Jeanne and Richard Montbaston

Jeanne Montbason (fl. c. 1325–1353) was a French illustrator and bookseller who managed a book shop in Paris alongside her husband, Richard Montbaston. Her husband published books, while she illustrated them.[1] Their business was famous, and among their most famous works was the Roman de la Rose.[2] She was registered as a professional artisan and gave her oath to the Paris guild in 1353.[2]

While it was not uncommon for the wives and daughters of booksellers to work in the family workshop with illuminations, bookbinding and illustrations, they normally worked purely informally, remained unnamed, and did not give a personal guild oath, unlike Jeanne Montbaston.[2]

Jeanne and Richard Montbaston at work, from their copy of the Roman de la Rose.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Leo, Domenic (16 August 2013). Images, Texts, and Marginalia in a "Vows of the Peacock" Manuscript (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS G24): With a Complete Concordance and Catalogue of Peacock Manuscripts. BRILL. p. 10 and ff, where Jeanne is generally identified as the author of the miniatures. ISBN 978-90-04-25083-3.
  2. ^ a b c Susan Broomhall. Women and the Book Trade in Sixteenth-Century France (Ashgate, 2002).
  3. ^ Deirdre Jackson, "Picturing Work", in Valerie L. Garver, ed., A Cultural History of Work in the Medieval Age (Bloomsbury, 2018), p. 63.

Further reading

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  • Rouse, Richard H. and Mary A. Rouse. Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris, 1200–1500. 2 vols. H. Miller, 2000.