FLORIN WEBSITE © JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY, AUREO ANELLO ASSOCIAZIONE, 1997-2024: ACADEMIA BESSARION || MEDIEVAL: BRUNETTO LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, SWEET NEW STYLE: BRUNETTO LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, & GEOFFREY CHAUCER || VICTORIAN: WHITE SILENCE: FLORENCE'S 'ENGLISH' CEMETERY || ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING || WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR || FRANCES TROLLOPE || ABOLITION OF SLAVERY || FLORENCE IN SEPIA  || CITY AND BOOK CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII || MEDIATHECA 'FIORETTA MAZZEI' || EDITRICE AUREO ANELLO CATALOGUE || UMILTA WEBSITE ||  LINGUE/LANGUAGES: ITALIANO, ENGLISH || VITA
New: Dante vivo || White Silence

LA CITTA E IL LIBRO II/
THE CITY AND THE BOOK II
IL MANOSCRITTO, LA MINIATURA/
THE MANUSCRIPT, THE ILLUMINATION
ORSANMICHELE, 4-7 SETTEMBRE 2002
V. IL MANOSCRITTO DAL GOTICO AL RINASCIMENTALE/
THE GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPT

Incisione, Bruno Vivoli
Repubblica di San Procolo, 2001

THE GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPT

Presiede: dott.ssa Franca Arduini, Direttrice Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana
La Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, prof.ssa Mirella Levi D'Ancona, Firenze (italiano, English)
Tavola Rotonda III: Brunetto Latino, Li Livres dou Tresor e il Tesoro, Dante, La Commedia : prof.ssa Alison Stones, University of Pittsburgh (English); prof.ssa Brigitte Roux, Université de Genève (French, italiano, English); prof.ssa Maria Grazia Ciardi Dupré, Università di Firenze (italiano)
Boccaccio: Le Des Cas des Noble Hommes et Femmes de Bocace, prof.ssa Cécile Quentel Touche, Université de Rennes (French, English)
Appendix:
Female City Builders: Hildegard von Bingen's Scivias and Christine de Pizan's Livre de la cité des dames, prof.ssa Christine McWebb, University of Alberta, Canada (English);
Dante Alighieri e Christine de Pizan, prof.ssa Ester Zago, University of Colorado, Boulder (English)
 

LA MINIATURA FIORENTINA DEL RINASCIMENTO

MIRELLA LEVI D'ANCONA, FIRENZE

* / * = diapositivi, slides, sinistra/desta, left/right
 

{ Ringrazio il Comitato Scientifico che mi ha invitata e il pubblico che mi é venuto ad ascoltare. Il mio intervento sulla miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento sarà di necessità superficiale e a grandi linee. Inizierò col tardo Gotico, che é il punto di partenza, per mostrare cosa porti di differenza il Rinascimento. Premetto che le miniature sono molto costose, e che le commissioni agli artisti venivano fatte per esse per lo più dai monasteri e dal Duomo di Firenze. I miniatori nel Trecento erano per lo più dei monaci che operavano nel proprio monastero, mentre nel quattrocento erano quasi esclusivamente dei laici, che operavano nelle botteghe dei cartolai. La maggiore concentrazione delle botteghe era in via dei Cartolai, ora via del Proconsolo. Anche le ricche famiglie fiorentine come i Medici, i Sassetti, gli Ardinghelli, gli Acciaiuoli, ecc., commisero dei libri miniati nel Quattrocento, ma delle loro commissioni purtroppo ora ci restano solo gli stemmi. Mentre che dei monasteri abbiamo una ricca messe di documenti. Tre grandi miniatori emergono nel tardo Trecento: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci, Don Simone Camaldolese e Don Lorenzo Monaco - tutti tre monaci camaldolesi. E fra i monasteri primeggia Santa Maria degli Angeli nel tardo Trecento e primi del Quattrocento. * 1 / * 2

I thank the Scientific Committee and the Associazione Culturale Biblioteca e Bottega Fioretta Mazzei who have invited me to give this talk and you who have come to hear me. The time given me only allows a brief and superficial survey of this topic. I will start with the Gothic period as the point of departure for what will become Renaissance Florentine book illumination. I need to explain that book illuminating is very costly, and that most of the illuminators were commissioned by the Florentine monasteries and cathedral. In the fourteenth century the illuminators were mostly monks working within their monasteries. Whereas in the fifteenth century, the artists are mostly laymen working in bookshops. These bookshops were mainly concentrated in the Via dei Cartolai, now called the Via del Proconsolo. Eventually, the rich Florentine families, such as the Medici, the Sassetti, the Ardinghelli, the Acciaiuoli, also commissioned illuminated books, but only their coats-of-arms now bear witness to such commissions. At first three great artists come to our attention: don Silvestro dei Gherarducci, Don Simone Camoldolese and Don Lorenzo Monaco, all three Camoldolese monks. Santa Maria degli Angeli is foremost among the monasteries in Florence in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.

Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-1399) fu monaco al Monastero di Santa Maria degli Angeli e ne divenne l'abate nel 1398. Nelle sue miniature la figura umana si fonda ed adegua alla decorazine e la luce fa risaltare i colori come gemme. Caratteristico di Firenze é il rosso arancione e vibrante, come si nota in questa Dedicazione della Chiesa a c.1 del Cor.2 della Biblioteca Laurenziana, proveniente dal Monastero di Santa Maria degli Angeli, e datato 1371 nel colophon. Pure nello stesso Corale, alla c. 46 é questa bella S. Agata dove vediamo un'altro colore caratteristico di Firenze: il verde oliva. La figura é soave, ed i fogliami hanno corpo. * 3

A great miniaturist emerges in the late fourteenth century: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-1399) who was a monk at the Camoldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence and became an abbot of that monastery. Don Silvestro's illuminations show the human figure as subservient to the decoration of the page and which is fused together with it. Characteristic of Florence in the fourteenth century is the red light which enhances the colors as may be seen in this beautiful Dedication of the Church on folio 1 of Chorale 2 of Santa Maria degli Angeli, now in the Laurentian Library in Florence. It is dated 1371 in the colophon. Also in Chorale 2, at folio 46, is this beautiful St Agatha where we see another dominant colour characteristic of Florence: the olive green in the decoration of the letter. At this period (1371) the decoration is made of bulky leaves; and don Silvestro's figure is sweet, its colours evidenced by light.

Don Simone Camaldolese, che venne da Siena, ma operò a Firenze dal 1375 al 1398 firmò e datò 1381 il Corale 39 della Biblioteca Laurenziana, proveniente dalla Chiesa di S. Pancrazio a Firenze. L'unità della pagina é costituita dalle figure piatte e dalla decorazione marginale a fogliami che fa da cornice al testo.

Another interesting artist is Don Simone Camaldolese, who came from Siena and worked in Florence from 1375 to 1398. He painted Chorale 39, now in the Laurentian Library, in 1381 for the monastery of Saint Pancras and signed its colophon. Here, fol. 1v, the artist keeps the unity of the page by flattening the text as well as the border decoration. The decoration is still with leaves

* 4/ * 5 Il primo passo verso il Rinascimento é fatto da Don Lorenzo Monaco (operoso dal 1390 al 1424), monaco a Santa Maria degli Angeli ma che lasciò il monastero per una bottega propria. Questo stupendo S. Giovanni Evangelista alla c.33 del Corale 1, datato 1396, é modellato dalla luce e si protende nello spazio verso di noi, con il libro in prospettiva e l'aquila che gli fa da leggio. Questa proiezione in avanti nello spazio sarà sviluppata più di due secoli dopo con il Barocco. Caratteristica rinascimentale é l'analisi psicologica nel bel volto del Santo. La luce é solare, altra caratteristica rinascimentale.

Don Lorenzo Monaco (flourished 1390-1424) took the first step towards the Renaissance in this beautiful St John the Evangelist on fol. 33 of Chorale 1 in the Laurentian Library, coming from the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where Don Lorenzo was a monk, though he later left the monastery to set up his own bottega. The manuscript is dated 1396, but already the light gives body to the figure which comes forward from the initial letter with the projection of the book drawn in perspective and the jutting forward of the eagle which supports the book. This projection into space is a forerunner of the Baroque period. Already characteristic of the Renaissance is the psychological rendering of the expression in the beautiful face of the saint. The figure is modelled with sunlight, another Renaissance characteristic.

Ma Lorenzo Monaco non si ferma qui, e nel bel Profeta all c. 93 dal Corale 3 nella Biblioteca Laurenziana, proveniente pure da Santa Maria degli Angeli, modella la figura con luce crepuscolare. Questa sperimentazione con luce crepuscolare sarà ripresa solo da un altro grande miniatore fiorentino, Gherardo di Giovanni, alla fine del Quattrocento. In età tarda, Don Lorenzo Monaco sperimenterà pure con effetti di luce notturna, ancora anticipando il Barocco. * 6

But Lorenzo Monaco does not stop at his experience with sunlight, and, in Chorale 3, fol. 33, dated 1409, again from Santa Maria degli Angeli and now in the Laurentian Library, he experimented with light at dusk in modelling this beautiful prophet. This twilight will be taken over at the end of the fifteenth century by another Florentine illuminator, Gherardo diGiovanni. Otherwise all Renaissance books will show sunlight. Later, Don Lorenzo Monaco experiments with night light, already anticipating the Baroque.

Un altro artista minore, seguace di Lorenzo Monaco, é Bartolomeo di Fruosino (1366-1441), che fa sperimenti di spazio limitato, ma empirico e bifocale - cioè da due punti di vista - in questa bella Annunciazione del Cod. F72 del Museo del Bargello c.24v, proveniente dall'Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova. Il Cod. F72 fu rilegato nel 1423, e in quello stesso anno Bartolomeo di Fruosino miniò questa Annunciazione che si ispira ad una Annunciazione tarda di Lorenzo Monaco, a sua volta influenzata dalla Pala Strozzi di Gentile da Fabriano, datata nel marzo del 1423. La scena si svolge davanti ad una camera da letto, con il pavimento visto dall'alto e il soffitto visto dal basso, appunto una prospettiva bifocale. L'Annunciazione di Lorenzo Monaco che la ispirò si trova nella Chiesa di Santa Trinita, ed ha al centro un orto - l'hortus conclusus - con vegetazione rampicante, come fatto da Gentile da Fabriano nella cornice della Pala Strozzi. La prospettiva bifocale in questa Annunciazione di Bartolomeo di Fruosino, come l'andamento sinuoso delle figure é una caratteristica ancora tardo-gotica, ma vi é un primo tentativo di invitare l'occhio nello spazio, caratteristica rinascimentale. * 7/ * 8

A lesser artist was Bartolomeo di Fruosino (1366-1441) who was a follower of Lorenzo Monaco. He illuminated this beautiful Annunciation for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, now in the Bargello Museum, Cod. F72, fol. 24v. In the illumination Bartolomeo di Fruosino shows a limited space in bifocal perspective - that is, the floor is seen from above, whereas the ceiling is seen from below. The figures float and undulate sinuously, still a late Gothic characteristic. This Annunciation is datable 1423 because the Chorale Cod. F72 was bound in that year and the Annunciation is copied from an Annunciation by Lorenzo Monaco in the church of Santa Trinità in Florence, which in turn was influenced by the Strozzi Altarpiece by Gentile da Fabriano, now in the Uffizi Museum, which is dated March 1423.

