Account from the bailiwick of Bapaume. All Saints’ Day 1324. To Master Jean de Lagny for making the altarpiece for My Lady’s chapel, in good oak, with points of fine silver gilt and the images in good azure, vert and other colours; for painting the four corners around the altar, the carved faces, the ‘gilded columns decorated with shields with the arms of Artois’; for colouring with ochre and varnishing the two gables of the stairs of My Lady’s bedchamber and the balustrade and the terraces and the ceiling … 12 livres parisis.

Batron or Patron (Ogier), from Manosque. – Works: 15 March 1526. Order placed by the Carmelites of Aix for an altarpiece in walnut sized in proportion with the two Marys for the main altar. The architecture of the altarpiece, with columns, will frame a Virgin and Child and the two Marys … An Annunciation will be painted above the two Marys. Above the altarpiece, a shell with God the Father in half-relief. Predella with four subjects. The wings will be of painted canvas mounted on stretchers, with figures in grisaille. Price: 400 florins, plus food for the artist and his servants.

Masclet (Simon), painter of Avignon, citizen and resident of Aix. – Works: 14 September 1478. He undertakes to paint an altarpiece in walnut commissioned by the warden of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Aix. Centre: Pentecost. On one side: the Annunciation with descent of the Holy Spirit. On the other: the Baptism of Christ, with two angels holding his robes and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Pediment: Agnus Dei. Predella: Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John with the 11,000 Virgins, Mary Magdalene and an old woman praying, in one part, and St Eulalia, St Barbara and the warden, in the other.

Lira (Jean De), painter of Aix. – Works: 9 December 1531. Agreed to paint, by Lent, for 7 florins, an Ecce Homo on walnut for François Pinelli, citizen of Aix.

Chapuis or Chapus or Capus (Jean), citizen and resident of Aix. – Works: 1 May 1447. He undertook to Jaufre Dol, of Trets, to make within a year, starting 24 June, for 53 florins, a wooden altarpiece in white poplar, 7 pans wide and 6 high, plus the predella of one pan and 4 doigts, on which he would paint the legend of St Anne; centre: the Virgin and Child with St Anne; right: St Joachim with his offering, then going into the mountains with the shepherds; [left:] on the angel’s command, Joachim coming to the Golden Gate and embracing St Anne; the Birth of the Virgin; predella: Resurrection of Christ between St John and Our Lady; right: Jaufre Dol; left: his wife.

Chapuis or Chapus or Capus (Jean), citizen and resident of Aix. – Works: 22 February 1455. Contract for an altarpiece (escabel) in white poplar for Melchior Gantelmi, of Trets. Virgin and Child in the middle; right: Mary Salome and her children, then St Claudius and the Gantelmi arms; left: Mary of Clopas with her children, St Europe and the same arms: all on a ground and with a frame of gold.

Church of St Trophime. Chapel of Saints Mary Salome and Mary of Clopas: altarpiece in walnut ordered from the carpenters Jean Leduc and Jacques Lerond, to hold five painted images. 3 July 1488.

Dipre (Antoine), son of Nicolas, known as Nicolas of Amiens. No doubt shortly before leaving for Rome, he painted for Aymar d’Ancezune, Lord of Caderousse, the altarpiece for the church of St Martin in Caderousse, Chapel of Carduelh. The contract is dated 17 August 1534. Dipre supplied the wood for the altarpiece, comprising a single piece of walnut 7 palms wide and 3½ high. His relative Pierre Bigle, who witnessed the deed, was most likely the joiner contracted to do the woodwork for the altarpiece.

Dousi (Haquinet), carpenter. – Works: 21 December 1463. He receives the commission from Thomas des Farets to carry out the woodwork for a walnut altarpiece with predella and pediment, for the Celestine abbey in Avignon; in another contract dating from 13 July the next year, Pierre Villate, known as Malebouche, is commissioned to paint the work.

Changenet (Jean) [active between 1486 and 1493]. In Avignon on 9 June 1487, Changenet promised the nobleman Tannequin of Pontevès [1473–1525] to paint an altarpiece in walnut 12 palms high and 11 wide, for the Dominican church in Arles, for the price of 130 florins, 50 to be paid immediately. Central panels of the altarpiece: a Pietà; right: St Christopher; left: St Genevieve. Pediment: God the Father or the Holy Trinity, surrounded by angels. Ten or eleven unspecified pious scenes on the predella.

In Avignon on 2 December 1489, Changenet promised to supply the cousins Antoine and Jacques Bourguignon, residents of Sault, with an altarpiece in walnut (dimensions not stated) and to paint on it the Crucified Christ between the Virgin Mary on the right and St John on the left, together with St Peter and St Claudius and the portraits of Antoine and Jacques’ parents. Changenet undertook to transport the altarpiece to Sault and have it installed at the intended location at his own expense.

