À propos de la contribution des enlumineurs dans la Bible de Petr Zmrzlík de Svojšín

Abstract

Several masters of different levels participated in the decoration of the three volumes of the Bible of the Mint Master Petr Zmrzlík of Svojšín (1411-1414), the oldest preserved copy of the full text of the first edition of the Bible translated into Czech -after the disappearance of the Dresden Bible. Previous studies did not sufficiently consider the different levels of decoration that are similar to the “ Beau Style” (Schöner Stil) and it is to the contribution of Markéta Pražáková that we owe a change of perspective on the quality of the illuminations. If we can agree that the painter, who until now was called Zmrzlík’s Master of the Bible, was the main illuminator (the Master of the Book of Psalms), we can identify several hands under the term workshop of the Master of the Book of Psalms. The article refines certain propositions made by Markéta Pražáková and proposes other identifications-for example, for the miniatures attributed to the Master of the Prophecy of Joel : the Master of the Mandeville Travels can be considered as the author of three of them, the others were executed by the Master of the Antwerp Bible. Finally, we must rethink the identification of the illuminator called the Master of the Book of Esther. In fact, his style shows that this is, once more, the work of the Master of the Antwerp Bible.