La personalità che domina la miniatura fiorentina dagli anni venti del Quattrocento agli anni trenta, e introduce il Rinascimento é Battista di Biagio Sanguigni (1393-1451). Gli attribuisco questo bel Martirio di Santo Stefano nel Graduale D c.51 del Duomo di Prato, proveniente dalla Chiesa di S. Stefano at Prato e datato 1429. Caratteristica del Sanguigni é la divisione in due strati della miniatura, come si vede con un paragone con l'Antifonario documentato nel 1432 che dal Monastero di S. Catherina in San Gaggio é passato alla Biblioteca del Principe Corsini, e ora si trova nel Museo di S. Marco a Firenze. Vedasi nell'Antifonario di S. Gaggio la Decollazione e Sepultura di S. Catherina alla c.32. Entrambe le miniature hanno la divisione in due strati, e la decorazione dell'iniziale a bocce e la divisione di essa a grossi nodi in mezzo. Inoltre nella miniatura di Prato il cielo é blu scuro - un'altra caratteristica del Sanguigni.

Battista di Biagio Sanguigni is the chief illuminator of the late 1420s and the 1430s. I attribute to him this beautiful Martyrdom of St Stephen on fol. 51, of Gradual D from the church of St Stephen in Prato, near Florence, and now in the cathedral of Prato, and which is dated 1429. Characteristics of Sanguigni (1393-1451) are the two-tiered illuminations; the dark blue sky; and the initial letter decorated with balls and tied in the middle by a thick knot. The beautiful St Stephen is still influenced by Lorenzo Monaco in its elongated and sinuous figure, with curving folds in the drapery. I base my attribution of this St Stephen to Sanguigni by comparing it to a documented work by Sanguigni, dated 1432, this Beheading and Burial of St Catherine, fol. 32, which was brought from the convent of San Gaggio, near Florence, to the library of Prince Corsini, and is now in the Museum of San Marco. Laurence Kanter wrongly attributed this documented work to Zanobi Strozzi.

* 9/mantenere8/ Angela Dillon Bussi ha giustamente attribuito al Sanguigni questi magnifici Monaci in Coro alla c.41 del Corale 3 della Biblioteca Laurenziana proveniente dal Monastero di Santa Maria degli Angeli. /1 Abbiamo già visto il Corale 3 a proposito di Lorenzo Monaco che vi ha lavorato a diverse epoche della sua vita. Il Corale 3 é stato scritto nel 1409, ma é stato rilegato nel 1454, e vi hanno collaborato vari artisti. Il Sanguigni vi ha lavorato dopo il 1432, data dell'Antifonario de S. Gaggio, a prima del 1451, anno della sua morte. Aspettiamo la Mostra del Sanguigni e dello Strozzi allestita da Magnolia Scudieri, Direttrice del Museo di S. Marco per maggiori precisazioni sul Sanguigni. I Monaci in Coro sono un capolavoro del Sanguigni per lo spazio in prospettiva che sfonda attraverso una porta, e poi attraverso un'altra; per la magnifica caratterizzazione dei volti dei monaci, e il bianco stupendo delle loro tonache. Il Sanguigni ci porta qui in pieno Rinascimento.

This beautiful illumination of Chanting Monks has been rightfully attributed to Sanguigni by Angela Dillon Bussi. It is Chorale 3, fol. 45, from Santa Maria degli Angeli and is now in the Laurentian Librar y./1 Chorale 3 is dated 1409 and was first illuminated by Lorenzo Monaco, but Lorenzo himself illuminated it at different stages of his life. It is difficult to date the Chanting Monks by Sanguigni, but they must date after 1432, the date of the documented antiphonary from San Gaggio and before Sanguigni's death in 1451. Magnolia Scudieri, Director of the San Marco Museum in Florence, is organizing an exhibition of Sanguigni's works next year and hopefully will give a better dating of Sanguigni's works. The Chanting Monks is Sanguigni's masterwork. The scene is masterfully created by perspective, and opens up in the back through a door, and then yet through another door. The portraits of the monks are wonderful, and so is the beautiful white of their habits. With this illumination, Sanguigni takes us fully into the Renaissance.

* 10/ * 11/ Negli anni quaranta del Quattrocento data questa bella miniatura del Beato Angelico, al secolo Guido di Pietro, che prese il nome di Fra Giovanni da Fiesole come monaco a San Domenico di Fiesole (1400-1455). Faccio vedere a sinistra la pagina intera, e a destra un particolare. Nella pagina intera questa Annunciazione alle c.33v del Cod. 558 del Museo di S. Marco a Firenze, mostra una novità nella decorazione: i fiori nel bas-de-page, che preludono alla decorazione floreale caratteristica del Rinascimento a Firenze. Il particolare mostra il carattere dolce e soave delle figure, che daranno al monaco il soprannome di Beato Angelico.

This beautiful Annunciation by Fra Angelico - whose secular name was Guido di Pietro and who took the name of Fra Giovanni da Fiesole as a monk (1400.1455) - is on fol. 33v of Chorale Inv. 558 of the San Marco Museum in Florence. I show both the full page for its flower decoration which ushers in the floral border decoration of Florentine manuscripts of the second half of the fifteenth century. I also show a detail because it evidences the ethereal and suave figures that gave the name of 'blessed Angelico' to Fra Giovanni.

* 12/ mantenere 11/ Certo non dell'Angelico é questo stupendo gruppo di due figure alla c.199 del Cor. 43 nella Biblioteca Laurenziana, come ben detto da Angela Dillon Bussi./2 E' un artista che ha un vigore aggresività nel colore che esulano dal mite Beato Angelico.

This magnificent group of two standing figures is certainly not by Angelico, as rightfully claimed by Angela Dillon Bussi./2 It is on fol. 199 of Chorale 43 in the Laurentian Library. The strength of the figures, especially the man seen from the back, wrapped in his bulky mantle, and the aggressive colours are foreign to the sweet figures by Fra Angelico.

* 13/ Seguace dell'Angelico é Zanobi Strozzi (1412-1468) che domina la miniatura fiorentina dei tardi anni quaranta e negli anni cinquanta del Quattrocento. Mostro qui una miniatura con la Conversione di S. Paolo alla c.6 del Ms.Inv.515 del Museo di San Marco, datata da documenti nel 1448. Qui le figure sono pienamente rinascimentali, e lo spazio invita l'occhio in profondità fino a molto lontano. E' uno dei capolavori dello Strozzi.

Zanobi Strozzi (1412-1468) is a follower of Fra Angelico. He is the chief Florentine illuminator in the late 1440s and 1450s. I show here his Conversion of St Paul in Chorale Inv. 515, fol. 6, in the San Marco Museum in Florence, dated by documents in 1448. The figures modelled by light are fully Renaissance, and the space leads our eye into the far distance. It is one of Strozzi's masterpieces. Strozzi was Sanguigni's private pupil, but we don't yet have any work which evidences this apprenticeship.

* 14/ * 15/ Dopo la metà del Quattrocento domina la personalità di Francesco d'Antonio del Chierico (1433-1484). Mostro qui due miniature del 1463 che evidenziano la sua bravura sia con figure grandi nei Corali ne nelle figurine e la decorazione marginale a fiorami nei manoscritti umanistici di mino formato. La diapositiva d sinistra mostra la Nascita del Battista alla c. 48v del Corale Edili 150 della Biblioteca Laurenziana, Proveniente dall'Opera del Duomo di Firenze, opera documentata del 1463. Siamo in pieno Rinascimento, e lo spazio é misurato dalle prospettive con S. Zaccaria e la Vergine Maria con l'infante
Battista in collo nel proscenio, poi il letto in prospettiva con la sua bella coperta verde fiorita, poi ancora le due figure detro al letto - bellissima é la donna che regge un cesto in testa - ; e finalmente un paessaggio in lontananza vista da una finestra aperta. Siamo nel Rinascimento al suo meglio.

Francesco D'Antonio del Chierico (1433-1488) is the chief Florentine illuminator after the middle of the fifteenth century. I show here two of his illuminations which demonstrate his skill in 1463 for his illumination of large figures in choir books as well as the precious flowery decoration of a humanistic book of smaller format. This is the Birth of the Baptist on fol. 48v of Chorale Edili 150 from the Cathedral of Florence and now in the Laurentian Library in Florence, which was commissioned from Francesco D'Antonio del Chierico in 1463. See how the space is measured in perspective with Zachariah and the Virgin Mary holding the infant Baptist in the foreground; the green flowered bedspread in perspective in the middle ground: even the two figures in the background - magnificent the woman holding a basket on her head - and finally a vibrant landscape seen from an open window. This is the Renaissance at its best.

A destra vediamo un altro capolavorio di Francesco d'Antonia: il Plutarco, cod. Plut. 65.26,c.2 con la miniaturina firmata di Teseo e il Minotauro, e una splendida decorazione floreale nei margini. La diapositiva non rende la bellezza dei colori e dell'oro dell'originale. Francesco d'Antonia é inegugliato in questa decorazione. Angela Dillon Russi ha dimostrato con l'aiuto di una lettera datata 1463 che questa miniatura é stata eseguita per il giovane Lorenzo il Magnifico, di cui si vede l'emblema, l'alloro, nel bas-de-page./3

Equally masterful is the precious border flower decoration with golden bars. The gold, the blue and the various colours decorate the borders of the page, glittering like jewes. Angela Dillon Bussi has documented with the help of a letter dated 1463 that the decoration of this fol. 2, in Plut. 65.26, signed F.D.A. , Francesca D'Antonia, was made for the young Lorenzo the Magnificent of which we see the laurel - his emblem. /3

* 16/ Accanto alla decorazione floreale si svolse dal 1432 al 1473 la decorazione a bianchi nastri intrecciatti, detta 'bianchi girari' da Paolo D'Ancona. Mostro a sinistra un frontispizio di Giuseppe Flavio nel Ms. Plut. 66.3.c.1 della Biblioteca Laurenziana, databile negli anni 60 del Quattrocento. Moltissimi artisti si cimentarono in questa tecnica dei bianchi girari.

In the years 1432-1473 there developed side by side with the floral decoration another kind of decoration with white interlaces called 'bianchi girari' Paolo D'Ancona. This white scroll decoration is in a manuscript of Flavius Josephus Ms Plut. 66.3, fol. 1, in the Laurentian Library, datable in the 1480s. Many artists adopted this type of decoration.

Bargello, Cod. A67, fol. 5

* 17/ E ora veniamo al maggior miniatore fiorentino del Rinascimento, Gherardo di Giovanni (1446-1497). Gherardo ha miniato la c.5 con l'Annunciazione nel Messale A 67 del Museo del Bargello, proveniente dall'Ospedale di S. Maria Nuova a Firenze, come si vede dalla gruccia, in alto, emblema dell'Ospedale. Il Cod. A 67 é documentato dal 1474. Le figure sono stupende, bagnata di luce solare, e con la tecnica dello sfumato nei volti. Lo sfumato é la tecnica che passa gradualmente dalle luce in ombra come se fosse fumo. Oltre allo sfumato, nello stupendo paessaggio che sfonda a sinistra, a destra, e poi in lontananza all'infinito, vi é la tecnica della prospettive aerea. La densità dell'aria funge come una nebbia che dissolve nel'azzurrino gli oggetti in lontananza.

