Iconography
There are several iconographic features in the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux that are worth mentioning. Portrayal of black Africans can be found at the beginning of the Passion cycle in two miniatures of the illuminated manuscript. The Passion cycle at Matins opens with the Betrayal, where Malchus, a crouching figure on the left side of the foreground, has features that ethnically differ from the rest of the figures in the image. Because by the time of Pucelle’s artistic bloom, Europeans were well aware and familiar with North and East African races and appearances, “the idea of depicting blacks as servants and specifically as tormenters of Christ had become part of the visual iconography of Western art from at least the twelfth century.” As the familiarity with black ethnicity heightened, so did the interest for realism, especially in the visual arts, which allowed for the depiction of characteristic features found in the specific African groups that have caught the attention of Western cultures at this point in time. The colour black is, traditionally, especially in Christianity, associated with sin and evil, which gave all the more reason and logic to depict Africans as the persecutors of Christ. “Although precedents for the depiction of Malchus as a black servant and of blacks persecuting Christ existed in Gothic art, in the early fourteenth century this iconography remained unusual.”
In the miniature of Christ Carrying the Cross (61 verso), from what appears to be outside of the frame, an arm reaches out to support the cross Christ is carrying at a diagonal angle. Connections can be made to the Hedroit Legend by comparing it to the Strasbourg tympanum where a woman, the wife of the smith who was asked to forge nails for Christ’s crucifixion, is holding the three nails she forged while reaching out to support the Cross. Another aspect that exhibits Pucelle’s familiarity with the Hedroit legend is the crouching figure on the left of the bas-de-page in Christ Carrying the Cross. The man is holding a hammer which can symbolize the nailing of Christ to the Cross, but it is also possible that the image is a reference to the husband of the woman who forged the nails for Christ’s crucifixion, and now he is subjected to carrying all the weight of the guilt he is presented with caused by his wife’s actions.
Folio 82 verso depicts the Entombment scene, which is heavily influenced by the Italian compositional approach while integrating Northern Gothic figures. A crouching figure, mourning Christ’s death with outstretched arms that hold the arm of Christ, resides in the foreground of the Entombment miniature. The figure wears a heavy robe that “obscures the articulation of the body” and is positioned to the right of the central axis. Both her gaze and gesture supporting the limp arm of Christ “lead the eye from the foreground to the middle ground and to the focal point of the composition, the faces of Christ and the Virgin,” while relieving the horizontal line of Christ’s recumbent body with her form. Judging from the foreground position, the fact that she is embracing Christ’s arm, and her rippled hair exposed by the fallen hood of her cloak, all of which are “compositional and iconographic attributes in accordance with Mary Magdalene’s active role in the Lamentation found in the visual arts and devotional literature” the figure crouching in the foreground of the Entombment miniature is Mary Magdalene, of which the inclusion, according to Gerard Cames, is a Western innovation of the twelfth century. The Annunciation page introduces a couple of compelling themes and symbols that are connected to the central miniature. On the outer bas-de-page margins, the musical angels and the animals, such as rabbits, ape, and squirrel, portrayed in the foreground “have an immediate relevance minutely rendered allusions to fertility, the Fall of man, and Redemption”. The Betrayal page presents us with a mock-tilt composition and “two riders mounted on a goat and a ram (both beasts of multiple sinful connotation), are engaged in a joint action of evil intent as they charge the keg set on a post between them”.
The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux today is not in its full original 14th century state, yet remains in excellent condition, apart from some damages, especially to the opening calendar pages. The scenes depicted in the two-bas-de-page facing pages at Matins, a mock tilt and a buffeting game were “rendered with great verve and skill, these scenes look simply like elaborate versions of the type of decoration customarily found at the beginning of devotional book at this period.”
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