Description
This sheet comes from a dismantled Prayerbook by the German illuminator Nikolaus Glockendon and illustrates the “Return of the Prodigal Son.” A parable from the New Testament cycle of redemption, the story of the prodigal son is recounted in the Gospel of Luke (15: 11-32). A wealthy father had two sons: the younger son was greedy and impatient and, leaving the family home for distant lands, he squandered his inheritance. Destitute upon his return and anticipating his father’s wrath, he begs to be taken back even if to become a hired servant. Instead, the father welcomes him with open arms, offers him a luxurious cloak, and organizes a feast in his honor. Here, we see the son, scantily dressed and carrying a walking stick, kneeling before the father in a blue, fur-trimmed robe, who stoops to greet him and takes his hand. A servant and the other son turn away. The background displays verdant countryside and the father’s house. A skillful Ghent-Bruges border composed of white and blue bluebells and red carnations surrounds the central scene.
Numerous sister leaves are known from this Prayerbook, many in major museums, such as the Morgan Library and Museum (M. 896-1, 2) and the Cleveland Museum of Art (Blackburn 2006.14; cf. Fliegel, no. 68), and their attribution to Nikolaus Glockendon and his circle is well-established. Glockendon is the most famous illuminator of the German Renaissance. His family consists of distinguished artists: his father was Georg Glockendon the Elder (d. 1514), he was the brother of Albecht (c. 1495-1545); and his two sons became illuminators Gabriel (1515/20-c. 1585) and Sebastian (1525/26-1555). His best-known work is the signed and documented Missale Hallense (Aschaffenberg, Hofbibliothek, MS 10) made for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, and dated 1524. Much of his illumination was inspired by engravings of his contemporary Albrecht Dürer, and we know from documents that Dürer intervened on behalf of his colleague in a lengthy letter to the Cardinal regarding payment, a letter that suggests a close professional friendship. Johann Neudorfer in his 1547 account of Nuremburg artists describes Glockenon as “fertig” (skilled) and “fleissig” (diligent) and continues by stating that he enjoyed “the greatest of princely commissions.” Among his clients were not only the Cardinal, but the Duke Johann Frederick of Saxony, Duke Albrecht of Prussia, and patrician families such as the Imhofs and Tuchers. It is worth noting that Glockendon collaborated with the Flemish illuminator Simon Bening, who also worked for Albrecht of Brandenberg, which may well account for the elegant Ghent-Bruges borders (cf. Marrow, 1983). A comprehensive catalogue of works by Nikolaus Glockendon appears in Ulrich Merkl’s work, as well as a family tree of the Glockendons (1998, 1999)
Although many of the sister leaves from this Prayerbook rely closely on Dürer (and sometimes Cranach) engravings, the present miniature appears to be an exception. Glockendon must have had before him the famous Prodigal Son engraving by Dürer but instead he chose a model from a different moment in the story. Our miniature displays Glockendon’s talented mastery of exuberant coloring, subtle shading, and liquid gold highlights to create a volumetric composition of great sensuality. Whereas most of the other miniatures from this yet-unidentified Prayerbook depict scenes from the Passion of Christ, this is the only one to emerge so far that depicts the parables. Enough miniatures are now extant from this Prayerbook to warrant a partial reconstruction of the parent manuscript and further study of Glockendon’s distinctive style, which constitutes a significant contribution to the German Renaissance.
Provenance
London, Sotheby's, 23 June 1998, lot. 36.
Sister Leaves (selected, all leaves blank on the reverse):
No parent manuscript has been identified, but it must have been broken up prior to 1959, the date the Pierpont Morgan Library acquired its two leaves.
1. Christ Nailed to the Cross (miniature based on Albrecht Dürer woodcut, The Nailing to the Cross, Bartsch 39, dating c. 1502)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M.896.1 (acquired Maggs, 1959) https://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/thumbs/159778
2. Ecce Homo (miniature based on Albrecht Dürer engraving, Bartsch 10, Ecce Homo, dated 1512)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M.896.2 (acquired Maggs, 1959) https://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/thumbs/159778
3. The Raising of the Cross [not based on a known print by Albrecht Dürer)
Cleveland Museum of Art, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection, 2006.14 [Esther Rosenbaum, d. 1980, Chicago; sale Swann’s New York, November 16, 1975, lot 207; to Roger Wieck, to Bruce Ferrini, Catalogue 3, 1995, no. 45; to Jeanne Blackburn; cf. Fliegel, 1999, no. 58] https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2006.14
4. The Ascension [W. Voelkle],
5. The Crucifixion [Maggs, Bulletin 12, June 1984, no. 100; Bruce P. Ferrini, Catalogue 1, 1987, item 110],
6. Christ before Caiaphas (miniature based on Albrecht Durer’s woodcut from the Small Passion of 1511, Bartsch 29 [Bruce Ferrini, Catalogue 2, 1989, no. 24, with an attribution to Monogrammist M, an artist working in the circle of Nikolaus Glockendon; later Maggs, Illumination and Script, Fall 2022, no. 26, attributed to Nikolaus Glockendon and his circle]
7. The Entombment [Maggs, Bulletin 12, June 1984, no. 101]
Literature:
Cashion, Debra Taylor. “The Rowland Prayerbook of Nikolaus Glockendon: Manuscript Painting in the Golden Age of Nuremberg,” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1994.
Cashion, Debra Taylor. “The Art of Nikolaus Glockendon: Imitation and Originality in the Art of the German Renaissance,” Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 2:1-2 (Summer 2010) DOI: 10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.2.
Fliegel, Stephen N., The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, Cleveland, 1999, 70, no. 68, illus.
Marrow, James H. “Nikolaus Glockendon and Simon Bening: German Copies of the Evangelish Portraits in Bening’s Stockholm Book of Hours,” Nationalmuseum Bulletin Sockholm 7, no. 2 (1983), 93-101.
Merkl, Ulrich. Buchmalerie in Bayern in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts: Spätblute und Endzeit einter Gattung, Regensburg, 1999.
Merkl, Ulrich. “Nicolaus Glockendons Leben und Werk,” in Das Glockendon Gebetbuch: Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, alpha U.6.7.2, vol. 2, pp. 47-74, ed with commentary by Regina Cermann, Lucerne, Faksimile Verlag, 1998.