Christ before Pilate, miniature from an illuminated Book of Hours, on vellum [southern Netherlands (Ghent or Bruges), c.1500]

single leaf, 166mm. by 105mm., with a full-page arch-topped miniature of Christ standing within a detailed gothic interior, bound around his chest with his hands tied within his long cuffs, before Pilate (here a portly man in a red robe held at the waist by a golden chain), a crowd of armed guards behind Christ as one grins and leans in to strike Christ’s face with the flat of his hand, a small dog sleeping in the centre of the floor in the foreground, all within a full border of flowers and insects strewn in trompe l’oeil style on a liquid gold ground, verso blank, trimmed to edges of border, else in outstanding condition, in card mount

This is a fine example of Netherlandish book-illumination, in flawless condition. The scene is common (cf. Illuminating the Renaissance, 2003, fig.19b, p.141, with a near-identical composition by Lieven van Lathem, and those from the Prayerbooks of Mary of Burgundy and Albrecht of Brandenburg: Nordenfalk, Bokmålningar, 1979, figs.227-28), but the artist here reveals his individual skill by shifting our perspective so that Pilate stands with his back to us, making the three-dimensional portraits of Christ and his torturer the centre of our attention. The torturer’s smirk offsets Christ’s own dispassionate, almost Stoic, acceptance of captivity.

Christ’s high hairline and flat-bottomed nose indicate the influence of the Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian (perhaps in fact a second phase in the career of the Master of Mary of Burgundy, fl.1469-83, and sometimes identified with Alexander Bening, d.1519: Illuminating the Renaissance, pp.190-91 and esp. figs.90c, p.319 and 91c, p.323), but the palette here is richer and more vivid.