William de Brailes (active c. 1230 – c. 1260) was an English Early Gothic manuscript illuminator, presumably born in Brailes, Warwickshire. He signed two manuscripts, and apparently worked in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where he is documented from 1238 to 1252, owning property in

Catte Street Catte Street is a historic street in central Oxford, England. Location Catte Street runs north–south, continuing as Parks Road to the north (beyond a junction with Broad Street and Holywell Street). The street passes along the eastern si ...

near the

University Church of St Mary the Virgin The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Anglican church in Oxford situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost excl ...

, roughly on the site now occupied by the chapel of

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, where various members of the book trade lived. He was married, to Celena, but evidently also held

minor orders In Christianity, minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders—priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders— acolyt ...

, as at least three

self-portrait Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...

s show him with a clerical

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...

. This was not unusual: by this date, and with the exception of the

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

monk

Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris (; 1200 – 1259), was an English people, English Benedictine monk, English historians in the Middle Ages, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts, and cartographer who was based at St A ...

, the only other English illuminator of the period about whom we have significant personal information, most English illumination seems to have been done in commercial workshops run by laymen.Morgan, p. 30

Manuscripts

William de Brailes illuminated Bibles,

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

s, a

Book of hours A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

and secular texts, and may also have been a scribe. He is associated with a distinctive style, but other artists also worked in this manner, and distinguishing his hand from theirs is difficult. The style is characterised by energetic gesticulating figures, though with a limited range of facial expression, and a concern for narrative. Ornamental bars stretch out from

historiated initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means ''of the beginning ...

s to the top or sides of the text, a feature in transition from the

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

to the mature Gothic style, where decorative borders run round the whole page. Larger miniatures often contain different scenes in separate roundels. Most of his manuscripts have a page size similar to that of a standard modern paperback, and reflect the trend towards the personal ownership of books by well off but not extravagant members of both clergy and

laity In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...

. The principal works attributed to Brailes and his workshop include: * The "De Brailes Hours" in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(Add MS 49999) is the earliest surviving separate English

(it has incorrectly been claimed to be the earliest anywhere, and the prototype of the form), the type of book that was to become the leading vehicle for illumination in the late Middle Ages. It was probably created for an unknown laywoman whose generic "portrait" is shown four times. It has been suggested she was from

North Hinksey North Hinksey is a village in the civil parish of Botley and North Hinksey, in the Vale of White Horse district, in Oxfordshire, England, on the west side of the Thames flood plain immediately opposite the city of Oxford. The civil parish incl ...

near Oxford, and possibly called Suzanna. Signed twice by "W. de Brail", adding once "q i me depeint" ("who painted me"). Despite its small size of 150 x 123 mm, it contains a large number of historiated initials and full page miniatures introducing sections. *A series of small leaves (135 x 98 mm) illuminated on one or both sides with full-page miniatures, probably from a psalter (perhaps a psalter now in Stockholm which has a major historiated initial by de Brailes), with twenty four now in the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, and seven in the Wildenstein Collection, Musée Marmottan Paris. *"The New College Psalter", at 350 x 250 mm, the "largest and most elaborate extant work from the de Brailes workshop", and relatively late in date, this work belongs to the category of luxury psalters, with an illuminated

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

and abundant decoration throughout, although there is no cycle of full-page miniatures. * Miniatures from a Psalter, consisting of six leaves in the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

and one in the

Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

extant, from a series of full-page illuminations on the Old and New Testaments (215 x 143 mm). * Bible with some Masses (British Library, Harley MS. 2813) – recently attributed, for a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

patron, 183 x 133 mm, with two remaining historiated initials. * Bible with some Masses, in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, Oxford. A small (167 x 116 mm) Bible, probably made for a Dominican patron. * Bible in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge – the workshop's "most elaborate surviving example of Bible illustration", with 79 illuminated, mostly historiated, initials from which the decoration typically extends down the page. 245 x 175 mm. * A Bible whose surviving fragments are dispersed among several collections: the chief surviving portion (155 folios) is Lewis Ms E 29 in the

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...

, 182 x 113 mm, with many historiated initials. Fourteen leaves from this manuscript are now in the

Lilly Library The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library contained a collection of 20,000 bo ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

as Ricketts C:1 (1 leaf), Ricketts III:25 (1 leaf), and Ricketts III: 53 (12 leaves). Other leaves from this same manuscript are dispersed in private collections in England.

Notes

References

*Nigel Morgan, ''A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, Volume 4: Early Gothic Manuscripts, Part 1 1190–1250'', Harvey Miller Ltd, London, 1982,

External links

British Library Digitised manuscripts
Digital facsimile of the De Brailes Hours

A compilation of 24 leaves of Bible illuminations by de Brailes (Ms. W.106) on The Walters Art Museum site {{DEFAULTSORT:De Brailes, William Manuscript illuminators 13th-century English artists People from Stratford-on-Avon District People from Oxford Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain

Manuscripts

Notes

References

Further reading

External links