Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 25
These miniatures demonstrate Bening’s extraordinary range. He situates saints within convincingly
constructed landscapes and interiors, rendered with acute observational detail: exposed tree
roots, winter branches, damp stonework, shifting reflections in water. Light is used structurally —
glinting on metalwork (nos. 40, 118), animating the gaze of Christ (no. 42), or intensifying the
infernal illumination of Hell (no. 121). His command of perspective is assured, whether in tiled
pavements (no. 84), architectural framing devices (nos. 97, 119), or the foreshortened arm of Saint
Luke (no. 45).
Equally striking is his treatment of the human figure. Faces are built from minute strokes of colour
that convey temperament and age; complexions vary subtly from the dark Saint Philip (no. 57) to
the flushed Saint Peter (no. 59). Textiles shimmer, velvet absorbs light, and even minor objects —
such as the stamped Maltese cross on Saint Bartholomew’s cleaver (no. 62) — are recorded with
meticulous precision.
Books themselves appear repeatedly within the scenes: girdle books, episcopal volumes, and richly
bound manuscripts with clasps and gauffered edges (nos. 60, 75, 94, 97, 100, etc.), suggesting how
the Brandenburg Hours may originally have appeared.
Taken together, these forty-three miniatures form one of the most concentrated demonstrations
of artistic authority in sixteenth-century illumination — a cycle executed by the leading master of
his generation for one of the most powerful ecclesiastical patrons in Europe.
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