Le due techniche dello sfumato e della prospettiva aerea erano appena state inventate da Leonardo da Vinci nell'Angelo e nel paessaggio di sinistra nel Battesimo di Cristo del Verrocchio ora nel Museo degli Uffizi. Ma non basta. La scena di Gherardo é bagnata di luce solare, mentre nei medaglioni nel margine sono scene dell' Inferno di Dante con luce crepuscolare o notturna.

Questa iconografia è interessante perchè mostra che la Vergine Maria non è stata toccata dalla macchia del Peccato Originale, mentre i peccatori sono condannati all'Inferno. In quegli anni ferveva una disputa fra Francescani e Domenicani sul momento in cui la Vergine Maria era stata esentata dal Peccato Originale. I Francescani erano Immaculisti, e sostenevano che la Vergine Maria era stata esentata dal Peccato Originale sin dal momento della sua concezione. La loro teoria sfociava nel Mariale di Bernardino dei Busti, una Messa e Ufficio della Immacolata Concezione, approvata dal Papa Sisto IV, un Francescano, nel 1480.

This iconography is interesting because it shows that the Virgin Mary was untouched by the stain of Original Sin, whereas the sinners were condemned to Hell. In those years there was a debate on the moment in which Mary had been exempted from the stain of Original Sin. The Franciscans were Immaculists and defended the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, the belief that Mary had been conceived free from Original Sin. This theory was embodied in the Mariale by Bernardino dei Busti, a Mass and Office of the Immaculate Conception approved by Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, in 1480.

I Domenica i erano Maculisti, e sostenevano che la Vergine Maria era stata esentata dal Peccato Originale solo alla nascita, o al momento della Annunciazione./4

The Dominicans were Maculists, believing that Mary had been conceived in sin, and exempted from the stain of Original Sin only at birth, or at the moment of the Annunciation./4

Nel Messale di Sant'Egidio, Gherardo sembra sostenesse la tesi Maculista che la Vergine Maria sia stata esentata dal Peccato Originale al momento della Annunciazione.

In the Missal of Sant'Egidio Gherardo seems to have endorsed the Maculist theory that Mary was exempted from the stain of Original Sin only at the moment of the Annunciation.

mantenere 17 / 18/ La personalità di Gherardo é stata confusa con quella di suo fratello Monte (1448-1532/33), che non arriva all'altezza di Gherardo. Mostro qui una miniatura di Monte nel Salterio di Mattia Corvino, ora nella Biblioteca Laurenziana Plut. 15.17.c.2v. Angela Dillon Bussi ha mostrato che questo Salterio fu fatto per il patto di alleanza fra il Re di Ungheria Mattia Corvino e il Re di Francia Carlo VIII nel 1490, in occasione della guerra contro i Turchi che minacciavano Budapest./5 I due Re sono raffigurati insieme in piedi, con un volo di corvi neri in alto - emblema di Mattia Corvino, e un terzo personaggio giovanile ammantato di azzurro con i gigli d'oro di Francia, emblema di Carlo VIII. Il patto fra i due Re é raffigurato in un Salterio perché nel Salmo 2.2 é detto: 'Astiterunt Reges Terrae, et Principes Terrae convenerunt in unum' (Stettero in piedi i Re della terra, e i Principi del mondo si riunirono insieme), ad illustrare il patto. La scenografia é stupenda nel paesaggio che raffigurare l'assedio di Gerusalemme da parte dei Filistei, con David nel proscenio con il suo nome iscritto sul suo colletto. Ma manca la prospettiva aerea nel paesaggio, e manca lo sfumato nei volti che vedemmo in Gherardo. La scena non é bagnata di luce solare, e le figure sono piatte e sproporzionate. In manto rosso di Re David non ne modella il corpo e le tre figure in piedi sono sproporzionate dal ginoccio fino ai piedi, e sono malferme.

The attributions to Monte (1488-1532/33), Gherardo's brother, have been inextricably confused with Gherardo's. In my opinion the works of the two brothers differ and Monte's works do not come to the perfection of Gherardo's. For instance, the Psalter of Matthias Corvinus, now Plut. 15.17 of the Laurentian Library has been attributed to Gherardo and Monte jointly, whereas the illuminaton on fol. 2v is by Monte alone. The landscape is beautifully rendered. But it lacks Gherardo's aerial perspective and is not bathed in sunlight. The figures lack 'sfumato', are ill-proportioned and flat. David's red mantle does not model the figure and looks like a lacquer dish. Angela Dillon Bussi has rightly pointed out that this Psalter was made in 1490 to celebrate the alliance between Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and Charles VIII, King of France, against the Turks who were menacing Budapest. /5 The illumination shows King David kneeling in prayer in the foreground, with his name inscribed on his collar. The siege of Jerusalem by the Philistines is shown in the right background, while at the left are shown, standing, King Matthias Corvinus, with a flight of crows on high - his emblem (crow='corvus' in Latin echoed in his name 'Corvinus') - and King Charles VIII, followed by a youth bearing the emblems of France - the blue mante covered with gold lilies. The two kings are shown in a Psalter because Psalm 2.2 states: 'Adstiterunt reges terrar et principes terrae convenerunt in unum' (The kings of the earth stood, and the princes of the world assembled together). Unfortunately, the figures of the two kings are ill-balanced and the portion of the body between knee and foot is too short. The scenery of Jerusalem's siege is, however, beautiful.

mantenere 17/ * 19/ Nel Cinquecento la miniatura fiorentina decade. Un miniatore molto alla moda, ma modesto e ripetitivo é Attavante (1452-1520/25), che visse a cavallo fra Quattrocento e Cinquecento. Mostro qui una sua miniatura eseguita per il Papa Leone X (Medici) fra il 1513 e il 1521 e ora nella Biblioteca Laurenziana, Plut. 18.3.c.13. E' il Simbolo del Papa S. Gregorio Magno. La miniatura mostra il titolo del libro su di una specie di tabernacolo sormontato da due puttini bianchi. La decorazione marginale mal si accorda con il tabernacolo.

The Florentine book-illumination of the sixteenth century is decadent. The beautiful harmony between text and illustration is lost in a hodge podge of elements. Attavante was a fashionable illuminator of the sixteenth century, but he repeats himself and his output is modest, as we may see in this Creed by St Gregory the Great illuminated for Pope Leo X (Medici), between 1513 and 1521, now in the Laurentian Library, Plut. 16.3, fol. 13. In the frontispiece the title of the book is inscribed on a sort of tabernacle surmounted by two small white 'putti. The border decoration ill matches the tabernacle.

mantenere 17/ * 20
Con la Trinità del Boccardino (1460-1529) nel Cod. Inv.542.c.33v del Museo di S. Marco, proveniente dalla Badia di Firenze, la pagina diventa un guazzabuglio di elementi alla rinfusa. L'armonia della pagina, così bella nel Quattrocento, ha perso la sua eleganza. La ragione di questa decadenza non é solo l'avvento del libro a stampa, ma é data maggiormente dalla situazione politica di Firenze, con prima la cacciata dei Medici, poi la predica del Savonarola, e finalmente l'assedio di Firenze del 1527.

Another illumination of the sixteenth century, by Boccardino (1460-1529) is even worse. It is a Trinity in a Psalter from the monastery of the Badia and now in the San Marco Museum in Florence, Ms. Inv. 542, fol. 33v. The various elements kill the page in a great confusion, and text and illustration vie with each other. This decadence is partly caused by the advent of the printed book, but mostly by the political situation in Florence with the expulsion of the Medici, the preaching of Savonarola, and the Siege of Florence, in 1527.

NOTE/ NOTES

1 Angela Dillon Bussi in Omaggio al Beato Angelico, Cinisello Balsamo (Milano: Silvana Editoriale, 2001), p. 33.
2 Angela Dillon Bussi, Ibid., pp. 30-35.
3 Angela Dillon Bussi, 'Alcune novità sulla miniatura in età Laurenziana (a proposito di Littifredi Corbizi, e di un nuovo codice per Lorenzo)', in Rara Volumina , vol. I, 1994, pp. 15-16.
4 Mirella Levi D'Ancona, The Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance , published by the College Art Association of America in conjunction with the Art Bulletin, New York, 1957.
5 Angela Dillon Bussi, Primo Incontro Italo-Ungherese di Bibliotecari, Budapest, 2000, pp. 51-53.
 

TAVOLA ROTONDA III: BRUNETTO LATINO, IL TESORETTO, LI LIVRES DOU TRESOR, IL TESORO
 

THE ILLUSTRATION OF BRUNETTO LATINI'S TRESOR TO C. 1320

©ALISON STONES, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Text Editions: 
P. Chabaille, Li livres dou Tresor, Paris, 1863 (based on Paris, BNF fr. 12581,  MS F, written in 1284, first redaction; descriptive catalogue of manuscripts).
F.J. Carmody, ed. Brunetto Latini, Le Trésor, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1948 (based on Paris, BNF fr. 1110, MS T, supplemented by Chantilly, Musée Condé 288, MS C5).
S. Baldwin and P. Barrette, Brunetto Latini, Li livres dou Tresor (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 257), Tucson, AZ, 2003 (based on Escorial L. II. 3, MS M3).
Other References:
M. Fauriel, 'Brunetto Latini,' in HLF XX 276-304.
F.J. Carmody, 'Brunetto Latini's Trésor: A Genealogy of 43 MSS,' Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 56, 1936, 93-99 and 60, 1940, 78-8.
id., 'The Revised Version of Brunetto Latini's Trésor,' Italica 12, 1935, 146-47.
E. Brayer, 'Notice du manuscrit: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, français 1109,' Mélanges dédiés à la mémoire de Félix Grat, 2 vols. Paris, 1946-49, II, 237-40 (includes a list of manuscripts).
B. Ceva, Brunetto Latini, l'uomo e l'opera, Milan and Naples, 1965.
P.M. Gathercole, 'Illuminations of the manuscripts of Brunetto Latini,' Italica 43, 1966, 345-52 (generalized descriptions of BNF manuscripts only).
J.B. Holloway, Brunetto Latini: An Analytic Bibliography (Research Bibliographies and Checklists 44) London, 1986.
F. Vielliard, 'La tradition manuscrite du Livre dou Trésor de Brunet Latin: Mise au point,' Romania 111, 1990, 141-52, adding several previously unknown fragments. 
Brigitte Roux, L'iconographie du Livre du trésor de Brunetto Latini (Thèse de Doctorat, Université de Genève, 2004).
This Table was presented, in an earlier version, at the Città e libro II conference in Florence in September, 2002.

The manuscripts considered here mostly transmit the second redaction of the text, but Bolton-Holloway has criticised Carmody's division of manuscripts and the recension structure is more complicated than he allowed; his first redaction manuscripts considered here are F, F2, and K.

The manuscripts fall into three major stylistic groups and a cluster of stragglers:

1) Paris, BNF fr. 1110; Brussels, BR 10228; Vatican, lat. 3203, and, at some distance stylistically, Arras, BM182(1060).  These are related to two Douai manuscripts, the martyrology of Notre-Dame-des-Prés, O. Cist., Valenciennes, BM 838 and the psalter-hours of Saint-Amé, OSB, Brussels, BR 9391; other secular books by this artist include several copies of the Estoire del saint Graal, Le Mans, MM 354, Paris, BNF fr. 770 (with other texts), and Paris, BNF fr. 342 (less close stylistically), written by a female scribe in 1274.

