David Aubert

Who is David Aubert?

David Aubert was a French calligrapher, who transcribed and adapted courtly romances and chronicles for the court of the Duke of Burgundy. In addition to finely presented works, illuminated at Bruges and other centres, for the Dukes Philip the Good and Charles the Bold and the Duchess Margaret of York, he completed manuscripts for Antoine de Bourgogne and Philippe de Croy.

He was the son of the ducal accountant and calligrapher Jean Aubert, and his elder brother worked as an administrator, members of a family with a tradition of public service in the Burgundian court, though his first mention as a scribe in the ducal service dates to 1463, after which he was salaried as a ducal secretary until Philip's death, and seems to have followed, at least some of the time, the very mobile court around the Duchy. In 1469, following the death of Philip the Good, he was an inventory-taker of the late Duke's library. He then produced at least eight manuscripts for Margaret of York, though Antoine de Bourgogne became his main client.

Like his contemporaries Jean Miélot and Colard Mansion, he seems to have run an atelier or workshop co-ordinating the various functions of producing de luxe manuscripts for the bibliophiles of the court circle. Despite being "one of the most studied Flemish scribes of", his personal role in producing many of the manuscripts signed by him remains uncertain - for example it is unclear whether, like Miélot and Mansion, he did the translations himself.