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The Lord's Prayer III: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
Maker:
Nouailher, Colin
Designer:
Holbein, Hans, the younger
Printmaker:
Monogrammist C. V.
Rectangular copper plaque enamelled en grisaille with a little flesh pink and red on a black ground, and gilded. The descent of the Holy Spirit inscribed below 'TON ROYAINNE VIENNE/A NOUS'. One of a set with M.49A & C-F-1904
Rectangular convex copper plaque with a small hole in each corner, enamelled en grisaille with a little flesh pink, and red on a black ground, and gilded. Clear, unevenly applied counter-enamel, with a thick blob in the top right corner, and many pinholes. The Virgin is seated in the centre reading a book with groups of the disciples on either side. She wears a long cloak over her head and dress, and looks down at the book. The disciple nearest on the left is seated on an X-framed stool, and the nearest on the right is bearded and kneels. Only the heads and shoulders of the rest are shown. Above, there is a white line and black sky semé with red tadpole stars and with banks of clouds in the top corners. At top centre the Dove of the Holy Spirit is shown over a semi-circular red sun with straight and wavy gold rays. A white panel running across the bottomof the plaque is inscribed in black with gilding over it ‘TON ROYAINNE VIENNE/A NOUS’ (Thy kingdom come to us) preceded by two adorsed C scrolls, and followed by two small scrolls. A gold line runs round the edge of the scene and inscription. The reverse is inscribed in pale black with the number ‘III’. The plaque is set in an ill-fitting, rectangular, gilt-metal frame with repeating formal leaf border. The plaque is held into the frame by four bent over pins attached to the cardinal points on the reverse.
History note: Uncertain; possibly Robert Napier, West Shandon, Dunbartonshire by 1865; sold Christie’s, 5 June, 1877, part of lot 2594; sold to Stettiner (probably Henri). An unidentified French sale in which the six plaques formed lot 289. An unidentified Italian owner or dealer before or after the sale. Frank McClean MA, FRS (1837–1904), Rusthall House, near Tunbridge Wells
Frank McClean Bequest
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank
16th Century, Mid
Circa
1540
CE
-
1550
CE
This plaque was originally the third of a set of eight illustrating the Lord's Prayer of which six are in the Fitzwilliam (M.49A-F-1904). The prayer occurs in the Gospels of St Matthew, VI, 9-13 and St Luke, XI, 2-4. The first plaque shows Christ instructing his disciples how to pray (Matthew, VI, 6-7), and the others have scenes associated with the lines of the Lord's Prayer which follows (Matthew, VI, 8-13). The words are written in French at the bottom of each plaque. This scene, the 'Descent of the Holy Spririt at Pentecost' (Acts of the Apostles, 2, 1-4), illustrates the third line of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Thy Kingdom come’ (Matthew VI, 10), with the words 'a nous' (to us) added. Five more plaques of the Pentecost scene are recorded. The scenes in the plaques were inspired by a set of metalcuts by the Basel monogrammist C.V. after Holbein which appeared in Desiderio Erasmus's 'Precatio dominica in septem portiones', published by both Johann Froben and Johannes Bebel successively in Basle in 1524. The work was first published without illustrations in 1523, and was rapidly translated into modern languages. The illustrations in the Froben and Bebel editions have the inscriptions in Latin, but a set of eight prints issued separately a little later with inscriptions in French, signed CV, is in the British Museum (1904.0206, 64,1-8;) and seven of the set (no. 4 is missing) are in the Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (EA 25c in fol., p. 57). They may have been made for a French illustrated edition of Erasmus's book which was not published. While the iconography of all the plaques was derived from these prints, the details differ considerably, in some scenes more than others. The text on the plaques does not exactly follow the French text on the prints in the British Museum. Two Lord's Prayer plaques in the Louvre were attributed to Colin Nouailher by Alfred Darcel (1867) and his attribution was upheld by J.J. Marquet de Vasselot (1919-20) and Sophie Baratte (2000). This attribution was confirmed for plaques in the same style by the presence of the initials CN below the title on a plaque from the Lord’s Prayer decorated with the 'Deliver us from Evil' scene, acquired by the Musée de l’Évêché (now Musée des Beaux-Arts), Limoges, in 2007 (2007.5.2) with another plaque of the 'Give us our daily bread' scene (2007.5.1). Sets of Lord's Prayer plaques are also attributed to Jean II or III Penicaud, and to an enameller who signed 'KIP'. These differ considerably in style and details from Noualher's plaques and include one or two scenes which are completely different from the metalcuts after Holbein.
Decoration
composed of
enamel
gold
Plaque
composed of
copper
Height 12 cm
Width 9.7 cm
Frame
Height 12.9 cm
Width 10.4 cm
Inscription present: preceded by two adorsed C scrolls, and followed by two small scrolls
Inscription present: almost square paper label with serrated edges, printed in blue with a beaded border; the inscription is underlined as far as the A
Accession number: M.49B-1904
Primary reference Number: 156436
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "The Lord's Prayer III: The Descent of the Holy Spirit" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/156436 Accessed: 2024-11-21 19:39:54
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/156436
|title=The Lord's Prayer III: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-21 19:39:54|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/M_49_1904_202_20_281_29.jpg"
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<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Lord's Prayer III: The Descent of the Holy Spirit</figcaption>
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