2) St Petersburg, SL Fr.F.v.III.4, London, BL YT 19, Paris, BNF fr. 567, and Florence, Laur. Ash. 125.  These are associated with Thérouanne and close stylistically to the psalter-hours of Thérouanne, Paris, BNF fr. 1076 and Marseille BM 111, and Paris, BNF Smith-Lesouëf 20; there are also stylistic links to the missal of Saint-Nicaise, Reims, St Petersburg SL Lat.Q.v.I.78.  They are also linked to other secular manuscripts centred upon the Lancelot-Grail, Paris, BNF fr. 95 and New Haven, Yale 229 and the four copies of the Roman d'Alexander in prose (see Ross and Stones in Scriptorium 2002).

3) Turin BN L.II. 18 (anc. ms. 1643), Geneva BPU Comites latentes 179, and Rennes, BM 593, are Parisian, but they are stylistically distinct.  The Turin manuscript is by the Hospitaller Master and is datable between c. 1275 and 1291; the Rennes manuscript is part of a miscellany that was illustrated by the Thomas de Maubeuge painter and written in 1303 and 1304 by Robin Boutemont; the Geneva copy is also attributable to the early fourteenth century and is by an associate of the Maubeuge Master.

4) Paris BNF fr. 12581, written by Michel in 1284, is Champenois or perhaps Burgundian; Paris, BNF fr. 1109 and Lyon BM 948 are both associated with Arras, but by different artists: BNF fr. 1109 (written in 1310) by the Master of the Psalter-Hours of Arras, BNF lat. 1328, to whom may also be attributed a large number of other manuscripts.  It is possible that New York, Morgan Library M 814 is also arrageois but its one miniature, depicting the author at his desk at the opening of Book I, is too rubbed for a certain attribution.  Paris, BNF fr. 566, attributed to Liège (Oliver, Liège,1988, I, 187-89), is stylistically close to the Thomas de Cantimpré of 1295, Berlin, SB Ham. 114 and to the Lancelot-Grail manuscripts London, BL Add. 10292-4, Royal 14.E. III and Amsterdam, BPH 1/ Oxford, Bodl. Douce 215/Manchester, Rylands fr. 1, dating c. 1310-25 and made in the region of Saint-Omer or Ghent; the Liège association is based on the comparison with London, BL Stowe 17, a psalter of Maastricht use.  Vat. Reg. lat. 1320 is by three artists, one Franco-Flemish, also associated with Ghent-Bruges production of the 1320s, and the other two Italian (designated a and b).

I leave aside here the four Southern French copies, London, BL Add. 30024, 30025, and Carpentras BI 269, perhaps from Perpignan; and Karlsruhe copy, Badische Landesbibliothek, MS 391, attributable to Toulouse.  Oxford, Bodl. Douce 319, was probably made in Acre;  Paris, BNF fr. 571, has been published as English, see L.F. Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385 (A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, V), London, 1986, no. 96; Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 20, which contains only selections of the text as part of a miscellany, may be from Tournai.

Notes on the patterns of distribution and treatment of the illustrations follow below.  Chapter Headings and Sigla are after Carmody.

General Observations:
There is no overall consistency in the placing or choice of subjects for the illustrations.  Nevertheless, some patterns emerge:
--all manuscripts have an opening illustration for Books 1 and 2, and all but F2 for Book 3.
--all but the sparsely illustrated Geneva have an illustration for Book 2, Ch. 50, On Vices and Virtues.
--two manuscripts only, S and A5, both Arrageois, omit an illustration for Book 1, Ch. 121, Li mapemonde.
--at Book 1, Ch. 21, Second Aage, there is alignment between the Arras Group (MSS T, B3, R5, A6) and the Thérouanne Group (MSS L2, YT, L, Q2).
--Bestiary material is illustrated in two manuscripts of the Thérouanne Group, L2 and YT, and also in K and R3.
--Prophets and Saints are illustrated only in L2 and K.
--Ages I-IV are most fully illustrated in Q2.

For further comments, see BLatini120605-notes.html

Chapter Headings and Sigla after Carmody
[To fit on small computer screen, reduce type size of Table to 8 point, instead of 10 point]
 
 

Paris, BNF fr. 1110   MS T

Brussels, BR 10228   MS B3

Vatican, BAV lat. 3203   MS R5

Arras, BM182 (1060)   MS A6

St Petersburg, SL Fr.F.v.III.4 MS L2

London, BLYT 19  no siglum (hereYT)

Paris, BNFfr. 567    MS L

Florence, Laur.Ash. 125, ff. 1-139  MS Q2

Turin, BNL.II. 18 anc. ms.1643)  MS T2

Rennes, BM 593(147)  ff.170-284 (1303-04) MS F2

Geneva, BPU Comites latentes 179  Geneva

Paris,BNF fr.1109 (1310)   MS S

Lyon, BM948, ff.3-93v   MS A5

Paris,BNF fr. 566     MS K

Vatican, Reg.lat.1320 First  redaction MS R3

Table of Contents

1-5

1-5

iv verso-vii

1-4

1-2r (2v blank)

1-3

i-xiv

1-4v

1-4 (4v-7v blank)

1,3,4,5

1-4v

Book I, Preface

7

6

1

1

5

3

i

1

1

170

1

8

3

10

5 (French)

Chapter 6.  Coment Dieus fist toutes coses au commencement

4v

7

5

iii

2v

7 (Italian a)

Chapter 19.   Coment roi furent premierement

5v

Chapter 21.  Des coses ki furent au II. aage.

13

13v

8v

7

11

10

vii, vii verso

vii verso

6

18, 18v

11v (Italian a)

Chapter 25.  Des gens ki furent au III. aage

xiii

7

20

Chapter 30.  Dou regne des femes.

13v

8

Chapter 38.  Coment Jules Cesar fu premier roi de Rome

9

9v

Chapter 39.  Des rois de France.

15

Chapter 41.  Des choses dou IV. aage.

11

10v

26

Chapter 42.  Des choses ki furent el quint aage

26

Chapter 43.  Dou sisime aage du siecle.

26v

Chapter 44.  De David ki fu rois des prophetes

18v

12

16v

26v

Chapters 45-47.  Dou roi Salemon son fil. Elyseus.

17

27,27v,27v

Chapters 48-50.  Ysias, Jeremie, Ezechiel.

17v

28,28,28v

Chapters 51-55.  Daniel, Achias, Jagdo, Tobias, iii enfans profetes.

18

28v,28v,28v

Chapters 56-59.  Esdras, Zorobabel, Hester, Judith

18v

29,29,29,29

Chapters 60-62.  Zacharias, Machebeus, noviel loi.

19

29v,29v,29v

Chapter 63.  Nouvel loi

19

18

xv

12v

29v

19v (Italian a)

Chapter 64.  De la parente la mere Dieu.

23

19v

14v

19v

18v

xv verso

15

21v

30v

20 (French)

Chapters 65-67.  De Nostre Dame Sainte Marie, S. Jehan Baptiste, S. Jake Alphei

20

30v,31,31

Chapters 68-70.  S. Jude, S. Jehan Evangeliste, S. Jakeme Zebedei.

20v

31,31v,31v

Chapters 71-73.  S. Piere, S. Pol, S. Andrieu

21

32,32,32v

Chapters 74-79.  SS. Phelippe, Thumas, Bartholemeu, Mathieu, Mathias, Luc

21v

32v, 32v, 33, 33, 33, 33

Chapters 80-84.  SS. Symon, Marc, Barnabe, Tymothe, Thithus.

22

33v, 33v, 33v 33v, 33v

Chapter 85. Encore dou Novel Testament et des .x. commandemens de la loi.

33v

Chapter 86.  Coment loys fu comenchie

22v

21v

xviii

34

23 (Italian a)

Chapter 87. Coment Crestientés essaucha au tens Silvestre.

26

22v

36

Chapter 88.  Coment eglise essaucha

16

37v

Chapter 89. Coment li rois de France fu empereor de Rome.

38v

Chapter 90.  Coment li empereor de Rome revient as Ytaliens

18

24

23

xx

24v (Italian a)

Chapter 93. Coment l'empire vint as Alemans

41

Chapter 95.  De la hautece Frederik

16v

Chapter 96.  De l'empereor et del pape Innocens

21v

26v

26

xxii verso

27v (Italian a)

Chapter 98.  Coment et por coi l'empereor fu desposes Manfred

27v

27

xxiii verso

28v (French)

Chapter 99.  La nature est chose establi par iiii complexions

28v

22v

28v

28

xxiiii verso

19

29v (Italian a)

Chapters 100-103. Des vices, des iiii elemens, Del auironnement del air et dorbisdes vii planetes.

45, 45v, 47v, 48

Chapter 104.  Del  mondes reondes et des iiii elemens

34v

31v

24

30v

48,48v

Chapter 105.  De la nature de l'eve

20

Chapter 106.  De l'aire et de la pluie

31v

31v

xxviii

33 (Italian a)

Chapter 110.  Del firmament et des planetes.

23

51v

Chapter 116. Comment la lune enpronte sa lumiere del soleil et des eclipses

41v

39

28

52,52v

Chapter 121.  Li mapemonde

38v

44v

42v

31

38v

40

xxxvi

27v

42v

193

36v

56v

41 (Italian a)

Chapter 125.  comment hom ki est sages doit esliere tiere gaaignable

35

Chapter 130, 131.  poissons, anguille, echinus, corcorel

45v

53

51v

37v

46

48,48v

52

66

49,49v (Italian b)

Chapters 132-4.  cete, coquille, delfin

46v

49v-50

66, 66v, 67, 67v, 67v

50-50v (Italian b)

Chapters 135-6.  ypotamie, sieraine.

47

50

45

68,68

51 (Italian b)

Chapter 137.  serpens

47v

50

202

55

68v

51 (Italian b)

Chapters 138-41.  aspide, anfemeine, basilike, dragon

48

51v

69, 69v, 69v, 69v

51v-52 (Italian b)

Chapters 142-4.  scitalis, vipre, lisarde

48v

52

69v,70,70,70

52v(Italian-b)

Chapter145-6.  aigle, ostoire

49

52v,53

70v, 70v, 71

53 (Italian b)

Chapter 148.  esperviers

50

53v

72

54 (Italian b)

Chapters 149,150.  faucons, esmerillons

50v

54v

72v,73

55,55v (Italian b)

Chapters 151-4.  alcion, ardea, anes et oes, besenes

52

55

73, 73, 73v, 73v

55v (Italian b)

Chapters 155-68.  calandre, peredrix, papegal

52

56

74v, 74v, 74v

56v (Italian b)

Chapter 169.  paon

52

56v

75, 75, 75, 76, 76, 76v, 77, 77, 77, 77v 57(Italian-b)

57 (Italian b)

Chapters 170-3.  tortrele, ostrisse, co

52v

56v.57

77v, 78, 78, 78, 78, 78v

57 (Italian b)

Chapter 174.  lion.

