In 2004 I took notes and recorded an image of an illustration from a book I believe I gravitated to as an exhibition catalogue about Felipe II. But my notes are lost. All I have is the artist name and that it was an illumination. This is a long post as this is sometimes the amount of work I need to track down any individual image or source.
In the years since I found only a few examples of Jörg Breu d.J.s work but yes that included two illuminated books. One of martial arts, and the other a family book of the Fuggers. Neither of which contain this illustration. He was important in Augsburg so I kept wondering how much of this probably ancestral figure used clothing known to him, and how much was made up.
I actually grabbed what information I could as I had seen sleeves like this before worn by Maria Jakobäa von Baden, Duchess of Bavaria.
Sammlung | Herzogin Maria Jacobaea von Bayern (pinakothek.de)
This painting is very much about going to the very limit of sumptuary laws even for a duchess. And her hat. Come on. How much do I need one. I am making one, but that’s for another blog.
Every few years I try various searches but finally this year of curating enough manuscripts to get the actual information I need for my Anne of Cleves research.
I don’t know why but The Story of Lucretia by BREU, Jörg the Younger (wga.hu) made me think “what if?”
Manuscript (Ms. 92), Eton College Library.
Needless to say I tried all the terms in this page:
“Commonly referred to as the ‘Antiquitates’ of Hans Tirol. A possible formal title is given on f. [7]v, of ‘Sentencia heroaldi’. This accompanies the portrait of Hans Tirol pointed towards the dedication to Henry VIII.” and “This volume belongs with a further three volumes produced by Hans Tirol, entitled ‘De nobilitate et ortu heroum’: Eton MSS 93-95.”
Round and round I went, finding articles on JSTOR- the greatest interest in this and other manuscripts is in historic deeds, and non-figurative art- and then found a link to a British Museum held sketch of dancers by Breu (Augsburg was big on dance.)
Again! Puffed and paned upper sleeve and trumpeting lower.
But more than that her hem has the same decoration as the probable Eton College image, and the Lucretia from the same, and there are the same curving details to the top of her bodice. Here though she wears a contemporary set of hauben and barret. These probably are his fast fillers but were used on two figures with very different uses.
So you can imagine how exciting that has been. If we didn’t have the Maria Jacobae painting these figures might be dismissed as highly fanciful.
I still really wanted to know if my hunch was right.
I found exhibition catalogues in online bookstores, the exhibition site using the way back machine, and nowhere could I find more images that hinted if my hunch was right.
And then yesterday. I somehow I spotted another solution I must have skimmed several times.
Der Codex entstand in der Werkstatt des Augsburger Malers Jörg Breu des Jüngeren. Eine 1547 entstandene, weniger umfangreiche Fassung des Werks, die dem spanischen König Philipp II. gewidmet war, der Escorial-Codex, befindet sich im spanischen Escorial.
Eton-Codex – Wikiwand
The codex was created in the workshop of the Augsburg painter Jörg Breu the Younger. A less extensive version of the work, created in 1547 and dedicated to the Spanish King Philip II, the Escorial Codex, is in the Spanish Escorial.
Eton-Codex – Wikiwand translated with google translate.
Oh no. Yet another codex I needed to hunt down using all the names it’s been known by across time and space. “Codex Escurialensis” with the date 1549 lead me to a facsimile with the titles of each volume. A great page for tracking down more information but nothing to help me check the style of the figures.
I had tried searching the Escorial library but just was not in the right section. So I still didn’t have the shelfmark. So I try another image search for “”Heráldica y origen de la nobleza de los Austrias” El Escorial
And oh my goodness. There she is. In a tiny thumbnail of a copy of the facsimile held open to her page.
She’s in the first thumbnail of the third row. in this screenshot. She’s in the top of the first page, and in the middle. Maybe the image from the site will help:
AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! My instinct was right, and oh did you catch the price? There were less than 1000 of these facsimiles made so no, I’m not able to afford one unless it’s an ex university library copy severely defaced and even then… nope.
But finally, I found the correct section of the El Escorial Liabrary!!!! And yes via the facsimile, so taking a bit of a chance I type in “Breu” in the search field, then selected “manuscritos” from the filters and… There they are!
Two have been digitised:
Historia Nobilitatis et Torneamentorum / per Othonem Cardinalem et Episcopum Augustanum
por Truchsess von Waldburg, Otto , Cardenal (1514-1573) | Tirol, Hans (ca. 1505-ca. 1576) | Breu, Jörg (ca. 1510-1547).
Idioma: Latger
Editor: Augsburgo , ca. 1547
Acceso en línea: https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/files/RBME.jpg
Disponibilidad: Ítems disponibles para préstamo: Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial Signatura topográfica: 28-I-12.
And
Historia originis et successionis regnorum et imperiorum a Noe usque ad Carolum V
por Truchsess von Waldburg, Otto , Cardenal (1514-1573) | Tirol, Hans (ca. 1505-ca. 1576) | Breu, Jörg (ca. 1510-1547).
Idioma: latger
Editor: Augsburgo , ca. 1547
Acceso en línea: https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/files/RBME.jpg
Disponibilidad: Ítems disponibles para préstamo: Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial Signatura topográfica: 28-I-11.
So naturally I get scroll happy, hoping my girl (now girls as I want to see them all) will pop up. Now these are incredible books, with so much valuable information including for my own research, but as I suspected the volume I need is actually:
Historia originis et nobilitatis Hispaniae et Germaniae etc. / per Othonem Episcopum Augustanum
por Truchsess von Waldburg, Otto , Cardenal (1514-1573) | Tirol, Hans (ca. 1505-ca. 1576) | Breu, Jörg (ca. 1510-1547).
Idioma: latger
Editor: Augsburgo , ca. 1547
Disponibilidad: Ítems disponibles para préstamo: Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial Signatura topográfica: 28-I-10.
And that makes sense. I suspected she was dressed in an Augsburg style after all.
But what of the other images you find in an image search. Well another seller of facsimiles includes a page that is very familiar in style and that’s because Jorg Breu also illustrated the Fuggerbuch- a genealogy book for the very rich Fuggers. Of Augsburg.
These pages are so useful for heraldry, for calligraphy, and is absolutely helping me finally settle on how to do my pattern book! I get to keep my prefered font but include a latinised font “translation.”
As already mentioned Das Ehrenbuch der Fugger – (BSB Cgm 9460) was illustrated by Breu and uses this same person behind their arms, in various examples of contemporary and “ancient” dress.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667751/ has the simplest access to all the images, of which there are many.
So while I’m no closer to knowing who she was, I have the information needed while waiting, and hoping that the final volume of the Escorial Codex or Eton Codex are digitised.