Jacob Van Arteveld holding his state in Ghent.
PLATE XVIII.
JACOB VAN ARTEVELDE HOLDING STATE IN GHENT.
Though so frequently occurring in illuminated manuscripts of the fifteenth century, it has so happened that our selection of subjects has not fallen on one containing a portraiture of the Fool or Jester—a prominent figure in the social groups of that period.
In the present miniature the artist has attempted to exhibit the great state kept by Jacob van Artevelde, who, after assuming the supreme power in Flanders, surrounded himself with men-at-arms, numerous attendants, not omitting the Jester, it would seem, and such a train of retainers as was usual with the great Lords and Sovereigns of that time.