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Richard de Bury
Tutoring Young Edward III
Howard Pyle (1853-1911)
Oil on canvas, 35 ¼ x 20 1/8 inches
Jointly owned by the Delaware Art Museum (Louisa du Pont Copeland Memorial Fund and Gayle and Alene Hoskins Endowment Fund) and the Brandywine River Museum, by purchase, 2006 |
In 1902, the Bibliophile Society of Boston commissioned Howard Pyle (1853-1911) to illustrate four historical book-lovers for Thomas Frognall Dibden’s publication The Bibliomaniac; or, Book-Madness. Pyle’s paintings (Roger Bacon; Erasmus, Colet, and More; Isaac Walton; and Caxton at his Press) were then etched by W. H. W. Bicknell and included in the book. The prints were considered to be so fine and attracted so much attention that the Bibliophile Society decided to also issue them in portfolio form in a limited edition in 1903, adding a fifth painting, Richard de Bury Tutoring Young Edward III, to the set. That same year, a Saint Louis art collector, William K. Bixby, purchased the five original Pyle paintings. After Bixby’s death in 1931, the paintings passed into various hands.
Richard de Bury Tutoring Young Edward III has now been jointly acquired by the Delaware Art Museum and the Brandywine River Museum. This work illustrates a Benedictine monk standing in the background watching over a young boy seated at a prie dieu, reading a hand-written book with a fantastic decorated capital letter. While the text is not legible on the open pages of the book, Pyle clearly paints the illuminated initial “P” on the page. In the foreground, beside the young man on the floor, two more books lie on a green cloth on the carpet. The top book’s cover is decorated with a gold crucifix, revealing that it is a bible. The young man is Edward III (1312-1377), who will be king of England.
Edward III is considered one of the most successful English kings of medieval times. His 50-year reign began when his father was deposed in 1326 and lasted until his death. Edward III, also referred to as Edward of Windsor to reflect the place of his birth, was crowned at 14 and married at 15. When he was still the Prince of Wales, his tutor, the Benedictine monk standing in the background of the painting, was Richard de Bury (1287-1345). Born at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk (hence his name), de Bury studied philosophy and theology at the University of Oxford and joined a Benedictine monastery. Beyond being Edward’s teacher, De Bury was a scholar, diplomat, Bishop of Durham, founder of the library at Durham, and a noted bibliophile. As a patron of learning, he was one of the first collectors of books in England, and it was he who is said to have inspired Edward III with his own bibliomania.
At the end of his life, Richard de Bury wrote a volume in praise of books called the Philobiblon. Greek for “book-lover,” the Philobiblon declared that caring for and preparing new books was rendering service to God, particularly if it were a holy book.
“These [books] are the masters who instruct us without rods and ferrules, without hard words and anger, without clothes and money. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if investigating, you interrogate them, they conceal nothing; if you mistake them, they never grumble; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh at you. The library, therefore, is wisdom more precious than all riches, and nothing that can be wished for is worthy to be compared with it. Whosoever therefore acknowledges himself to be a zealous follower of truth, of happiness, of wisdom, or science, or even of the faith, must of necessity make himself a lover of books.”
Richard de Bury [Richard Aungerville], Philobiblon,1345
De Bury’s book was filled with advice on how to handle and store books, for example, not reading a book with a running nose, or with dirty hands and nails, or eating over an open book. Each book was a treasure and should be handled as if it were Scripture.
