Medieval and Renaissance Lanterns

Lanterns

See also Medieval Lanterns. (A page on 18th century lanterns appears elsewhere on this site.

The arrest of Christ, The Fécamp Psalter (KB 76 F 13, fol. 21v), c. 1180
Ceramic lantern, late 12th-early 13th century, in Raqqa, Syria
The flight of the Midianites, the Maciejowski Bible (PML M.638, fol. 13r), c. 1250
Betrayal of Christ, a psalter (PML M.113, fol. 36v), second half of the 13th century
Betrayal of Christ, a psalter-hours (PML M.183, fol. 213r), c. 1280s
The arrest of Christ, The Picture-Book of Madame Marie (BNF Latin 16251, fol. 33v), c. 1285-1290
Green-glazed ceramic lantern from Saintonge
The man at the far left in The Betrayal of Christ, The Windmill Psalter (PML M.102, fol. 52v), late 13th century; the lantern resembles some of the ceramic medieval lanterns listed above
Christ Taken Prisoner by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-1311
Lantern, 14th century
The arrest of Christ, Bible Historiale (BNF Fr. 152, fol. 437v), 14th century
Man with lantern, psalter (Douce 6, fol. 145r), c. 1320-1330
Border decoration, The Life of St. Louis (BNF Fr. 5716, fol. 345), c. 1330-1340
St. Julien the Hospitaller, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 241, fol. 55v), 1348
An ape holding a lantern, Voeux du paon (PML G.24, fol. 30v), c. 1350
Copper-alloy lantern found in Smithfield, mid-14th century
The treason of Judas, the Petites heures de Jean de Berry (BNF Latin 18014, fol. 76), c. 1375
Instruments of the Passion, a book of hours (PML M.90, fol. 50r), c. 1375; interesting detail on the panes of the lantern
Archbishop Absalon’s lantern, Denmark, 14th century
Instruments of the Passion (fol. 77v) and St. Gudula (fol. 125r), a book of hours (KB KA 36), c. 1375-1400
Betrayal and arrest of Christ, a book of hours (PML M.90, fol. 46v), c. 1370-1380
The arrest of Christ, the Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame de Jean de Berry (BNF Nouvelle acquisition latine 3093, fol. 181r), c. 1380

Lanterna haþ þat name for light is yclosed þer Inne, and is y-made of glas, or of horne, ouþer of som other clere þing, and light is y-closed er Inne for þat þe wynde schulde nou3t blowe out þe light; and he ... is ofte y-bore aboute wiþ light þer Inne.

John Trevisa's translation
of De Proprietatibus Rerum
(British Library MS Add. 27944), c. 1398

