Pietà thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 10

This object consists of 2 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Pietà

ca.1484-1497 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This scene is known as a 'Pietà'. In front of the Cross on which Christ was crucified, the Virgin Mary sits with the body of her Son lying across her lap. Mary Magdalene kneels at Christ's feet while his head is supported by St. John the Baptist. St. John the Evangelist usually supports Christ's head in a Pietà but here he has been replaced by the Bishop of Limoges, Jean Barton de Montbas, who commissioned the making of this enamel, with his patron saint, John the Baptist.
This plaque is attributed to the hand of an early master in the technique of Limoges painted enamels, active between about 1480 and 1500. His identity is unknown, but he is called the 'Monvaerni' Master after an inscription on a triptych in the Taft Museum, Cincinnati. This inscription was first believed to be a signature but there is no documentary evidence to support this. It is now thought to refer to an abbreviated form of the name and titles of the bishop depicted on the V&A plaque. Jean Barton de Montbas was Bishop of Limoges from 1458 to 1484 and then resigned to take up the honorific title of Archbishop of Nazareth from 1484 until his death in 1497.
The work of the 'Monvaerni' Master drew inspiration from woodcuts by German Masters such as 'Master E.S.' which were published in books printed in Lyons in 1482-84, and from fifteenth-century French and Flemish panel paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Indeed it is very likely that the 'Monvaerni' Master began his career as a manuscript illuminator.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Plaque
  • Frame
Materials and techniques
Copper painted in polychrome enamels including foil-backed translucent enamels, and gilding
Brief description
Pietà painted in polychrome enamels and gilded on a rectangular copper plaque with arched top. By the so-called 'Monvaerni' Master, Limoges, about 1484-97.
Physical description
Rectangular plaque, the upper edge slightly curved or arched, painted on copper in polychrome enamels with details in translucent enamels backed by foil ('paillons') and gilding. The counter-enamel is a purplish-grey.
The scene is of a 'Pietà' in front of a coloured landscape of yellowish ground, blue water, green plants, brown rocks and distant purplish-brown turreted buildings. At the centre, in front of the empty Cross, the Virgin Mary sits with the dead Christ lying across her lap. She wears a blue mantle which has become discoloured owing to the poor condition of the enamel. She has a purple halo, she gazes at the face of her dead son, and her hands are together as in prayer or contemplation. The figure of Christ in white enamel bears red streaks representing blood on his hands, feet and side, and a green crown of thorns surrounds his head. At his feet kneels Mary Magdalene with purple halo and robe. Her white mantle is embroidered with gilded scrolling. Kneeling at Christ's head is a bishop with double-crossed crozier and wearing a purple mitre and blue cope, both ornamented with jewels (foil-backed translucent enamels). Behind him stands St. John the Baptist with blue hair and beard and purple mantle and halo. He bears his identifying symbol, the Lamb (representing Christ, the Lamb of God). His right hand rests on the bishop's back while his left supports, somewhat awkwardly, the head of Christ.
Dimensions
  • Height: 8.7cm
  • Width: 13cm
  • Weight: 0.08kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries 2006
Credit line
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
Object history
The enamel was among a number of Limoges enamels transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London, to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1901.

Historical significance: This is one of about fifty known extant pieces attributed to the hand of an early master in the technique of painted enamels. He was active between about 1480-1500 and may well have also practised manuscript illumination. Although his identity is unknown, this artist is now commonly referred to as the 'Monvaerni' Master. His enamel designs, many of which show scenes from the Nativity and Passion of Christ, rely heavily on 1460s woodcuts by German Masters such as 'Master E.S.' These woodcuts were published in books printed in Lyons in 1482-84. There are also similarities to French and Flemish panel paintings and illuminated manuscripts.
