royal house of Portugal, is especially Albrecht Diirer. He modeled his figures beautiful drawings to work with here but his skill
rather a genealogy of Dom Fernando himself in fine, closely placed parallel hatchings and cross- as an illuminator surpasses the draftsman's
(Aguiar 1962, 78-79). hatchings. The hatchings are short and their achievement. His leaves compare favorably with
The designs and illuminations for the Geneal- arrangement gives the materials a velvety quality. the work of the best painters of his day, including
ogy are Hollanda's most famous work. Probably His designs suggest that he followed the artistic Bernaert van Orley and Joos van Cleve.

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 147