60

53

57

li

65

205

78v

57v (Italian b)

Chapter 175.  anteled

53v

58

79v 57v(Italian-b)

57v (Italian b)

Chapters 176-7.  asnes, bues

54

58,58v

80, 80

58v,59 (Italian b)

Chapters 178-80.  brebis, belotes, chamel

54v

59

80v, 81, 81

59-59v (Italian b)

Chapters 181-3.  castore, chevriers, cers

55

59v,60

81v, 81v, 81v

60 (Italian b)

Chapter 184.  chiens

55v

60v

82

60v (Italian b)

Chapter 185.  camelion

56

61

83v

61v (Italian b)

Chapter 186.  chevaus

56v

61v

83v

61v (Italian b)

Chapter 187.  olifans

57

62v

85

62v (Italian b)

Chapter 188.  formis

57v

63

86 63(Italian-b)

63 (Italian b)

Chapters 189-90.  yena, loup

58

63,63v

86, 86v

63,63v (Italian b)

Chapters 191-4.  lucrote, manticore, pantere, parandes

58v

64

87, 87, 87, 87v

63v,64 (Italian b)

Chapters 195-6.  singes, tigres

59

64v

87v, 87v, 88, 88, 88

64,64v (Italian a)

Book 2, Chapter 1.  Des vices et des vertu

58

67v

66v

48

59

65

lvii

44

74v

210

62

57v

35

89

64v (French)

Chapter 19.  De force

73v

Chapter 28. Ci parole de justice

66

55

Chapter 50.  Li livres de moralités...les enseignement des vices et des vertus

77

89v

90v

64v

77

87

lxxvii verso

60

101

225v

75

47

116

85 (Italian a)

Chapter 68.  De conoissance

85v

lxxxvi verso

94v (French)

Chapter 69.  L'ensegnement d'aprendre les nonsachans

102

Chapter 90.  Ci dist de forche

105

108v

78

Chapter 95. Les enseignements de doner

97v

Chapter 98. De religion

100v

Chapter 115.  Des biens de fortune

106

121

126

91

Book 3, Chapter 1.  De bone parleure

113v

128v

134v

97

110v

118v

114v

88

150v

108

106v

68v

165

123 (French)

Chapter 2.De retorike

252v

Chapter 33. Des vii vices dou prologue et premierement dou general Apres les vertus dou prologue

140

Chapter 54. De tous argumenz en ii manierez cest de loing et de pries Apres ce que li maistres ot enseignie les lieus

151v

missing

Chapter  73.Dou governement de cités

137

missing

192

274v

205, 218, 249

Notes

Table of Contents

K: f. 1 C, God creating birds and animals; God drawing Eve from Adam's side; f. 3 C, Three living (on horseback) and three dead ? (badly rubbed); C, Barlaam and Josaphat and Child in Tree; f. 5 C, Pelican in her Piety.

Book 1, Preface:

F: C, man sitting on top of money chest with coins on it, holding up a coin (f. 90v).

T: Scribe seated at desk, author as cleric standing before him, giving orders.

B3: Miniature in 2 columns: King orders 2 men, one of whom points to man holding bowl of golden objects (presenting or receiving ?), addressed by gatekeeper with huge key standing in door of central structure; on right, author seated at desk addressed by 3 lawyers one holding gloves; border: knight terminal with club and buckler; two men holding crook and long cutting instrument approach a bird of prey in a trap; another man gestures at them; knight terminal wields club, shield argent [white] three fesses coticed sable.

R5: Miniature in 2 columns: author seated at desk; group of men, one offering a goblet; men offering vessel full of coins to king; border: man in cale carries sack to windmill.

A6, YT: Author seated with a group of scholars, one of whom writes; YT border: birds, bagpiper on back of hybrid; bald hybrid archer; man playing rebec to dog; squirrel on goat chasing ape on unicorn.

L2: Author seated at desk between two groups of scholars to whom he points; border: foliate initial with hooded male terminal; male hybrid terminal, lion; bird and animal partly cut off; ape holding urine flask; greyhound running; man holding stag by its antlers and aiming a long arrow at it; shield or (device scraped off).

L:  Author seated at desk with book, instructing one seated student holding book.

Q2:  Author seated, standing man in academic costume.

T2: Miniature in 2 columns: Christ in Majesty, blessing, holding TO globe, in a mandorla with the evangelist symbols in the spandrels, flanked by two groups of 6 seated apostles, Peter holding key, Paul holding sword, the others without attribute.

Geneva: Author copying from a model.

F2: Seated author.

S, A5: miniature in 2 columns: 7 Days of Creation.

K: Wheel of Fortune; border: prophet holding scroll; hybrid trumpeting terminal.

R3: Author seated, standing man, both wearing academic hats, standing man pointing to the book in which the seated man writes; border: birds, hare, horned hybrid man holding a flail (?); running stag.

Chapter 6

A6: God warns Adam and Eve.

L2: Circular diagram of the universe containing planets and sun and moon, with Christ standing in hell-mouth at the centre; evangelist symbols holding scrolls in the corners of the miniature; bottom border: creation of Eve, drawn from the side of Adam; top: intertwined male and female hybrids with long necks and human heads.

YT: Circular diagram of the universe with the sun and moon; in the centre God and animals, Adam lying on the ground; border: bird, hybrids, knight riding.

L:  God enthroned holding banner white a cross gules, between two angels, seated above the universe shown as circles with sun and moon prominent; bottom border, God and sleeping Adam.

Q2:  Miniature in two registers: top: God blessing heaven with angels, sky with sun and moon, birds, animals, water with fish; bottom: creation of Eve, drawn from the side of Adam.

R3:  God sits enthroned by rocks, trees, and water.

Chapter 19

Q2: Two kings, one holding gloves, stand before seated author who addresses them.

Chapter 21

T: Noah and family inside ark, Noah sends out dove.

B3: Noah and family inside ark, Noah sends out dove.

R5: Noah, wife and son look out of floating ark; Noah sends out dove.

A6: Noah and family inside floating ark, Noah sends out dove.

L2: Noah, between his family and the animals inside floating ark, sends out dove; hare playing gittern; trumpeter in robe party red and blue crouches on border; bottom: ape archer riding doe has shot arrow into rear of another ape, both turn back to look at each other.

YT:  Noah and family inside floating ark with animals, Noah sends and receives dove; border: hybrid, female acrobat, naked woman with tail rides unicorn at dog hybrid.

L: f. 7 Noah and son building ark; f. 7v Noah and family with animals inside floating ark; female head in initial, dragon terminal.

Q2: Noah standing in ark holding adze.

K: f. 18 A, Adam digs, Eve spins and nurses; four seated figures at bottom of hill; f. 18v N, Noah, wearing academic hat in ark, animals entering.

R3: Noah and 2 animals in ark windows; raven on roof.

Chapter 25

L:  Author ? Abraham ? wearing academic hat and group of men wearing Jew's hats; O, author's head in academic hat.

Q2:  God in a cloud addresses Abraham on crutches wearing a Jewish hat.

K: Two women (one with veiled head, one wearing knotted headscarf) holding babies, Abraham seated holding stick, wearing Jewish hat.

Chapter 30

L2: Queen Penthesilea, seated, crowned by two ladies holding gloves; border, top: hybrid archer has shot arrow at male hybrid terminal; bottom: juggler holds up long table-top on his chin; woman dances and plays pipe and tabor.

Q2: Queen Penthesilea, seated, holding sceptre, ladies on either side;  border: knight terminal holding sword and buckler.

Chapter 38

A6: Julius Caesar's army rides out  (against Pompey).

Q2: Julius Caesar, crowned,  seated, with his men: knight with raised sword, standing men.

Chapter 39

L2: King (Faremond ? Henri ? Gidebors ? Clyoedeus ?  Nimorem ? identified as Clovis by Mokretsova, 95) crowned by two officials ; Q, bearded hybrid wearing hat; border, top: archer terminal has shot arrow into rear of male terminal; bottom: two shield or, traces of a device gules, scraped off.

Chapter 41

A6: Sacrifice of Isaac, angel stays sword, ram in background.

Q2: King Saul killed, King David crowned by mitred priest.

K: L, David crowned in presence of two groups of Jews.

Chapter 42

K: L, Captivity of the Jews.

Chapter 43

K: L, Birth of Christ: Virgin in bed, Child held by midwife, Joseph seated, wearing halo and Jew's hat.

Chapter 44

T: David slings at Goliath.

A6: David slings at Goliath.

L2: King David standing holding sceptre and book.

K: D, King David harping (Chapter numbers in K are one ahead of those in Carmody's edition).

Chapters 45-63

L2:  ff. 17-19 contain a series of half-column miniatures of King Solomon followed by prophets in Jews' hats, holding scrolls; Isaiah holds a saw and a scroll; Daniel, bareheaded and haloed, holds his scroll in a crenellated pit with lions; Queen Esther stands with veiled head; Judith wears hair net, touret and head bands, slices off Holofernes' head in tent.

K: f. 27  S, Judgement of Solomon: two mothers, one soldier; ff. 27v-29v, a series of initials containing prophets holding scrolls.

Chapters 60-62

L2: Judas Maccabeus wearing knotted headscarf.

K: M, 5 Maccabees on horseback; O, seated scribe (evangelist ?).

Chapter 63

L2: Jesse in bed, surrounded by kingsÕ heads in circular branches of Tree, Virgin Mary in centre, holding palm; top border: hooded archer aims at rear of ape; bottom border: ape seated in scrollwork terminal; dog and rabbit in scrollwork terminal.

YT: Jesse in bed, surrounded by kingsÕ heads in circular branches, birds, Virgin Mary in centre, holding palm and crucifix; border: cat with mouse in jaw, archer terminal has shot bolt at bird, apes riding camels fight with swords and shields or.

L: Jesse (wearing academic hat) in bed, surrounded by kingsÕ heads in circular branches, birds, Virgin Mary in centre, holding palm and crucifix; A, male head wearing academic hat; top border: unicorn.

Q2: Christ on the cross between Ecclesia and Synagoga.

K: A, Baptism of Christ.

R3: Four foliate medallions flanking two foliate mandorlas, in two registers, each containing a bust except for the lower medallion which has Christ on the cross; in the adjacent roundels are the Virgin (right) and St John (left); one of the upper figures is female, all are indistinct.

Chapter 64

B3, R5: Nativity: Virgin lies head on hand.

A6: Jesse Tree: 4 roundels enclosing kings, 2 on each side of Virgin and Child in central lozenge.

L2: Bare-headed  man and man in cale kneel one on each side of St Anne holding crowned Mary and Christ Child; border, top: archer has shot arrow at mouth of hooded black male hybrid; bottom: man playing portative organ; female acrobat; O, male head wearing Jew's hat.

YT: Esmeria holding Elizabeth facing St Anne holding crowned Mary and Christ Child; border: falconer and woman with dog beneath tree with birds, some goldfinches.

L: Man in blue vair-lined robe with red hood praying before St Anne holding crowned Mary and Christ Child; top border: naked man in hood, draped in cloak, aims spear at crouching unicorn; bottom: greyhound chases stag.

Q2: Moses and the Burning Bush: Moses, horned, holding Tablets, Head of God in bush.

T2: Annunciation to the Virgin.

K: C, Esmeria and Anne.

R3: Esmeria and Elizabeth with Anne and the Virgin Mary; border: birds, hybrid creature.