The other extant Pietà enamels by this artist or his workshop are in the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum (inv.no.1898,219), the Louvre, Paris (inv.no.OA 6309j), the Musée de Cluny, Paris (inv.no.Cl.937) and Lyons Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv.no.L.462). Two further Pietà panels, one of which has been incorporated (probably in 1865) into the centre of a triptych, are now believed to be in the Czartoryski Museum, Krakow, Poland. The majority of these Pietàs show the body of Christ lying on the lap of his mother whose hands are together in prayer, with Mary Magdalene at Christ's feet to the right of the scene, and St. John the Evangelist to the left supporting Christ's Head. Variations arise, notably with the V&A and Cluny plaques, when the artist has needed to replace St. John and the Magdalene with images of those who have commissioned a Pietà from him, with or without these donors' own patron saints.
'Monvaerni' first appeared in 1843 in a catalogue issued by the amateur Lyons collector M. Didier Petit. He owned a triptych which now belongs to the Taft Museum, Cincinnati (inv.no.1931.268). The central Crucifixion scene is flanked by St. James and St. Catherine of Alexandria on the two wings. Inscribed along the blade of the sword held by St. Catherine are the words: 'AVE MARI(A)' and 'MONVAE3NI'. The '3' has been read variously as an 'R', a 'P' or a symbol indicating abbreviation. Didier Petit read it as an 'R' and assumed it was a signature - an assumption which gained credence even though there is no documentary evidence to back up such a notion. In 1865, A. Darcel revealed a variant, 'MONVAE' on a plaque in the collection of M. Eugène Tondu. The Louvre acquired a set of twelve plaques from an altarpiece (inv.nos.OA6309-6309l) by the same artist in 1909 and the following year, H.P. Mitchell revealed that the mysterious inscription was not a signature but the name of a bishop depicted on an Adoration plaque (again by the same artist) in the Limoges Museum (inv.no.23). The bishop was Jean Barton de Montbas, Bishop of Limoges and Archbishop of Nazareth. Mitchell proposed that the '3' in 'MONVAE3NI' was an abbreviation symbol and the inscription in full would read: 'MONVA EPISCOPUS NAZARETHI'. In 1914, Haute-Vienne archivist, Alfred Leroux, suggested 'MONVMENTVM ARCHIEPISCOPI NAZARENI'. Henry Martin in 1917 suggested 'MONVAERHL' was an anagram of 'M. NOVALHER', a possible artist from a well-known Limoges enamelling dynasty, but this theory has since been discounted. Verdier (1967) drew attention to 'MONVAE' on a stone in the foreground of a Pietà on the central part of a triptych formerly in the Germeau Collection (Paris) and now in the Czartoryski Museum (Krakow) - probably the above-mentioned Tondu panel reworked into a triptych. Some of the floor tiles visible in the 'Christ before Pontius Pilate' plaque in the Baltimore Museum bear an 'MV' monogram. Verdier (1995) also pointed out the 'consonantal ambivalence' of 'V' and 'B' in relation to Monva/Monbas which he said endured in modern Spanish pronunciation.
The Adoration plaque in the Musée Municipal de l'Evêché, Limoges, shows Jean Barton de Montbas, Bishop of Limoges (1484-1510) kneeling at a prie-dieu at the feet of St. John the Evangelist. Barton's coat-of-arms lean against the prie-dieu. They are also to be seen on a keystone in the choir at the collegiate church of Eymoutiers, about 45km. from Limoges. This bishop is known as Jean II Barton to distinguish him from his uncle Jean I Barton, his predecessor as Bishop of Limoges (1458-84) who resigned from that position to become Archbishop 'in partibus' of Nazareth (an honorific title). Jean I Barton died on 3rd May 1497 and was buried in the choir of Limoges Cathedral. It is Jean I Barton who is depicted on the V&A's plaque. He is presented by his patron saint, John the Baptist. His crozier is in the form of a double cross or cross of Jerusalem. This refers not only to St. Martial, first Bishop of Limoges, but also to the archbishopric of Nazareth and to the Holy Land, from where came relics of the True Cross. Both the V&A and Limoges plaques can therefore be dated to 1484-97. Their arched tops and similar size suggest that when the Jean II plaque was made it was deliberately matched to the existing Jean I plaque. It may well have been Jean I Barton who commissioned the Taft triptych, possibly as a votive offering, especially as the MONVAERNI inscription is in the genitive case. Jean I Barton is also depicted on a (now restored) stained glass window of about 1475 in Eymoutiers church, in conjunction with his patron saint.
