Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good

Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good is a presentation miniature believed to have been painted by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden (or if not actually from his hand then certainly by his workshop to his designs). It decorates the frontispiece to the Chroniques de Hainaut (), a translation into French by Jean Wauqelin () of the Latin history by Jacques de Guyse ().

The translation had been commissioned by Philip, and the manuscript that both contains the miniature and shows it being presented was at that point the only one existing. From the court accounts the progress of the translation (though not the decoration of the manuscript) can be traced, and the miniature is presumed to date from around the time of the actual presentation to Philip in March 1448. The entire set of three volumes are now in the Royal Library of Belgium.

It is the only known manuscript miniature by van der Weyden.

The decorative border includes the arms of the various territories making up Philip's dukedom, which he had considerably expanded, interspersed with his personal emblem of sparks being struck from a flint.

Although a miniature, its dimensions matches those of van der Weyden's smallest work on panel. The workmanship is of the very highest quality and precision. An example of the attention to detail are the several concentric contour lines added to the tail of the dozing dog, making it appear to wag. It was copied in other presentation miniatures, some showing Charles the Bold at later ages.

The attribution to van der Weyden is based not only on the mastery of execution, but also on the portrait evidence of some of the figures. Most of these can be identified, and amongst them Bishop Jean Chevrot () (2nd from left), Chancellor Nicolas Rolin (3rd from left), Philip the Good (centre, 4th from left), and Charles the Bold (5th from left) appear in portraits by van der Weyden or his workshop, although in the case of Charles the Bold he appears as just an 11-year-old boy in the miniature (see Gallery below). The group on the right probably include Anthony, bastard of Burgundy and Antoine de Croy. Several of the group, including Philip, wear the collar of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece.

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Wikipedia