Although the artists who created the intricate illuminations in Kirby 1, a fifteenth century Flemish Book of Hours, aimed to follow the general stylistic characteristics of the painting of the period, they were hampered by the medium of the illuminated page. At the beginning of the fifteenth century in Flanders, a new art style was emerging, neither entirely medieval, nor entirely renaissance. Pioneered by the Master of Flemalle and the van Eyck brothers, this "post-Gothic" style dominated Flemish art throughout the fifteenth century, as the followers of these artists continued and further developed the style (Janson 413). It centered around intricate details and "intense realism"(Janson 413; Fry 101). Although it is theorized that many of the characteristics of the painting style came originally from the manuscript style, the differences in paints and size made it impossible for the manuscript artists to create the same effects as larger scale painters (Gardner 508; Janson 415). Still, the basic stylistic traits of symbolism, realism, precision and perspective appear in Kirby 1.

Many of the differences between painting and manuscript illumination were

Figure 1. The Master of Flemalle's "Merode Alterpiece" uses much duller colors.

caused by the differences between tempera and oil paint. In the mid fifteenth century, beginning most prominently with the van Eyck brothers, the trend shifted from the use of tempera, paints based on egg yolks, to oil-based paints (Gardner 508). Oil-based paints blended much more smoothly than the tempera paints, allowing color gradations not available in tempera (Janson 415).

Figure 2. This painting shows the bright colors typical of illuminated manuscripts. Also, on the horizon on this illustration the pale blue sillhouette of a building can be seen, showing atmospheric perspective.

This became essential in a treatment of perspective and light. In addition, oil paints created much richer dark colors, allowing a deviation from the exclusively bright colors that appear in illuminations in general (Janson 415), and that can be seen clearly in Kirby 1. Thus, the Master of Flemalle, a prominent painter of the period and the first true artist of the new post Gothic style was able to use much duller, more realistic colors than had previously been used (Janson 415).

Figure 3. Van Eyck's "The Crucifixion" shows and excellent example of atmospheric perspective.

Because vellum and parchment did not properly absorb the oil paints, illuminated manuscripts were forced to rely on tempera despite these new developments, causing significant stylistic differences from the painting of the time.

The new paints became particularly useful in the depiction of perspective; although the manuscript illuminators attempted to imitate the master painters, they were unable to do so completely. One of the major developments of the fifteenth century was the invention, primarily by the van Eyck brothers, of atmospheric perspective, a technique that gradually faded

Figure 4. The contrast between the red of the dress on the woman in the front and the clothes of the man in the back left shows the effects of atmospheric perspective.

colors as objects got farther into the distance, so that eventually everything fades to a line of blue monotone (Janson 415). One excellent example of this would be the van Eycks’ "The Crucifixion." The same type of atmospheric effect appears to a certain extent in the illustrations in figures 2 and 4. In the background the colors become fainter: in figure 4 the shirt of the man in the back left is a much paler red than either of the two figures in the foreground, and in the far distance in figure 2 you can see the faint silhouette of buildings or trees done in a pale shade of blue. However, the change of colors cannot possibly be as gradual and imperceptible as that which appears in "The Crucifixion". According to Janos Vegh, "on no sheet of parchment was it possible to represent the minute detail so much admired in pictures painted with oils" (12). In linear perspective as well, illuminators were following the styles in painting. In many of the illustrations in Kirby 1, as in much of the painting in the early and mid parts of the fifteenth century, there is no uniform perspective; there are many perspective lines, but they all converge at different spots (Gardner 517).

Figure 5. This illustrations from Kirby 1 shows the multiple perspectives of fifteenth-century painting.

Thus in figure 5, the lines formed by the floor tiles and the base of the platform seem to focus somewhere in the center of the picture, while the top of the platform points off toward the right. In both spatial and atmospheric perspective, then, illumination painting followed, but could not quite replicate larger scale oil painting of the time.

Another trend that the illuminators attempted to follow was the revival of portraiture. In the fifteenth century, individualized portraits of the artist’s patrons became very popular (Gardner 518). There was a surge in both paintings that focused on patrons alone, and those that included the patrons alongside some more religious subject matter (Janson, 417). Kirby 1 obviously follows this trend with its many images of the two patrons of the book, Jacob Donche and Phillipa Utenhove.

Figure 6. In an typical example of portraiture, Jacob and Phillipa Donche stand on either side of the cross in this initial.

However, it avoids the realism and individualism that was becoming popular in painting at the time (Janson 417), and instead gives Jacob and Phillipa generic faces. Again in portraiture, illumination imitates but cannot replicate painting trends.

The extreme precision and detail of Kirby 1 and similar manuscripts was also based on painting styles of the time. The artists of Flanders in this period saw the need to "express nature… as they saw [it] to the smallest details"(Kugler 51). Van Eyck’s paintings are so detailed that "The Wedding" contains a mirror in the background in which he has painted, not only the backs of the couple posing, but also himself painting them and another figure looking in the door (Janson 420). The detailed depictions of various textures and the diverse effects of light could only be achieved in the new oil paint and thus would not have been possible in illuminated manuscripts. However, the same attention to detail appears in Kirby 1, although to a smaller degree, largely because of the smaller size.

Figure 7. Van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Marriage is detailed to the extent that the mirror in the background shows, not only the backs of the betrothed couple, but also the painter, his canvas and another figure looking through the open door."

Thus, in figure 2, you can see the workers in the background, and on the far right, a knight on horseback riding by. In the same style, the dress of the woman in the front is surrounded by a tiny gold border. These details are far from essential, but they have been included to make the scene more realistic and more complete, following the latest trend in painting, and one that would characterized Northern art for several centuries.

Kirby 1’s extended use of symbols can also be traced to painting styles of the time. The fifteenth century witnessed a move from exclusively religious to more secular art, or at least more secular settings. Thus in Kirby 1, although the illustrations in the image cycle are exclusively religious, the borders often contain more secular subjects. In painting, this change was accompanied by a trend of endowing many secular objects with religious significance. It became popular for artists, whether painting religious or secular subjects, to fill their paintings with symbols that would help to convey the meaning of the painting. Thus, a workman might be displayed with the tools of his trade, or a scene might contain, standing on a table or away on a shelf, a vase with a rose, a lily, or another flower carrying its own symbolic meaning (Janson 414). Kirby 1’s illustrations, particularly its borders, contain extensive symbols, showing another correlation between illumination and the painting of this time.

The illuminations in Kirby 1 mimic the symbolism, realism and detail, and techniques of perspective of the painting in fifteenth-century Flanders. However, they were not able to achieve the full effects largely because of the size constraints, and the limitations of tempera as opposed to oil paints.