Master of the Parement

The Parement of Narbonne is 2.86 m long and 77.5 cm high, and is painted in black ink (strictly, grisaille) on silk. It includes scenes from the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, including the Kiss of Judas, the Flagellation, the Carrying of the Cross, the Entombment, the Descent into Limbo and the Noli Me Tangere. The then king of France, Charles V and his queen, Jeanne de Bourbon, are shown kneeling at either side of the cross in the central Crucifixion scene. Their presence suggests that the altarcloth was commissioned between 1364, the date of Charles's accession, and 1378 when the queen died. Its colour suggests that it was made for use during Lent, when it was conventional for richly coloured altarpieces to be covered by more simple drapes. Some illuminated manuscripts are attributed to the same artist or his circle, including some of the illustrations in the Book of Hours of René d'Anjou which is now in the British Library, and the important manuscript, now in different parts in several museums known as the Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame (BnF), and the Milan-Turin Hours. According to the British Library, the Parement Master may have been Jean d'Orleans, an artist who is known to have been employed by Charles V between 1340 and 1407. The style of the workshop of the Parement Master is distinctive. The figures are graceful and relatively realistic and three-dimensional in appearance, with expressive faces, but their heads tend to be disproportionate and heavy. Meiss (1967) suggests that the artists were influenced by earlier Italian painting, though others have drawn parallels with contemporary Bohemian style, or have seen northern (perhaps Flemish) influence in the realism of the faces. Both the handling of the grisaille technique and the box-like architectural frames in which some of the scenes are set indicate a keen awareness of the earlier work of Jean Pucelle (active in Paris in the 1320s).

The recorded working language is French. Jean Pucelle is recorded as an influence. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Works named in the authority record are The Narbonne Altarcloth, Turin-Milan Hours and Egerton Hours. Work by Master of the Parement is recorded in the collections of British Library.

Master of the Parement was recorded at birth as Jean d'Orléans. His recorded language was French.