- Period
- Gothic
- Origin
- French
- Life
- active Paris, 1319–34
- Practice
- Manuscript illumination
Jean Pucelle · active Paris, 1319–34
Jean Pucelle
active Paris, 1319–34
A Parisian illuminator whose grisaille miniatures and inventive margins set the standard for French court books in the early fourteenth century.
Biography
Jean Pucelle is documented in Paris between 1319 and 1334, and his name survives in two manuscripts of the period: the Bible of Robert de Billyng and the Belleville Breviary, where payments to him are recorded. The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux is linked to him by the queen’s own testament, which describes it as the book “that Pucelle illuminated”. He appears to have led a workshop of several hands, so the extent of his personal contribution to each book remains a matter of scholarly discussion.
His figures are painted in grisaille, a method of modelling in shades of grey that gives them a sculptural quality, and set within spaces that suggest an awareness of Italian painting; several scholars have proposed that he knew the work of Duccio and his Sienese contemporaries. The margins of his books are crowded with musicians, beggars, animals and hybrids that comment on or play against the sacred text. His approach was adopted by Parisian illuminators for the rest of the century.
Research links
In the collection
Works to explore
1 record attributed to this maker.