Changenet (Jean). – Works: 9 May 1491. Françoise Rangois, a nun from the Convent of St Praxède in Avignon, commissioned him to paint an altarpiece in walnut by Easter for 100 florins: Crucifixion between the Virgin Mary and St John; at the Virgin’s side, the donor and St Catherine; on the other side, Mary Magdalene, all on a field of gold. Pediment: God in Majesty, surrounded by angels, with an angel at either end holding an instrument of the Passion, on a blue field. Predella: Entombment between the Descent from the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ; the donor’s arms on a gold field at either end.

Guigues (Henri), native of the diocese of Geneva, residing in Avignon. On 11 August 1525 in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, the officers (bailes) of the fraternity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, founded in the collegiate church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges in L’Isle, commissioned two painters from Avignon to paint in oil the fraternity’s walnut altarpiece. In the middle of the altarpiece: the Circumcision of Christ; right: the Annunciation; left: the Angel appearing to St Joseph in a dream; pediment: God the Father; predella: the Last Supper.

Charonton, Carton, Carretier (Enguerrand) [ca. 1410–ca. 1466], native of the diocese of Laon. – Works: 7 November 1461. The abbess of St Claire of Avignon, Georgette Querel, commissioned him to paint an altarpiece on walnut, already prepared. In the middle of the main panel: the Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity, surrounded by cherubim and seraphim; on the panels to the right: St Francis with the stigmata, the crucifix and the book, and the praying abbess at his feet, then St Anthony of Padua; on those on the left: St Clare with a widow kneeling at her feet, then St Louis of Toulouse or Marseille.

Monnier (Jacques or Jaumet). – Works: 11 May 1486. He promised to supply an altarpiece in walnut, 7 pans in width and height, together with the pediment and the predella, to the executors of Bertrand Dalmas, merchant of Valencia, by All Saints’ Day for the price of 29 florins. In the middle he was to paint the Enthroned Virgin, holding the Child and crowned by two angels: on the right: St Nicholas with a man in prayer dressed in grey; on the left: St Catherine with a woman in prayer dressed in the Catalan style. Pediment: God the Father, the globe of the world in his hand, between two musician angels on a blue field. Predella: Resurrection of Christ between Our Lady and St John on a green field, arms of aforementioned Nicolas.

Villate (Pierre) [active between 1451 and 1495], known as Malebouche. – Works: 25 May 1462. Pierre Villate promised Jacques Forbin, of Marseille, to make a wooden altarpiece in walnut, 7 pans high and 10 wide, with pediment and wings, painted in oil with the Transfiguration of Christ, the Virgin Mary and St Catherine … On the predella: the Man of Sorrows, with the Virgin Mary, St John and the twelve Apostles … The work to be completed in Avignon within a year, for 70 florins.

22 April 1473. Order placed by the Avignon merchant Pierre Embergue for making and painting a walnut altarpiece, 8⅔ pans wide and 7 high, to be delivered by Christmas for 100 florins. On a gold field, the Virgin Mary between St Sebastian and St Martin, these two figures presenting the donor, his wife and his daughter. Pediment: the Coronation of the Virgin surrounded by musician angels. On the predella: subjects to be specified by Embergue. The vertical members or sides to be painted also.

Simian or Simeon (Pierre). – Works: 3 February 1507. Amédée Dame, of Saint-Saturnin-lès-Avignon, commissioned him to paint a small firwood altarpiece, 7 palms high and 6 wide for the church at St-Saturnin. Subject: St Anne with St Sebastian and St Roch. Price: 4 écus d’or sol.

St Sebastian altarpiece at Le Thor. All that survives is the contract for a wooden altarpiece in walnut, given on 3 June 1523 to the carpenter Arnaud Novel, from Cabrières, for 10 écus d’or sol: 1 canne wide, 10½ palms high, including the pediment and the predella.

Grabuset (Thomas) [active between 1453 and 1483]. Some time before 26 July 1481, Grabuset promised to make an altarpiece in walnut for the community and church at Caromb. The altarpiece fragment showing St George that is currently kept at Caromb church and which Labande has dated to around 1480 could be part of the work Grabuset carried out in 1481–82.

