It was begun about 1440, and finished
in 1453. The portrait of the Enfante Don Henrique, called the Navigator,
is set in a border evidently by a pupil or imitator of J. Van Eyck. The
calligraphy of the MS. is most beautiful. This influence of the
Netherlands on Portuguese art is, indeed, confirmed by the political
diplomatic relations of the fifteenth century, and is of some importance
in the history of art. We shall refer again to this matter when dealing
with another MS.
Among all the calligraphic monuments of Portugal it is claimed that the
most splendid is the "Bible of the Hieronymites." (See _Revista
universal Lisbonense_, 1848, pp. 24-8.) This work, it is said, was a
present from the Court of Rome to Emanuel, successor of John II., in
remembrance of the homage made to the Holy See, of the first gold
brought from the Indies, but the story is very doubtful. The King, in
bequeathing the seven volumes to the convent of Belem, says nothing
about such an origin. They are manifestly in great part the work of
foreign artists. One well-known miniaturist, Antonio de Holanda, the
father of the better-known Francesco, took part in the work, and having
a good conceit of his own abilities (we shall probably hear of him
again), reserved an entire volume to himself in order to give proof of
them.
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