The Hours of Isabella Stuart

The Giac Master

Artists

The Giac Master was an itinerant professional who worked in the Auvergne, Paris, Champagne and Anjou from c. 1400 until c. 1440.

He is named after a Book of Hours (Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, MS 997.158.14) made c. 1410 for Jean de Pechin, wife of Louis de Giac who was at various times in the service of the French King, the Dauphin, and the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy. A prolific artist, the Giac Master reused workshop patterns in order to complete the lengthy pictorial cycles of multi-volume historical texts. The Hours of Isabella Stuart preserve many of his characteristic motifs, notably the plump, beady-eyed faces, the gold or silver cloudes drifting across the sky, and the green and black tiled floors devoid of perspective. He designed the manuscript’s ambitious decorative programme and painted much of it himself, but he also received help from two talented colleagues and several assistants.

Lightbox: 268
1
Detail of the Virgin’s face under magnification (20x), displaying the beady eyes which characterise the Giac Master’s work. In the original sketch, faintly visible through the paint layers, the position of the proper left eye was slightly shifted towards the bottom right.
Lightbox: 269
2
Detail of the woman’s face under magnification (32x), displaying the beady eyes which characterise the Giac Master’s work.
Lightbox: 270
3
Detail of Gabriel’s purplish-blue sleeve under magnification (20x), showing extensive underdrawing visible through the thin paint layers. The drawing contributes to the definition of the sleeve’s folds, as do the short, parallel dark purple brushstrokes painted on the surface.
Lightbox: 271
4
Detail of Gabriel’s robe under magnification (20x).
Lightbox: 272
5
Detail of the Virgin’s blue robe under magnification (7.5x). Graded colouring from light to dark blue gives shape to the drapery folds. Underdrawing is visible on the lower right side through a small loss in the paint layer.

Annunciation (Hours of the Virgin, Matins)

The Annunciation, the standard image for the Hours of the Virgin, is set within an elaborate architectural structure and surrounded by a rich pictorial narrative in the border medallions. Starting from the top left and going anticlockwise, they show God the Father sending the dove of the Holy Spirit towards the Virgin, Joachim and Ann making an offering in the hope for a child, their meeting at the Golden Gate, the Virgin’s birth, her Presentation in the Temple, her Marriage to Joseph, and finally, on the top right, the Virgin at her loom.

The rounded faces with beady eyes (hotspots 1 and 2) and the gold clouds drifting across the sky are among the Giac Master’s hallmarks. Also typical of this artist is the extensive underdrawing and frequent changes of mind at the painting stage (hotspots 1, 3 and 5; see also Infrared Layer).

The arms of Isabella Stuart have been added within the initial.

Related content: The Hours of Isabella Stuart

Related content: Lab