Nativity with Donor Portrait of Cardinal Rolin, Jean Hey, oil on wood panels, 72.5 x 90.5 x 2.5 cm, circa 1480, Musée Rolin © Ville d´Autun
The Musée Rolin is continuing its abundant collaboration with the Musée du Louvre. In partnership with the Musée Denon in Chalon-sur-Saône, it is offering an exhibition in two different museums dedicated to the patronage of high Burgundian dignitaries at the end of the Middle Ages. As such, it benefits from exceptional loans from the musée du Louvre. The Musée Rolin in Autun will highlight the great artistic patronage of the Rolin and Clugny families. The Musée Denon in Chalon-sur-Saône will highlight the personalities of Jean Germain, and the Rolin, Poupet and Neufchâtel families.
Autun Missal (owned by Jean II Rolin), 36 x 27 cm, circa 1448-1462, Municipal Library, Autun
Christ of Mercy, Anonymous, sculpted oak, 172 x 85 x 47 cm, 2nd half of the 15th century, Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune
From 1384 to 1477, the Dukes of Burgundy (Philippe the Bold, John the Fearless, Philippe the Good, and Charles the Bold) created a strong regional authority which sought to gain a certain independance from the French Kingdom. They gradually acquired territories in modern-day Belgium and tried to link the two parts of their fiefdom. Each Duke was accompanied an assembly of dignitaries. These dignitaries' appetite for the arts and luxury will result in the patronage of many artworks, as is evidenced by the presence in Autun of masterpieces by Jan Van Eyck, Jean Hey (known as Le maître de Moulins) or =Jean de la Huerta.
La visite est construite comme une parfaite intégration des collections dans l’architecture du musée, l’hôtel Rolin se révélant un écrin propice à la contextualisation des œuvres. L’exposition sera répartie dans les six salles d’exposition temporaire ainsi que dans les deux salles gothiques qui présentent habituellement les œuvres des XVe et XVIe siècles du musée. Leur volume et leur distribution d’origine donnent à voir un appartement privé. L’exposition rassemble 80 objets dont sept tapisseries de taille imposante et une quinzaine de manuscrits rares. Dix œuvres proviennent des collections du musée du Louvre.
Prophet, fragment of Barthélémy de Clugny's curtain, wool and silk, 171 x 92 cm, 1512, Cathedral of Sainte Croix d´Orléans
Virgin with Child, attributed to Claux de Werve, second quarter of the 15th century, polychrome limestone, from the parish chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Chatel, Autun, height of 117 cm.
Chest, walnut and iron, 68.5 x 210, 7 x 58.8 cm, 15th century © François Jay