Hermit-grotesque reading by lantern-light, book of hours (Douce 62, fol. 105v), c. 1400
St. Christopher, a book of hours (Rawl. liturg. e. 12, fol. 163v), beginning of the 15th century
Argia searches for Polynices' body, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598, fol. 41v), beginning of the 15th century
Lantern, 15th century
Lantern, 15th century Sweden
St. John the Baptist (fol. 12v), St. Christopher (fol. 27v), the arrest of Christ (fol. 35v), a book of hours (Laud Lat. 15), first quarter of the 15th century
Various 15th century lanterns on page 7 of Dragon #1; more 15th century lanterns on pp. 6-21 of Dragon #9
Marginal illustrations: a crouching man holds a lantern (fol. 23r) and a kneeling monk holds a lantern (fol. 170r), The Hours of Charlotte of Savoy (PML M.1004), c. 1420-1425
An angel with a torch and a lantern, a book of hours (Douce d. 19, fol. 54r), c. 1420-1430
Ffritz Hornrichter works with a plate of horn for a lantern, Mendel Hausbuch (Amb. 317.2, fol. 15v), c. 1425
Parable of the lost coin (ÖNB 485, fol. 32v), c. 1425-1435
The arrest of Christ, The pilgrimage of human life (BNF Fr. 376, fol. 214), second quarter of the 15th century
St. John the Baptist, Bible Historiale (KB 78 D 38 II, fol. 148v), c. 1430
St. Julian the Hospitaller and his wife, The Hours of Eleanor Worcester (Brit. Lib. Harley 1251, fol. 43), c. 1430
The story of Madonna Francesca in the Decameron (BNF Arsenal 5070, fol. 321v), 1432
St. Christopher, a book of hours (MMW 10 F 11, fol. 9r), c. 1440
Arrest of Christ, the Hours of Marie de Rieux (PML M.190, fol. 42r), c. 1440-1450
Hand-lantern from Sweden, 15th century
St. John the Baptist, a prayerbook (KB 130 E 17, fol. 5v), c. 1450
Detail from Nativity, c. 1450-1490
Speculum humanae salvationis (BNF Fr. 188), mid-15th century: the arrest of Christ (fol. 22v), the Virgin Mary battles Satan (fol. 34v), the parable of the lost drachmas (fol. 40), the arrest of Christ (fol. 48), and the Virgin Mary and the emblems of the life of Christ (fol. 51)
Detail from a fresco of the Arrest of Christ in the Sanctuary Notre-Dame des Fontaines
St. Christopher (fol. 260v) and St. Julian the Hospitaller and his wife (fol. 273v), The Hours of Philip of Burgundy (KB 76 F 2), c. 1450-1460
Nativity, a book of hours (PML M.104, fol. 62r), c. 1450-1460
Teaching scene, De proprietatibus rerum (BNF Fr. 22533, fol. 100v), third quarter of the 15th century
The arrest of Christ, Fleur des histoires (BNF Fr. 56, fol. 46), second half of the 15th century
St. Christopher, The Hours of Simon de Varie< (KB 74 G 37, fol. 74v), c. 1455
Instruments of the Passon, a book of hours (KB 135 E 40, fol. 111r), c. 1455-1460
St. Christopher, The Hours of Catherine of Aragon (KB 76 F 7, fol. 23v), c. 1460
Malchus reaches for the lantern, Chronique universelle (PML M.214, fol. 2v), c. 1460
Lantern (detail), c. 1460-1480
Detail from St. Christopher, c. 1460-1480
The dream of St. Gregory of Nazianzus (fol. 164) and St. Jerome teaching (fol. 216v), Speculum historiale (BNF Fr. 51), 1463
Malchus holding a lantern and staff, book of hours (PML M.1003, fol. 20r), c. 1465
Bernard of Clairvaux, victory over the Devil, the Hours of Infante Don Alfonso of Castile (PML M.854, fol. 199v), c. 1465-1480
Tristan is surprised in Isolde's room, Tristan de Léonois (BNF Fr. 102, fol. 69v), c. 1470
St. Christopher, book of hours (Liturg. 41, fol. 200v), c. 1470-1480
Book of hours of Étienne Chevalier by Jean Fouquet (Museé Conde 71, fol. 23r), 15th century
Alexander looks at the eclipse, The History of Alexander the Great (BNF Fr. 257, fol. 58v), fourth quarter of the 15th century
St. Christopher, a book of hours (PML M.198, fol. 105r), c. 1480
Triptych of the Family Moreel by Hans Memling, 1484 (center panel)
St. Christopher, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr 245, fol. 5v), c. 1480-1490
St. Christopher, a book of hours (PML M.231, fol. 199v), c. 1480-1495
Retable of the Passion by Master Arnt, c. 1483
Christ teaching, a book of hours (PML M.894, fol. 230v), c. 1485
Malchus at the arrest of Christ (fol. 86r) and a fox holding a lantern (fol. 124r), a book of hours (PML M.26), c. 1485-1490
Malchus at the arrest of Christ, a book of hours (PML M.231, fol. 122v), c. 1485-1490
Detail of Joseph holding a lantern that is open to show a twisted candle with multiple wicks in a Nativity, c. 1485-1495
Detail from The Nativity, c. 1485-1495
Nativity, a book of hours (PML M.291, fol. 32r), c. 1490
Detail from Nativity by Friedrich Herlin, 1488
St. Christopher, a book of hours (MMW 10 F 1, fol. 209r), c. 1490
The Arrest of Christ by the Master of Haarlem, c. 1490
Nativity, a book of hours (PML M.380, fol. 52v), c. 1490
Nativity, a book of hours (PML M.1053, fol. 61v), c. 1490-1500
Detail (and another detail) from Christ in front of Caiphas from the Altarpiece of the Birth of Christ, Bardejov, c. 1490-1500
Detail from The Nativity in the Kefermarkt Altar, c. 1490-1500
The kiss of Judas (Bibl. Mazarine MS 0412, f. 150), c. 1491-1493
St. Christopher, a book of hours (KB 135 G 19, fol. 139r), c. 1495
Nativity, c. 1495-1505
Animal carrying a halberd and lantern, book of hours (Buchanan e. 8, fol. 21v), late 15th/early 16th century
Detail from The Arrest of Christ by Reuland Frueauf the Younger, 1498
Medieval lanterns at the Swedish Historical Museum: SHM 3884, SHM 5975, SHM 7328
The arrival of Aristonikos of Methyma at Chios, The History of Alexander the Great (BNF Fr. 709, fol. 9), 15th-16th century
Right wing of the Triptych of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500
A lantern-seller, Les Cris de Paris, c. 1500
Christ confounding soldiers (fol. 13r), Mass of St. Gregory (fol. 168r), and St. Christopher (fol. 178r), Hours of Henry VIII (PML H.8), c. 1500
St. Christopher, a prayer-book (Douce 264, fol. 15v), beginning of the 16th century
Detail from St. Christopher by Simon von Taisten, c. 1500-1510
The Bellows-Repairer by Hieronymus Bosch
Two dwarf characters from the mountains under a tree, 15th century
Nativity (fol. 51v) and the arrest of Christ (fol. 227v), The Hours of Anne of Brittany (BNF Fr. 9474), c. 1503-1508
St. Joseph in The Birth of Christ, 1506

