Lookalike riders

John Lydgate and the Canterbury pilgrims leaving Canterbury… miniature from a manuscript containing The Troy Book and The Siege of Thebes, c. 1455–62. © The British Library Board.

Can’t help but sense that the artist who produced this illustration for John Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes (with references to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales) was probably inspired by Jan van Eyck’s Just Judges panel.

The two central riders, the bearded rider on the right, and the white horse, are all modelled on figures from the Just Judges.

The British LIbrary attributes the illustration to probably Lucas Horenbout, son of the Ghent artist Gerard Horenbout (c 1465 – c 1541), who later moved with his family to work in England.

Just Judges, Ghent Altarpiece, source: closertovaneyck