THE KING'S ILLUMINATOR
AND to say that he was happier than even King Louis, is saying a very
great deal; for King Louis spent the day most delightfully in Bretagne,
in the castle of his bride to be, the Lady Anne. And then, just after
the holiday season had passed, early in January, he and Lady Anne were
married with great ceremony and splendour.
After the wedding, for three months, the king and queen lingered in
Bretagne; enjoying themselves by night with magnificent entertainments
in the castle, and by day in riding over the frosty fields and in
hunting, of which both of them were very fond. And then in April, when
the first hawthorn buds were beginning to break, they journeyed down to
Paris to live in the king's palace.
Before long, King Louis and Queen Anne decided to make a number of
improvements in this palace; and as they both were great lovers of
beautiful books, they determined, among other things, to build a large
writing-room where they could have skilful illuminators always at work
making lovely books for them.
When this room was finished, and they began to think of whom they would
employ, the first one they spoke of was Brother Stephen, whose exquisite
work on the book of hours had so delighted them. But then, much as they
wished to have him in the palace, they did not think it possible to do
so, as they knew he belonged to the brotherhood of St. Martin's Abbey,
and so of course had taken vows to spend his whole life there.
It chanced, however, soon after this, that King Louis happened to have a
little talk with the messenger he had sent to the Abbey at Christmas
time to see about Gabriel. And this messenger told the king that while
there the Abbot, in speaking to him of Brother Stephen's work, had said
that the latter really wished to leave the brotherhood and go into the
world to paint; and that, though he had refused his request to be freed
from his vows, yet the monk had worked so faithfully at King Louis's
book that he thought he had earned his freedom, and that perhaps he, the
Abbot, had done wrong in forcing him to stay at the Abbey if he wished
to study his art elsewhere.
In short, he had as much as said that if Brother Stephen ever again
asked for his freedom, he would grant it; and this showed that the Abbot
had relented and unbent a great deal more than any one could ever have
believed possible.
When King Louis heard what the messenger told him, he was greatly
pleased; and after talking it over with the queen, he decided to send
the same messenger post-haste back to the Abbey to ask for the services
of Brother Stephen before the Abbot might again change his mind.
Now King Louis was a very liberal monarch, and both he and Queen Anne
liked nothing better than to encourage and help along real artists. And
so they thought that they would supply Brother Stephen with money so
that he could travel about and study and paint as he chose, even if he
preferred always to paint larger pictures rather than to illuminate
books; though they hoped that once in awhile he might spend a little
time in their fine new writing-room.
When the messenger started, they told him to explain all this to Brother
Stephen, and let the latter plan his work in whatever way best pleased
him.
But the queen gave particular orders that, if possible, the messenger
was to bring the peasant boy, Gabriel Viaud, back to the palace with
him; for she thought the lad's work on the page where he had written his
little prayer showed such promise that she wished to see him, and to
have him continue his training in the beautiful art of illumination.
The messenger, having thus received his orders, at once set out again
for Normandy; and he found this second journey much more pleasant than
the one he had made before, through the winter snows. For this time he
rode under tall poplar-trees and between green hedgerows, where the
cuckoos and fieldfares sang all day long. And when, after several days'
travelling, he drew near St. Martin's Abbey, the country on either side
of the road was pink with wild roses and meadowsweet, just as it had
been a year before, when Gabriel used to gather the clusters of
field-flowers for Brother Stephen to paint in the beautiful book.
Indeed, Gabriel still gathered the wild flowers every day, but only
because he loved them; for though, since their better fortunes, he was
again studying and working with Brother Stephen, the latter was then
busy on a long book of monastery rules, with only here and there a
coloured initial letter, and which altogether was not nearly so
interesting as had been the book of hours with its lovely painted
borders.
And so when the messenger reached the Abbey, and made known his errand,
they were both overjoyed at the prospect King Louis offered them.
After talking with the messenger, the Abbot, true to his word, in a
solemn ceremony, freed Brother Stephen from his vows of obedience to
the rules of St. Martin's brotherhood; and then he gave both him and
Gabriel his blessing.
Brother Stephen, who had been too proud to ask a second time for his
freedom, was now delighted that it had all come about in the way it did,
and that he could devote his time to painting anything he chose.
Gabriel, too, was enchanted at the thought of all that he could do and
learn in the king's palace; and though he felt it hard to leave his
home, Queen Anne had kindly made it easier for him by promising that
sometimes he might come back for a little visit.
So in a few days he and Brother Stephen had made all their preparations
to leave; and they set out, Gabriel going with the messenger directly to
King Louis's palace in Paris; while Brother Stephen, taking the bag of
gold pieces which the king and queen had sent for him, travelled to many
of the great cities of Europe, where he studied the wonderful paintings
of the world's most famous masters, and where he himself made many
beautiful pictures. In this way he spent a number of happy months.
And then, just as a great many other people do, who find out that as
soon as they are not compelled to do a certain kind of work, they really
like it very much better than they thought, so, Brother Stephen, being
no longer obliged to illuminate books, all at once discovered that he
really enjoyed painting them more than anything else in the world.
And so it was that, by and by, to the gratification of the king and
queen, and above all to the great delight of Gabriel, he made his way to
the great writing-room of the palace in Paris. And there, in the doing
of his exquisite artistic work, he passed the rest of his long and happy
life.
And through all the years the warm love and friendship between himself
and Gabriel was as sweet and beautiful and as unchanging as any of the
white and golden lilies that they painted in their rarest books. For
Gabriel, too, became one of the finest illuminators of the time, and
his work was much sought for by the great nobles of the land.
Indeed, to this day, many of the wonderful illuminations that were made
in that writing-room are still carefully kept in the great libraries and
museums of France and of Europe. And some time, if ever you have the
happiness to visit one of these, and are there shown some of the painted
books from the palace of King Louis XII. and Queen Anne, if the work is
especially lovely, you may be quite certain that either Brother Stephen,
or Gabriel, or perhaps both of them together, had a hand in its making.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Gabriel and the Hour Book, by Evaleen Stein