Historical context
Limoges, central France, was famous for the production of champleve enamels from the late 12th century until the town was destroyed by the Black Prince in 1370. The enamel industry began to revive about a century later but the technique of painted enamels produced from 1460s/70s was quite different from the earlier medieval work. The copper, probably from Spanish mines, was first of all hammered to thin sheets which were then worked on by the skillful enamellers. It was a long and careful process, with several firings to achieve the finished result.
The earliest painted Limoges enamels of the sixteenth century, such as this one, bear much similarity to images in contemporary illuminated manuscripts. It is thought that some artists were able to work in both art forms. The choice of subject matter and composition are similar to illuminations, and they employ the same stylistic techniques, such as the use of gold highlights, especially for the clothes, and drops of enamel to suggest jewels. This early Master was also able to depict perspective in his enamels and produced well-defined painted outlines and contours rather than relying on enamelling techniques which used layers of enamel to convey form and shade.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This scene is known as a 'Pietà'. In front of the Cross on which Christ was crucified, the Virgin Mary sits with the body of her Son lying across her lap. Mary Magdalene kneels at Christ's feet while his head is supported by St. John the Baptist. St. John the Evangelist usually supports Christ's head in a Pietà but here he has been replaced by the Bishop of Limoges, Jean Barton de Montbas, who commissioned the making of this enamel, with his patron saint, John the Baptist.
This plaque is attributed to the hand of an early master in the technique of Limoges painted enamels, active between about 1480 and 1500. His identity is unknown, but he is called the 'Monvaerni' Master after an inscription on a triptych in the Taft Museum, Cincinnati. This inscription was first believed to be a signature but there is no documentary evidence to support this. It is now thought to refer to an abbreviated form of the name and titles of the bishop depicted on the V&A plaque. Jean Barton de Montbas was Bishop of Limoges from 1458 to 1484 and then resigned to take up the honorific title of Archbishop of Nazareth from 1484 until his death in 1497.
The work of the 'Monvaerni' Master drew inspiration from woodcuts by German Masters such as 'Master E.S.' which were published in books printed in Lyons in 1482-84, and from fifteenth-century French and Flemish panel paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Indeed it is very likely that the 'Monvaerni' Master began his career as a manuscript illuminator.
Bibliographic references
  • Sophie Baratte, Les Emaux peints de Limoges, Musee du Louvre, 2000
  • The Taft Museum (Cincinnati): Philippe Verdier, European Decorative Arts, New York, 1995
  • Susan L. Caroselli, The Painted Enamels of Limoges: a catalogue of the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993
  • Jean-Marc Ferrer and Veronique Notin: L'art de l'email a Limoges, Limoges, 2005
  • Philippe Verdier, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Catalogue of the Painted Enamels of the Renaissance, 1967
  • J.J. Marquet de Vasselot, 'Les Emaux Limousins...', Paris, 1921
  • Bernard Descheemaeker, Works of Art catalogue 4, 'Masterpieces from Limoges', 2008
  • Véronique Notin, 'Limoges - Les premiers émaux peints' in L'Estampille - l'Objet d'Art, 282, July - August 1994
  • Suzanne Netzer, 'Maleremails aus Limoges: Der Bestand des Berliner Kunstmuseums', Berlin, 1999
  • H.P. Mitchell, 'Good-bye to Monvaerni?' in Burlington Magazine, April 1910
  • Catalogue de la Collection d'Objets d'art formée a Lyon part M. Didier Petit: Emaux……(etc). Paris, 1843
Collection
Accession number
4868:1, 2-1901

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Record createdDecember 22, 2008
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