Chapters 65-67

L2: ff. 20-22: half-column miniatures with portraits of standing saints holding attributes or books, beginning with initial L, bust of Virgin Mary; unlike those in K, none are narrative in content.

K: L, Annunciation to the Virgin; E, execution of John the Baptist, Salome holding head on charger; A, torture of James Alpheus.

Chapters 68-70

K: I, Jude executed with axe; I, John the Evangelist boiled; I, James the Greater executed with sword.

Chapters 71-73

K: P, Peter crucified upside down; P, Paul executed with sword; A, Andrew roped to cross, looking down at crowd.

Chapters 74-79

K: P, Philip roped to cross and beaten; T, Thomas pierced through with lance, watched by seated crowd; B, Bartholomew flayed by 2 men, his lower body decorously draped; 2 Ms, Matthew and Mathias executed by sword; L, Luke seated writing on scroll, ox holding scroll behind him.

Chapters 80-84

K: S, Simon roped sideways to cross; M, Mark seated writing, looking back at symbol; B, Barnabas preaching to seated crowd; T, Timothy seated; T, Titus destroying an idol on column.

Chapter 85

K: O, Ecclesia and Synagoga.

Chapter 86

L2: Gnadenstuhl Trinity (God the Father's face rubbed); C, bust of Christ, pointing at text; border, top (partly cut off): archer has shot arrow at eye of hooded hybrid; bottom: hooded hybrid in hat; two shields, or (devices gules erased).

YT: Gnadenstuhl Trinity (badly rubbed); border: mastiff attacks hare; bird of prey.

L: Adoration of the Magi: Virgin and Child each hold a flower; top border: hare, squirrel; bottom border: ape falconer.

K: C, Nativity of Christ, Child in manger with ox and ass.

R3: Adoration of the Magi, all kneeling, one with his feet outside the frame.

Chapter 87

B3, R5: Emperor Constantine and his men before Pope Silvester.

K: A, Transfiguration of Christ.

Chapter 88

Q2: Emperor Constantine V Copronymous taking the idols from the image-worshippers of Western Christendom to Constantinople and there breaking and burning them (cf. text of Ch. 89).

K: Composite page of Passion scenes, from the Entry to Jerusalem to Pentecost (Virgin Mary present).

Chapter 89

K: O, Pope hands small cross to kneeling emperor Charlemagne, large shield of France in background.

Chapter 90

A6: Seated emperor (Charlemagne ?), two standing knights.

L2: Pope crowns Charlemagne, in the presence of Archbishop Turpin (shield France a cross argent [white]), Roland (shield party, France impaling Empire), and Oliver (shield azure a bust of a woman [Virgin Mary ?]) (illustrating the previous chapter); top border: backturned archer-centaur has shot arrow through pursuing centaur; bottom border: male and female (wearing wimple and veil) hybrid terminals.

YT:  Charlemagne (face rubbed), shield party France and Empire, kneels before pope (illustrating the previous chapter); border: hybrid cripple trumpeter wearing hood with bells; greyhound chasing stag; hybrid.

L: Mounted combat between two armies: shields or a double-headed eagle sable; gules a lion argent [white], barruly or and gules, a bend sable charged with cockle-shells argent [white]; others rubbed.  E, King's head; top border: greyhound chases rabbits; bottom: female falconer.

R3: Pope crowns Charlemagne (feet outside frame), watched by 3 standing men.

Chapter 93

K: M, Two bishops crown emperor (one of the Ottos, illustrating Ch. 93, or Henry VI (r1190-97), illustrating Ch. 94), watched by the electors (Ch. 93).

Chapter 95

Q2: Knights kneel before cephalophore saint (relics of St Peter) in presence of Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241); Emperor Frederick II on horseback with his knights, riding to Rome to subjugate the pope.

Chapter 96

A6: Pope Innocent IV (1241-1253) in conical hat and 2 clerics address Emperor Frederick II and lawyer (excommunicating Frederick).

L2: Pope Innocent IV hands sealed letter to cleric (in which he excommunicates Frederick II); Emperor Frederick and a group of lawyers dispute; top border: shield or, device gules erased; bottom: boys on the shoulders of men aim lances at each other, holding shields or.

YT: Emperor Frederick and a lawyer dispute with two more lawyers (pope not shown); border: animals, bird, hybrid.

L: Emperor Frederick disputes with 3 lawyers and a bareheaded man; man kneels before enthroned Pope Innocent IV in conical hat; E, foliate initial; female and male hybrid terminals.

R3: Enthroned pope gestures towards group of men who sail away in a boat.

Chapter 98

L2: Group of lawyers debate; pope hands sealed letter to messenger with spear (Urban IV [1261-1264] summoning Charles d'Anjou to fight Manfred and take possession of his lands in Italy); border, top: hybrid in Jew's hat holds banner sable ? erased; hybrid; bottom: youths fight with swords and bucklers.

YT: Three lawyers debate before seated pope; border: hybrids, bird of prey.

L: Man in vair-lined hat and group of tonsured clerics address seated pope; O, female head wearing headbands; pope's head terminal; top border: male hybrid; bottom: youth has shot stork with arrow.

R3: Pope Innocent IV and his forces approach Manfred and his army; border: birds, hybrid.

Chapter 99

T: Two men in academic robes sitting on a bench and debating with each other.

A6: God stands facing circle of planets, water, and earth with tree and tower on it.

L2: Man in bed, doctor with flask, within concentric rings of four elements; border, top (partly cut off: ape traps bird with decoy on string; bottom: hooded apes riding stag and goat  joust with lances, shields barruly argent and azure, a lion gules (Luxemburg rather than Lusignan ?), and or a lion gules (Holland).

YT: Man in bed, doctor holding flask, within concentric rings of water with fish, air, fire; border: greyhound chases stag; bird; hare; huntsman on horse holding lure.

L:  Doctor holds up flask before naked man lying in garden within concentric rings of water with fish, air, fire; dragon terminals; man holding portative organ, man (in kneeling position) riding on ox, holding axe.

Q2: Doctor holds up flask before naked man lying in garden within concentric rings of water with fish, air, fire.

R3: Four elements in medallions, air containing a flying bird.

Chapters 100-102

K: Marginal circle diagrams of elements, inscribed; waters, inscribed; air and fire, inscribed; planets, inscribed.

Chapter 104

B3, R5, A6:  Circular diagram of 7 planets and sun with earth and a crenellated building at the centre.

L2: Circular diagram of 4 elements, at centre cleric seated at desk with book looks up (holding small telescope ?); border, top: knight terminal has struck dragon through the jaw with sword; female hybrid terminal; acrobat holding his feet with his hands, knives falling into a large jug; bottom: knight terminal holding sword, buckler, and lance with pennant or, aiming at snail.

K: marginal circle diagram of planets with earth at centre containing animal head spuing forth flames; f. 48v marginal circle diagram of planets accompanying text numbered ch. 105, on Saturn and the firmament.

Chapter 105

Q2: Circular diagram, seated man surrounded by water.

Chapter 106
L2: Circular diagram of 4 elements, at centre cleric seated at desk holding long wavy rod which extends up through all four elements; border, top: archer (partly cut off) aims at hares; bottom: cleric hybrid faces female hybrid with veiled head.

YT: Circular diagram of 4 elements, man in academic hat sits in centre before open book, holding long wavy rod which extends up through all four elements; border: knight (shield, ailette banner or a cross gules) fights hybrid.

L: Circular diagram of 4 elements, man in academic hat sits in centre before open book, raising hand; behind him a huge gold sun extends over all four elements; L, king's head; border: male hybrid.

R3: Square diagram of the 4 elements, arranged diagonally in a mandorla-shaped configuration from bottom left to top right.

Chapter 110

Q2: Circular diagram of planets.

K: Marginal circle diagram of planets and zodiacs, inscribed.

Chapter 116

B3, R5: Circular diagram of 7 planets, sun and moon, with earth and a castle with 2 turrets at centre.

A6 Circular diagram with earth and a castle with single turret at centre, 2 suns and 2 moons, day and night.

K: Chapter numbered 111: diagram in text column of planets and eclipse; f. 52v chapter numbered 112: circle diagram of path of moon.

Chapter 121

T, B3:  Circular diagram with earth and castle at centre, showing sun and moon, day and night.

A6: Earth with tree, building, water beneath.

R5: Man with pack on back standing by river and building (cf. Ch. 130, B3).

L2: Circular diagram of 4 elements, sun, moon, and planets, lions and trees at centre; border, top: hybrids; bottom: hooded archer blows horn, rides after greyhound chasing boar.

YT: Circular diagram of 4 elements with sun and moon in a fifth outer ring, house and trees at centre; border: hybrids; man shielding himself from the sun with a huge hat on a stick

L: Circular diagram of 4 elements and five rings of stars and planets on which are placed a large gold sun and a smaller grey moon; rocks in centre; hybrid terminals; top border: male hybrid.

Q2: Circular diagram of 4 elements and five rings of stars and planets, seated man in centre, holding globe.

T2: God stands holding a circular diagram of the world, a TO globe with water and earth.

F2: Two standing masters, one holding very long gloves.

Geneva CL: Circular diagram of the world with Jerusalem at the centre, framed by 8 heads representing the winds.

K: L, Circular diagram in two registers: top: two groups of castles linked by rivers (?); below, a cynocephalus (?) and a sciapod shielding himself from the sun.

R3: Circular diagram of the world shown as a spoon-shaped configuration linked across turbulent air by a 'handle' to the outer bands of water and fire.

Chapter 125

A6: Man digging outside house by tree.

Chapter 130: The Bestiary section mostly presents the fish, birds, and animals as 'portraits': I note here those that include narrative elements.

T: Water with a single large fish, and land.

B3: Man with cloth on stick over shoulder walks by water towards house (cf. Ch. 121, R5).

R5: Knights at sea in a sail-boat.

A6: Fish in water, earth with dragon and rabbits looking out of holes.

L2:  Half-column miniatures of fish.

YT: Half-column images of fish.

T2: Miniature in 2 registers: 6 quadruped above, fish in water below.

K, numbered 125: P, merman, mermaid, and fish.

R3: Frameless coloured drawings of fish in three-quarters of a text column.

Chapter 132

L2: Man stepping out of boat onto land with trees on back of whale, slightly larger miniature; half-column miniatures of fish.

YT: Large miniature of whale with sailors on back; 3 small pictures of fish.

K, numbered 126: B, fish; f. 66v numbered 27, C, cocatrix emerging from side of crocodile which is swallowing it; f. 67 numbered 28: C, sailors lighting fire on back of whale; f. 67v numbered 129: C, coquille; numbered 130: D, man in boat next to 2 large flatfish (delphin).

Chapters 135-36

L2: 3 sirens play gittern, harp, trumpet; horse-like hypotamie with tusks.

Geneva: Sirens among fish in water.

K, numbered 131: Y, hypotamie, horse-like with tusks; numbered 132: D, sirens capturing sleeping men in boat.

Chapter 137

F2: Standing king and standing master disputing.

Geneva: 5 different creatures: serpent, aspide, anfemeine, basilisk, dragon.

K, numbered 133: S, 2 serpents with greyhound-like heads.

Chapters 138-41

L2: Asp bites leg of man.