Peson (Étienne) [ca. 1485–1551], painter from Marseille. – Works: 4 January 1530. Étienne Peson sold a walnut altarpiece to the magistrates of Cassis for the parish church in the upper town, which he had made according to the model provided and which he then painted. The wood, canvas and iron fittings were to be supplied by the magistrates, who still had not paid in full by 1548. Central panel: Virgin and Child Enthroned, in relief; above: a tabernacle or canopy; between the cornice and frieze, a St Michael in relief. Side panels: St John the Baptist and St Lazarus; below, two scenes from the life of St Michael. Frieze, cornice and architrave. Pediment with three panels: God the Father with angels in the middle; predella with three sections: centre: in the middle, pyx for the Eucharist with door and tabernacle; either side: scene from the life of Our Lady.

On 22 October 1505, at Carpentras, Louis Quinet, canon of Cavaillon and vicar of Mazan, commissioned from Chantecler an altarpiece for the church in Mazan, 7 palms wide and 6 high, including the pediment and predella. In the middle of the central panels: Our Lady in a blue cloak and red robe, holding Jesus Christ in her arms; right: St Blaise and the portrait of the kneeling Canon Quinet, St Barbara, St Sebastian; left: St Catherine, St Anthony, St Siffred; on the pediment: an Annunciation; on the predella: scenes from the life of St Anthony.

Canon Quinet placed an order the same day for the wood to be used for the altarpiece (the corpus in white poplar and the outer parts in walnut) with the carpenter and joiner Jean Vial (‘Viali’) of Cavaillon, for 12 florins.

Dufour (Marc), native of Antwerp. – Works: 10 March 1528. Guillaume Matheron, son of René, Lord of Peynier, commissioned him to make and paint an altarpiece in walnut, 12 pans high and 8 wide: a scene from the life of Mary Magdalene and of St Maximinus, on a gold ground; predella with scenes on burnished gold, glazed with fine varnish; gilt columns on a ground of fine varnish; blue architrave; at the centre of the altarpiece a Crucifixion, as rich as possible. Price: 14 écus.

Cordonnier (Jean), known as Jean of Troyes. – Works: 30 August 1520. Representatives of the community of Six-Fours commissioned for the church of Saint-Jean-de-la-Crotte, in the same place, from Jean of Troyes an altarpiece in walnut; it was to have three panels, plus pediment and predella. Centre: Our Lady and Child; right: St John the Baptist; left: St Peter. Pediment: St Veronica and Mary Magdalene on either side of a Crucifixion. Predella: St Matthew between a scene of St Peter and another of St John the Baptist. Price: 27 écus.

Masclet (Simon), painter of Avignon, citizen and resident of Aix. – Works: 13 March 1484. He received from the executors of Pierre Artaud, of Ventraben, for the parish church in that place, an order for 33 florins for an altarpiece 5 pans high, plus a predella measuring 1½ pans, and 6 wide, made of walnut, with pediment and wings: Virgin and Child with St Peter and St John the Baptist, P. Artaud and his two sons on the right, his wife on the left. Predella: Christ and the Apostles.

Labe (Honorat), native of Nice. – Works: 3 April 1498. Together with Antonio Regis, of Bonesio, in the diocese of Mondovi, he undertook to Alayone Bourdon, widow of Jean Melli, known as Quatre Enva, to make and paint by Midsummer’s Day for the price of 50 florins, a wooden altarpiece in poplar or white poplar, 9½ pans high and 7½ wide. Three panels with mouldings, configuration and pediment like those of the altarpiece of St Nicholas of Tolentino in the Augustine church in Aix: centre: St Anthony; right: St John the Baptist, with at his feet a man in prayer [Jean Melli] and his four sons; right: St Susanna presenting a women [the donor] and her two daughters. Pediment: God the Father between the Virgin and the Angel of the Annunciation. Predella: a scene from the life of each of the three saints. Field: blue for the altarpiece, with gold stars on the pediment. Final quittance presented on 22 November 1498 by Labe alone, Regis having died.

Genovese (Manuel). – Works: 28 May 1520. He promised the Fraternity of St Eligius in the same place, Cucuron, to make and paint an altarpiece in honour of this saint, for 10 écus d’or sol, by the end of August. The corpus of the altarpiece, in walnut, was to be 9½ palms high (including the predella) and as wide as the altar of St Eligius. The pediment and the predella were to be made of white wood.

Ronzen (Antonio) [active between 1500 and 1525], painter and sculptor, native of Venice, residing in Aix and Marseille. He undertakes on 3 May 1512, in Cucuron, for the Charity of Sainte-Tulle, at the church in that place, to make and paint an altarpiece dedicated to the saint, for 33 florins. The altarpiece, measuring one canne high and 7 palms wide, will be made of poplar for the central panels, and of fir for the rest. Central panel: St Tullia; two side panels: St Agatha and St Lucy. St Tullia with halo and crown in fine ducat gold, wearing a golden robe, a blue cloak trimmed with gold and a cape [camail] in fine gold around her neck; St Lucy and St Agatha with halo in fine gold. Pediment: the Crucifixion between the Virgin Mary and St John. Predella: three scenes from the life of St Tullia or, failing that, the twelve Apostles.

