
Peronet Lamy (died before July 1453), called ''Perenet lenlumineur'' ("Peronet the Illuminator"), was a
Gothic painter and
manuscript illuminator who spent his career in the employ of the
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...
.
Lamy's birthplace is hypothesised to be
Saint-Claude in the
Bresse
Bresse () is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté of eastern France. The geographical term ''Bresse'' has two meanings: ''Bresse bourguignonne'' (or ''louhannaise''), whic ...
, then a Savoyard region bordering France. There is no record of Lamy's birth, but his brother Jean was living in Saint-Claude in 1453.
Lamy's first appearance in the historical record is in Savoy in May 1432, when he added the
marginalia
Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margin (typography), margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, gloss (annotation), glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminated manuscript, ...
to the
Escorial Apocalypse, a project on which he worked until 1434. This manuscript for
Amadeus VIII of Savoy
Amadeus VIII (4 September 1383 – 7 January 1451), nicknamed the Peaceful, was Count of Savoy from 1391 to 1416 and Duke of Savoy from 1416 to 1440. He was a claimant to the papacy from 1439 to 1449 as Felix VWhen numbering of the popes began t ...
(also
antipope
An antipope () is a person who claims to be Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in opposition to the officially elected pope. Between the 3rd and mid-15th centuries, antipopes were supported by factions within the Church its ...
Felix V) had been illustrated by
Jean Bapteur beginning in 1428. The records of payment indicate that Lamy illuminated not just the marginalia for all ninety-seven
folio
The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...
s, but also all the
initial
In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...
s and "certain images". These four miniatures have been identified on folios 24v to 26r; they were painted after Bapteur had left the project, and Lamy had to work around his already existing illustrations.
From these miniatures it has been possible for
art historians
The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics ...
to characterise Lamy's work in terms of phases. In the miniatures, his early work, the figures are brightly coloured and softly outlined, although they have been compared unfavourably as "blander" than Bapteur's.
[Edmunds, 136.] His style is influenced heavily by
Franco-Flemish
The designation Franco-Flemish School, also called Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Low Countries School, Flemish School, Dutch School, or Northern School, refers to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition originating from France ...
art. Maxence Petit-Delchet calls him "franco-flamande" (Franco-Flemish), while Bapteur he labels "franco-italien" (Franco-Italian).
[ In time Lamy's style grew darker and more angular.
]
In August 1432 Lamy was again working with Bapteur, this time on the ''sale nove'' (new room) and new chapel of the ''château
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
'' at Thonon
Thonon-les-Bains (; ), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is part of a ...
—the project which had taken Bapteur away from the Apocalypse. This is Lamy's only preserved or recorded non-manuscript work. For the rest of his life he was a miniaturist, but none of the manuscripts he worked on has been identified.[Edmunds, 137.] In 1434, before he had even ceased work on the Apocalypse, Lamy illuminated 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, ...
for Anne of Lusignan, giving it one hundred gold letters. In 1436 Lamy completed a Nativity scene
In the Christian tradition, a nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche ( or ), or in Italian ''presepio'' or ''presepe'', or Bethlehem) is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmastide, Christmas season, of ar ...
for the frontispiece of a Gospel book
A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ) is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the roo ...
commissioned by Pietro Donato; the rest of the illuminations in this work were done by Johannes de Monterchio. The identification of this work as Lamy's was first communicated to the Pierpont 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 ...
by Otto Pächt in 1943. While the bulk of the Gospel lectionary is in the Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
n style, the frontispiece is distinctly un-Italian; it was once attributed to an Upper Rhenish artist.[Edmunds, 138.] Probably Lamy was hired by Donato while the latter was attending the Council of Basel
The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1445. It was convened in territories under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy became a venue of a Catholic ecumenical council aft ...
. Donato hired Lamy again to work on the miniatures for his copy of the '' Codex Spirensis'', an important Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...
compilation containing notably the ''Notitia Dignitatum
The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...
'' and ''De rebus bellicis
("On the Things of Wars") is an anonymous work of the 4th or 5th century which suggests remedies for the military and financial problems in the Roman Empire, including a number of fanciful war machines. It was written after the death of Con ...
''. The initials in this manuscript are by others. The miniatures are immensely useful to scholars as basically faithful reproductions of the originals, shedding much light on the late Roman army
In modern scholarship, the Later Roman Empire, "late" period of the Roman army begins with the accession of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 284, and ends in 480 with the death of Julius Nepos, being roughly coterminous with the Dominate. During th ...
. The architectural illustrations in the ''Notitia'' appear influenced by the manuscript workshop of the French regent, John, Duke of Bedford
John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford (20 June 1389 – 14 September 1435) was a medieval English prince, general, and statesman who commanded England's armies in France during a critical phase of the Hundred Years' War. Bedford was the third son ...
. At least one of the illustrations, a view of Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
, appears to have been an addition of Peronet not found in the original. Peronet produced another copy of the ''Notitia'' (which was in Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
''c''.1443) wherein the miniatures are stylised and "modernised".
In 1440 Lamy made (or was paid for) an "ystoire de Nostre Dame et la premiere letter et la vignette entour" as part of a book of hours for Yolande of France, the young fiancée of the future Amadeus IX. His next major work as an unidentified 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 ...
and then, in November 1443, unspecified ''aucunes enlumineures'', for which the Savoyard court paid him five gold ducat
The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...
s.[ These illuminations have been identified as those of the Royal Missal, commissioned by Duke Louis and given to his father, Felix V.][ Peronet Lamy has also been identified with the master of the '' Champion des Dames'', and with the creator of the Archives Missal, another missal for Felix V.][
Lamy's work for Felix can be dated to before 1445, as financial troubles past that date would have precluded any more commissions. Lamy's final recorded work was on a ]breviary
A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times.
Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...
for Duke Louis (''c''.1452). The ''Champion'', written ''c''.1441–2 by Martin Le Franc
Martin le Franc ( – 1461) was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
Life and career
He was born in Normandy, and studied in Paris. He entered clerical orders, becoming an prothonotary, apostolic prothonotary, and later bec ...
, contains the earliest known portrait of Philip the Bold
Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and ''jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg.
Philip was th ...
.[Edmunds, 131.]
Notes
External links
"Peronet Lamy,"
''Art Encyclopedia'', ''The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
at the University of Arizona Library, Special Collections.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamy, Peronet
1450s deaths
15th-century French painters
French male painters
15th-century people from the Savoyard State
Year of birth unknown
French manuscript illuminators