K: numbered 134-137: A, man reading, asp at his feet; A, double-headed amphine; B, basilisk with cock's head; D, shaggy dragon.

Chapters 142-144

K, numbered 138-140 K adds Salamander as no. 141 to this group of creatures.

Chapters 145-146

K, numbered 142, 143: eagle flies to sun with small bird in claws; O, ostoire; f. 71 adds E, grand ostor, shown as falconer with bird on wrist.

Chapters 155-168

K numbered 152-165, shows fenix on flames, pelican in her piety.

Chapter 174

R5: Lion and trees.

L2: Miniature in two registers: lioness holding bone above lion; L, head of an old man, balding and bearded; border: top: female hybrid; bottom: bagpiper, hybrid, dancing woman in hair net; shield or a chevron gules (rubbed).

YT: Addorsed lion with bone, and lioness.

L: 3 crouching lions, superimposed; lion, lioness, and a second lioness eating large bone.

T2: Lion devouring animal leg, man with cloak on stick over shoulder walks away.

F2: Standing king and standing master: lion between them.

K numbered 171: L, cock chasing lion.

Chapter 175

K numbered 172: antelope speared by hunter in cale.

Chapter 181

L2: Trumpeting hunter holding lance; castor biting off testicles.

K numbered 178: Castor biting off testicles, hunted by man in cale with club.

Chapter 187

L2: Elephant with castle containing 3 knights in crenellations, knights in window.

K numbered 184: Elephant with castle on back.

Chapter 189

L2, YT: Hyena eating corpse.

K numbered 186: Hyenas lurking beside tomb.

Chapter 195

L2, YT: Hunter chasing ape carrying young on front and back; hunter (bareheaded in YT, hooded in L2) holding baby tiger drops mirror to tiger (amidst 6 mirrors in L2; 1 mirror in YT).

K numbered 192, 193: Hunter chasing ape carrying young on front and back; tiger amidst 6 mirrors, but no hunter or babies; numbered 194, 195, 196: taupe, unicorn in virgin's lap, speared by hunter; urs.

Book 2, Chapter 1

F: Q, tonsured author writing (f. 139v).

T: Author at desk expounding from book to standing cleric holding gloves and debating.

B3: Author writing; man walks away from door holding written manuscript.

R5:  Author seated, writing on a scroll, a standing man before him.

A6: Author seated, two men before him, outside door of building.

L2: Author as cleric seated at desk, teaching seated students holding books; border: juggler in cale balancing sword on chin, holding a second sword; shields or a maunch sable (rubbed) and or a chevron gules (rubbed).

YT: Author (tonsured) teaching seated students who write; border: knight (shield azure a carbuncle or) aims lance at snail; archer has shot bolt at dragon terminal; lions, male terminal wearing hat. with bell, playing rebec; stag chased by dog.

L: Author in vair-lined academic hat enthroned between two groups of students, points to group on his right; arch frame with two mask-heads in spandrels; top border: youth's head terminal; bottom: greyhound chasing stag; male hybrid rebec-player wearing long pointed hood with bell terminal.

Q2: Author alone, writing at desk.

T2: Seated master before open book on lectern, 2 students seated on ground.

F2: Seated master before open book on lectern, students on ground.

Geneva: Q, author seated, writing.

S: author in hat seated at open book pointing to scales held by man in grey hooded robe; border: chaffinch.

Lyon: seated author at desk addressing group of standing men (lawyers ?).

K: Q, author in academic hat seated at desk with book instructs seated students; border: man embracing recoiling woman; equestrian knight (surcoat and housing bendy or and azure) aims crossbow at them.

R3: Bareheaded man standing and pointing at author who wears academic hat, and sits writing on scroll; border: hybrid.

Chapter 19

R5: Man with axe, two men with swords.

Chapter 28

T: Seated king, three standing men (badly rubbed).

A6: Seated king, group of men lead before him a man with rope around neck.

Chapter 50

T, A6, R5: Seated author, standing man holding gloves and debating.

B3: Author writing at desk, students standing before him.

L2: Author seated at desk, teaching seated students; border, top: bust-terminal blows two trumpets (partly cut off); bottom: male and female centaurs fight with lances, holding shields or a saltire gules a fess sable, and or a lion sable a bend gules (Flanders differenced).

YT: Author teaching seated students; border: knight (shield, banner, surcoat gules a fess or a star sable) aims lance at snail; greyhound chases hare; hybrids.

L: seated author, bareheaded, holding book, teaching standing students (badly rubbed): top border: hybrid eating human arm; bottom: male hybrid wearing conical hat.

Q2: Author alone, writing at desk.

T2: Author seated, teaching three seated students, all without books.

F2: Seated master, seated students on ground.

S: Author at desk pointing to man seated on ground before him; border: bird; faint marginal note beginning 'vn maistre...'.

K: A, man in cale and woman in wimple kneel before Christ on the cross.

R3: Outside a crenellated wall, two figures address a figure seated by a tree (rubbed).

Chapter 68

L2: Author wearing academic hat, seated at desk, instructing 3 standing men who gesture at him; border, top: affronted hybrids, bottom: ape falconer holding lure, hawk flying; ape bird-catcher holding owl on gloved hand; stork.

L: Author in vair-lined hat, seated at desk teaching seated students, one holding book; f. 87: border: lion, male terminal; bottom: male hybrid wearing pointed hat.

R3: Author in vair-lined hat and vair cape seated on bench discussing with bearded bareheaded man holding book; border: ape aiming spear at creature on foliage.

Chapter 69

R5: Seated King, standing men.

Chapter 90

B3: Samson carrying the gates of Gaza.

R5: Samson about to lift the gates of Gaza.

A6: Man in cale points at Samson carrying the gates of Gaza.

Chapter 95

T: Man at chest filled with coins, holds out chalice before 2 men holding gloves, one wearing a cale.

Chapter 98

T: Cleric kneels at altar with chalice beneath canopy (rubbed).

Chapter 115

T, B3, R5, A6: Wheel of Fortune.

Book 3, Chapter 1

F: A, tonsured master holding birch rod instructs seated students, one holding book (f. 191).

T: Seated king addresses 4 men.

R5: Author seated, writing.

A6: Standing king and man before 2 clerics.

L2: Master in academic hat seated at desk instructs seated students; border, top: hooded male bust; bottom: addorsed lions.

YT: Seated Master teaches seated students; border: hybrids.

L: Seated author in vair-lined hat at desk teaches seated students, one of whom holds book; f. 115 borders: male hybrids.

Q2: Author alone, writing at desk.

T2: Author and man seated together, debating; two other men stand behind.

Geneva: A, foliate initial.

S: seated master in hat pointing to man standing in pink robe holding gloves; marginal note in leadpoint, ending '...se main'.

K: A, bishop addresses seated ruler holding sceptre, both flanked by supporters.

R3: Author seated outside by tree, in three-quarter profile pointing to written text on desk (as though addressing the reader); border: hybrid, bird.

Chapter 2

F2: Seated king, two standing masters, one holding book.

Chapter 33

B3: Standing Master addresses group of standing men.

Chapter 54

B3: Seated Master holding book; 3 bareheaded academics address him.

Chapter 73

R5: Three knights ride to city.

T2: Seated king, his supporters on his right, addresses 3 men on his left.

F2: Tonsured cleric shows king a city.

K: numbered Book 4, chs. 1, 17, 51: f. 205 E, King and bishop seated together, king flanked by knight in heraldic robe quarterly 1 and 4 argent [white] a lion gules (Limburg), 2 and 3 sable a lion or (Brabant), the arms adopted by Jean I de Brabant on acquiring the Duchy of Limburg in 1287; bishop flanked by knight in heraldic robe barruly argent [white] and azure, a lion gules overall (Luxemburg); f. 218 Government of cities in peacetime: P, king holding sceptre seated between standing man (poet ?) and musician playing rebec; f. 249 emperor wearing chain-mail and surcoat or an eagle sable, holding sword, between 2 knights, one with surcoat or 3 besants voided sable, holding a club; the other in grey surcoat, holding a buckler and club.  The Brabant-Limburg and Luxemburg shields are those of Henry IV/VII Count of Luxemburg, married in 1292 to Marguerite de Brabant, daughter of Jean I de Brabant-Limburg and niece of Marie de Brabant, Queen of France; Marguerite died in 1311.  Henry was successively elected King of the Holy Roman Empire (1308), King of the Romans (1311) and Holy Roman Emperor (1312); see ES NF I. 1, Taf. 82 and I. 2, Taf. 238.  The shield or an eagle sable may also refer to Henry and suggests a date at least after 1308 and before Marguerite's death in 1311; but or 3 besants voided sable and bendy or and azur (the latter on f. 89) are unaccounted for  and the donors before Christ on the Cross on f. 116 do not wear heraldic robes.
 
 
 

L'ICONOGRAPHIE DU LIVRE DU TRESOR : DIVERSITE DES CYCLES

BRIGITTE ROUX
 

Le Livre du Trésor, œuvre du notaire et chancelier florentin Brunetto Latini, est l'une des premières encyclopédies écrite en langue vulgaire entre 1260 et 1266. Composée de trois livres, elle se répartit ainsi: le premier traite de théologie, d'histoire sacrée et profane et de sciences naturelles, le deuxième d'éthique, et le dernier aborde une thématique inédite jusque là dans l'encyclopédisme médiéval: la rhétorique et la politique. Le fait que Brunetto, exilé en France du Nord au moment de la rédaction de son ouvrage, ait choisi d'écrire en français, s'explique par plusieurs raisons. L'une est contingente: l'auteur se trouve dans un pays où l'on parle cette langue, l'autre est esthétique: la langue française est d'après lui plus charmante que les autres. En outre, comme il le prétend au prologue de son texte, c'est la langue la plus commune. Le français jouit en effet à cette époque d'un rôle moins régional que d'autres langues vernaculaires et vient juste après le latin . Enfin, par ce choix linguistique, l'auteur se réclame et s'érige en représentant d'une classe intellectuelle particulière: appartenant lui-même à l'état laïc, il s'adresse avant tout aux laïcs plutôt qu'aux clercs. Il s'agit là d'une transformation de taille par rapport aux grandes encyclopédies latines précédentes qui coïncide avec l'augmentation de la fréquence de cycles illustrés pour ce type de textes.

Il Livre du Trésor, opera del notaio e cancelliere fiorentino Brunetto Latini, è una delle prime enciclopedie scritta in lingua volgare fra il 1260 e il 1266. Composta da tre libri, è organizzata nel modo seguente : il primo libro tratta di teologia, di storia sacra e profana e di scienze naturali, il secondo libro tratta di etica, e l’ultimo affronta una tematica inedita fino ad allora nell’enciclopedismo medievale: la retorica e la politica. Il fatto che Brunetto, esiliato nel nord della Francia quando redige la sua opera, abbia scelto di scrivere in francese, si spiega con varie ragioni. Una di queste è contingente: l’autore si trova in un paese in cui si parla questa lingua, l’altra è una ragione estetica : la lingua francese è per lui più deliziosa delle altre. Inoltre, come asserisce nel prologo del suo testo, si tratta della lingua più comune. Il francese gode infatti in quell’epoca di un ruolo meno regionale rispetto alle altre lingue vernacolari ed è la seconda lingua più usata dopo il latino. Infine, con questa scelta linguistica, l’autore si vanta e si erge a rappresentante di una classe intellettuale particolare. Appartenendo egli stesso allo stato laico, si rivolge inanzitutto ai laici più che ai chierici. Si tratta qui di una trasformazione di rilievo rispetto alle grandi enciclopedie latine che hanno preceduto, il che coincide con l’aumento della frequenza di cicli illustrati per questo tipo di testi.