Bœuf (Pierre). On 30 August 1506, at Cucuron, Pierre Bœuf undertakes to make, for several private individuals of that place, by All Saints’ Day, and for the sum of 36 florins, an altarpiece dedicated to St Sebastian and St Roch. The altarpiece was paid for by collected alms; it was to be made of fir and to measure one canne in height, including the pediment and predella, and one canne in width. At the centre of the altarpiece: the Virgin seated, holding the Child, in a blue cloak and with a halo and crown of fine gold. To the right of the Virgin, St Sebastian tied to a pillar, struck with arrows, with an halo of fine gold. On the left: St Roch, with the angel in a red cloak and blue robe, both with haloes of fine gold, and the dog with a loaf of bread in its mouth. Pediment: God the Father holding the globe in his hand and giving his blessing, surrounded by the four Evangelists, two on either side, each represented by his customary symbol, all with haloes of fine gold. On the predella: God the Father (sic) at the tomb, naked, with the Virgin dressed in fine blue, St John, St Cosmas and St Damian, all with haloes of fine gold. All the mouldings and colours like those of the altarpiece of St John in the same church.

Miraillet (Jean), painter of Montpellier, residing in Nice and Marseille. – Works: 17 December 1443. The priest Jean Dominique ordered from him for 8 florins an altarpiece in white wood to place in the Chapel of the Crucifixion in the church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Corrigerie in Marseille, on which would be painted St Catherine between St Agatha and St Lucy. Predella on a blue, starry field: Christ on the Cross and the twelve Apostles. Final quittance: 18 July 1444.

Cordonnier (Jean), known as Jean of Troyes. – Works: 1521–22. J. of Troyes paid 40 écus to the carpenter Jean Godet for supplying an altarpiece in walnut with wings, which he had undertaken to paint for the Convent of the Poor Clares in Marseille.

Lieferinx (Josse) [active between ca. 1493 and 1503/8], referred to as a Picard painter. – Works: 16 February 1500. The sailor Raphael Rostan concluded an agreement with the carpenter Henri Satissor and the painter J. L. for an altarpiece in walnut, 10 pans high and 9 wide, to be placed in the Chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem or de Bon-Voyage in the Franciscan church in Marseille. Lieferinx was to paint for 40 florins: centre: the Virgin Mary suckling the Infant Christ, with a man and a woman praying at her feet; right: the Adoration of the Magi; left: the Flight into Egypt. Pediment: God the Father between St Elmo and St Raphael. Predella: the Resurrection of Christ between St Barbara and St Clare.

Ronzen (Antonio) [active between 1500 and 1525], known as le Vénitien, native of Venice, painter and carpenter, residing in Aix and Marseille. – Works: 3 December 1510. Paulette, widow of Jacques Candolle, doctor of law of Marseille, commissions him to make and paint an altarpiece in walnut, 11½ pans high and 7 wide, plus the predella. In the middle will be St Vincent in papal robes on a gold field; at his feet to the right, Jacques Candolle, to his left Paulette and her four daughters; on the sides, with same ground, St Catherine and Mary Magdalene, then above, some miracles of St Vincent. Pediment: Christ on the Cross between the Virgin Mary and St John, separating the figures from the Annunciation. On the predella: Christ and the Apostles. Paulette’s arms on either side of the altarpiece to be installed in the Chapel of St Vincent before Easter; price 130 florins.

Cordonnier (Jean), known as Jean of Troyes. – Works: 22 January 1526. The priors of the parochial church council [Luminaire] of St Anthony commissioned him to paint their walnut altarpiece for the principal altar of the church of St-Anthony: centre: St Anthony with pig and lion on a gold ground. On the four panels of the altarpiece, on the pediment, and on the predella: twenty scenes or miracles from the life of the Saint, as indicated by the priors.

Condon (Jean de). – Works: 26 February 1525. At the castle of Oppède, this artist promises the lord of that place, Jean Meynier, to paint a walnut altarpiece. In the middle of the central panels: Our Lady of the Rosary holding Jesus in her arms; right: St John the Baptist and the donor; right: St Roch with the angel and the dog. Pediment: the Coronation of the Virgin, with an angel on either side, on a blue field with golden stars. On the predella: three scenes from the life of St Lawrence.