A cheape lanterne, wherein a burning candle may be carried, in any stormie or windie weather, without any horne, glasse, paper, or other defensatiue, before it.
Make a foure-square box, of 6 or 7 inches euerie waie, and 17 or 18 inches in length, with a socket in the bottome thereof, close the sides will either with doue tails or cement, so as they take no aire, leaue in the middest of one of the sides a slit or open dore, to put in the candle, ich from the bottome to the toppe thereof whmay contain 6 or 7 inches in length, and twoe and a halfe in bredth, though it stand open and naked to the ayre without any defense, yet the winde will haue no power to extinguish the same. The reason seemeth to be because the box is already full of ayre, whereby there is no roome or place to conteine any more, neither can the ayre finde any thorough passage, by reason of the closenesse thereof. The socket would be made to screw in and out at the bottom and then you may put in your candle before you fasten the socket. This is borrowed of one of the rarest Mathematicians of our age.

Hugh Platt, The Jewell House of Art and Nature

The Betrayal of Christ by Albrecht Dürer, 1508
St. Christopher by Albrecht Dürer, 1511
The adoration of the shepherds, 16th century Germany
Malchus at the arrest of Christ, a book of hours (PML M.290, fol. 10v), c. 1520; interesting detail on the panes of the lantern
A lantern, The Tudor Pattern Book (Ashmole 1504, fol. 12v), c. 1520-1530
Hanns Dürr, a lantern-maker, Mendel Hausbuch (Amb. 317.2, fol. 155v), 1536
A lantern on the Mary Rose, 1545, also here
Satire of the merchant's greed by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, c. 1550-1560
Elck or Everyman by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1558
Detail and another detail from The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1562
The Gloomy Day by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565 (detail)
The lanternmaker, Das Ständebuch, 1568
Lantern in carved, gilt, and painted wood, probably from the portego of a Venetian palace, c. 1570; note similarity to the ceiling fixture in a ball in Venice in 1580
Lantern (fol. 38r) and a pitchfork-like weapon with a lantern attached (fol. 39r), Machines et utensils de guerre (Douce b. 2), 1582
The Betrayal of Christ, 1596-1597