Changenet (Jean) [active between 1486 and 1493], called le Bourguignon. – Works: 30 April 1493. The prior of Séderon, Nicolas Moussarii, commissioned from him for 20 ducats the painting of an altarpiece in walnut, 7 pans in height and width, according to the model supplied to the said Nicolas.

Carton, Charonton, Carretier (Enguerrand) [ca. 1410–ca. 1466], native of the diocese of Laon. – Works: 7 February 1446. He received from Isoarde Gavarron, widow of Nicolas de Montfaucon [1635–1673], of Tarascon, the commission for an altarpiece for the main altar of the church of this town, 6 pans high and 12 wide, on white poplar wood.

18 April 1407. Order to paint the altarpiece for the monastery church of Sant Miquel de Fluvià, to the painter Lluis Borrassà [ca. 1350/60–ca. 1423/25], previously given to his father, the late Guillaume Borrassà the Elder. ‘… shall be made of good poplar, well seasoned and properly fitted with cross-bars … Furthermore, the aforementioned Lluis must include a dust guard all the way around the altarpiece … He shall also cover it well and completely with cloth and plaster.’

4 December 1458. Hiring of the painter Ramon Gonsalbo [ca. 1428–ca. 1474/84] to paint the altarpiece for Sant Vincenç de Montferrer ‘which will be done on good poplar wood, properly fixed by cross-bars and well nailed, as befits a good altarpiece’.

15 October 1569. Agreement with the craftsman Martin Diez de Liatzasolo [ca.1500–1583] to make an altarpiece of St Stephen for the parish church in Castellar. ‘Shall make a Retablo de San Esteban in good wood … With regard to the wood with which he shall make and build the said altarpiece, the said Master Martin should use cypress for the columns, and for the friezes and carvings of this said altarpiece should use very resinous pine or in cypress; all the flat surfaces and mouldings should be in poplar, all this in very good wood.’

11 August 1534. Agreement between the sculptor Joan de Tours and the Fraternity of San Miguel de los Carniceros in Barcelona to make an altarpiece for their chapel. ‘… the altarpiece will be made of wood with six figures carved in cypress . . . the main part will be in poplar as will the top, and the flat surfaces in pine from Valencia or Tortosa’.

21 April 1395. Pere de Valldebriga undertakes to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of St Anthony in the church at Santpedor (diocese of Vic), ‘altarpiece made of well-seasoned poplar wood’.

20 January 1396. Contract between the priest Joan Humiach and the painter Lluis Borrassà to paint an altarpiece for the church of Sant Joan de Valls, a dependency of Tarragona. ‘… and that all the wood employed shall be good poplar, white and well-seasoned. It is also agreed that the aforesaid Lluis will size, mount and cover with coarse plaster and fine plaster, as good work requires, the said altarpiece with its support and protect it from dust.’

26 January 1402. Hiring of the painter Lluis Borrassà to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of the Incarnation at the Santa Maria church in Copons. ‘It is also agreed that the said Lluis shall make the said altarpiece and its support from poplar wood of good quality, well seasoned and properly held by cross-bars … It is also agreed that the said Lluis shall size, plaster, cover with cloth, and coat with good plaster, coarse and fine, the said altarpiece and its support.’

21 February 1403. Agreement with the painter Lluis Borrassà to paint an altarpiece for the parish of Santa Maria in Manlleu. ‘This altarpiece, as promised by the said Lluis, shall be made of good, white poplar, and the wood shall be well seasoned, with good cross-bars and well nailed. It shall also be surrounded by a dust guard … It is also agreed that the said Lluis shall size the said altarpiece, cover it with cloth, and coat it with coarse and fine plaster, this in its entirety.’

29 August 1404. Agreement with Lluis Borrassà to paint an altarpiece for the Abbey Church of the Poor Clares in Villafranca del Penedès. ‘[the altarpiece] shall be made of good poplar wood, well seasoned, firmly held by cross-bars and well nailed … It is also agreed that the said Lluis shall properly size the altarpiece, coat it with plaster, and cover it and its support, this in its entirety.’

11 December 1414. Agreement with Lluis Borrassà to paint the main altarpiece of the parish church of Sant Martí in Palafrugell (Girona province). ‘[The altarpiece] shall be made of good poplar wood, well seasoned, firmly held by cross-bars and well nailed … [it] shall be entirely covered in cloth and coated with coarse and fine plaster.’

10 December 1416. Agreement with the painter Jaume Cabrera [1394–1432] to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist ‘in good poplar wood, well seasoned, well covered in cloth and held by cross-bars’.

29 April 1538. Contract for the construction of an altarpiece for the chapel of the Tower of Francisco Badia with the carpenter Joan Romeu, ‘altarpiece in poplar for the flat parts and pine for the carved parts’.