The Book of the Treasure, work of the Florentine notary and chancellor Brunetto Latino, is one of the first encyclopedias write in the vernacular language between 1266 and 1266. Composed of three books, it is divided in this way, the first treating of theology, of sacred and secular history and the natural sicences, the second of ethics, and the last part not encountered in medieval encyclopedism, rhetoric and politics. The fact the Brunetto, exiled to northern France at the moment of editing his work chose to write in French, has many explanations. One is contingent, the author found hmself in a country which spoke that language, the other aesthetic, the French language is more charming than the others. Besides, as he asserts in the prologue to his text, it is the most common language. French flourished in that period in a role less regional than were other vernacular langauges and most second only to Latin. Thus by this linguistic choice, the author presents himself as of a particular intellectual class: being himself lay, he writes to the laity more than to the clergy. He carries out a transformation in relation to the preceding great Latin encyclopedias which coincides with the increase of illuminated cycles for this type of text.

Il Livre du Trésor

Quel lien peut-on établir entre l'utilisation de la langue vulgaire, l'état laïc du public et l'apparition rapide d'illustrations pour le Livre du trésor? Existe-t-il pour ce texte un programme enluminé standard qui soit valable tout au long de sa diffusion? Si tel n'est pas le cas, peut-on tout de même dégager des constantes? Inversement, comment interpréter les variations: dépendent-elles des lieux de production des manuscrits, des commanditaires, de la chronologie? Telles sont quelques-unes des questions que j'aimerais évoquer au cours de cette table ronde.

Quale legame si può stabilire fra l’uso della lingua volgare, lo stato laico del pubblico e l’apparizione rapida d’illustrazioni per il Livre du Trésor ? Esiste per questo testo un programma miniato standard che sia valido lungo tutta la sua diffusione ? Se così non fosse, è possibile ugualmente trarrne delle costanti ? Inversamente, come interpretare le variazioni di questo programma: esse dipendono dai luoghi di produzione dei manoscritti, dai committenti oppure dalla cronologia? Queste sono alcune delle domande che vorrei evocare nell’ambito di questa tavola rotonda.

What connection can we establish between the use of the vernacular language, the condition of the lay public and the sudden appearance of illuminations for the Book of the Treasure? Is there a standard illluminating programme that can be valid throughout its diffusion. If that is not the case, can one at least see constants? On the other hand, how to interpret the variations: do they depend on the places of manuscript production, of their patrons, of the chronology? These are some of the questions that I would like to evoke at this round table.

Le catalogue des manuscrits du Livre du Trésor comprend quatre-vingt-sept entrées . Sur le total, cinquante - soit plus de la moitié - sont enluminés, ce qui représente une proportion relativement élevée. Parmi ceux-ci, le nombre de miniatures par exemplaire varie quant à lui considérablement: allant d'une enluminure unique en tête d'ouvrage à plus d'une trentaine, voire une centaine, lorsque le bestiaire est illustré par exemple. De pareilles variations, qui semblent indépendantes de la chronologie, signalent d'emblée d'importantes différences dans le traitement illustratif des divers témoins de ce texte. Quant à la version italienne, Il Tesoro , dont la paternité est désormais généralement rendue à Brunetto Latini lui-même , elle subsiste en trente-huit manuscrits. Produits en Toscane pour la plupart , pas moins de treize copies sont enluminées. L'examen des cycles iconographiques de ces deux traditions contemporaines, italienne et française, montre surtout des divergences entre elles, c'est pourquoi nous les traiterons séparément, en commençant par Il Tesoro.

Il catalogo dei manoscritti del Livre du Trésor ne comprende ottantasette. Sul totale, cinquanta. - dunque più della metà - sono miniati, il che rappresenta una proporzione relativamente elevata. Fra questi, il numero di miniature per esemplare varia considerevolmente: andando da una miniatura unica all’inizio di opera a più di una trentina, addirittura un centinaio, quando il bestiario è ad esempio illustrato. Tali variazioni, che sembrano essere indipendenti dalla cronologia, segnalano di primo acchito delle differenze importanti nel trattamento illustrativo dei vari testimoni di questo testo. Per quanto riguarda la versione italiana, Il Tesoro, la cui paternità è ormai generalmente attribuita a Brunetto Latini stesso, rimangono oggi trentotto manoscritti. Prodotti per la maggior parte in Toscana, non meno di tredici copie sono miniate. L’esame dei cicli iconografici di queste due tradizioni contemporanee, italiana e francese, presenta soprattutto delle divergenze, pertanto ne parlerò in maniera distinta, cominciando da Il Tesoro.

The catalogue of the Book of the Treasure manuscripts has 87 entries. Of the total, fifty, almost half, are illuminated, which represents a relatively high proportion. Amongst these, the number of miniatures varies considerably: ranging from one illumination at the opening of the work to more than thirty, even a hundred, where the bestiary is illuminated for example. Of such variations, which seem independent of the chronology, can be seen important differences in the illustrative treatment of various witnesses of the text. As for the Italian version, Il Tesoro, of which the paternity is generally attributed to Brunetto Latino himself, these consist of thirty-eight manuscripts. Produced for the most part in Tuscany, less than thirteen copies are illuminated. Examining the iconographic cycles of these two contemporary traditions, Italian and French, shows above all the differences between them, which is why we treat them separately, beginning with the Tesoro.

Il tesoro

Du point de vue iconographique, la production enluminée du Tesoro, qui s'étend entre la fin du XIIIe et la première moitié du XVe siècle, se classe en trois groupes. Dans le premier se rangent les manuscrits dotés de représentations de l'auteur, placés en tête des différents livres de l'encyclopédie, généralement dans des initiales historiées, et plus rarement dans de petites vignettes comme dans ce manuscrit fragmentaire conservé à la Bibliothèque nationale à Madrid, ms. 10124, fol. 1 [fig. 1] . Le deuxième groupe rassemble les exemplaires pourvus d'importantes suites de schémas astronomiques, dessinés à la plume, et quelquefois légèrement rehaussés à l'aquarelle, qui illustrent les chapitres consacrés à la cosmologie, dont je n'ai malheureusement pas d'exemple à vous montrer . Enfin, le troisième groupe comprend deux manuscrits seulement, l'un (BL. add. 39844) étant la copie abrégée de l'autre (Fi, Laur. 42.19), qui présentent un programme iconographique très développé au premier livre, ainsi que le montrent ces deux folios, le premier décrivant les cinq premiers jours de la création (fol. 5) [fig. 2], l'autre illustrant chaque chapitre du bestiaire (fol. 35) [fig. 3]. A l'exception de ces deux derniers exemples très luxueux, la quantité, la qualité et le coût des enluminures du Tesoro sont bien moindres que celles de la version française.

Da un punto di vista iconografico, la produzione miniata del Tesoro, che si estende tra la fine del duecento e la prima metà del quattrocento, può essere classificata in tre gruppi. Il primo gruppo si compone dei manoscritti con le raffigurazioni dell’autore, posti all’inizio dei diversi libri dell’enciclopedia, generalmente nelle iniziali istoriate, e più di rado nelle piccole vignette come nel caso del manoscritto frammentario conservato alla Biblioteca nazionale di Madrid, ms. 10124 (fol. 1). Il secondo gruppo riunisce gli esemplari dotati d’importanti serie di schemi astronomici, disegnati con l’inchiostro, e a volte leggermente ravvivati con l’acquerello. Questi esemplari illustrano i capitoli dedicati alla cosmologia, di cui non ho purtroppo oggi un esempio da farvi vedere. Infine, il terzo gruppo comprende due manoscritti soltanto, il primo (BL. add. 39844) essendo la copia abbreviata dell’altro (Fi. Laur. 42.19). Questi due manoscritti presentano un programma iconografico molto sviluppato nel primo libro, come dimostrano questi due fogli, il primo descrivendo i primi cinque giorni della creazione (fol. 5), l’altro illustrando ogni capitolo del bestiario (fol.35). Tranne questi due esempi molto sfarzosi appena citati, la quantità, la qualità ed il costo delle miniature del Tesoro sono minime rispetto a quelle della versione francese.

From the iconographical point of view, the production of illuminated Tesoro manuscripts, which stretch from the end of the thirteenth century to the first half of the fifteenth century, can be classed in three groups. In the first are the manuscripts giving the representation of the author, placed at the beginnings of the different books of the encyclopedia, generally in the historiated initials, and more rarely in the little vignettes as in the fragmentary manuscript preserved at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid, fol. 1 [fig. 1]. The second group gathers important examples of the astronomical diagrams, drawn in ink, and sometimes lightly washed with water colour, which illustrate the chapters dedicated to cosmology, of which I unfortunately lack an example to show you. Finally, the third group of only two manuscripts, one (BL add. 39844) being the copy of the other (Laur. 42.19), presents an elaborate iconographical programme for the first book, even to showing these two folios, the first of the five days of Creation (fol. 5) [fig. 2], the other illustrating each chapter of the bestiary (fol. 35) [fig. 3]. With the exception of these last two de luxe examples, the quantity, the quality and the taste of the Tesoro illuminations are decidedly inferior to the version in French.

La modestie de la production italienne se devine lorsque l'on compare entre elles les différentes séries de schémas astronomiques qui apparaissent aussi, mais associées avec d'autres iconographies, dans quelques Trésor en français. Rapidement esquissés, de caractère technique et parfois relégués dans les marges de la version italienne, ces mêmes schémas sont ici l'objet de soins considérables: ils sont le plus souvent encadrés, situés dans le texte lui-même et quelquefois ornés d'or comme dans cet exemplaire réalisé à Thérouanne à la fin du XIIIe siècle et conservé à la Bibliothèque nationale à Paris, ms. fr. 567 au fol. 36 [fig. 4]. Par rapport aux exemples italiens, de tels schémas perdent cependant en lisibilité ce qu'ils gagnent en visibilité. Comment interpréter ces écarts selon que l'on ait affaire à la version française ou italienne, alors même que l'iconographie est identique? En premier lieu, ce sont les objectifs de ces illustrations astronomiques qui diffèrent: celles du Tesoro visent à expliquer le texte, à l'éclairer, tandis que c'est la question de la décoration et de l'articulation qui l'emporte chez son homologue français. En d'autres termes, l'efficacité didactique est privilégiée dans la tradition italienne, la qualité esthétique dans la française. En outre, la relative pauvreté des illustrations des manuscrits italiens est sans doute le signe d'un investissement économique modéré, volontaire ou conjoncturel. Pour confirmer cette dernière hypothèse, il nous manque malheureusement de connaître les noms des commanditaires de ces manuscrits, qui doivent appartenir à une classe de lecteurs moins fortunés que celle du texte français.

S’intuisce la modestia della produzione italiana quando si paragonano le diverse serie di schemi astronomici che vi appaiono anche in qualche Trésor in francese, ma associati ad altre iconografie. Velocemente abbozzati, dal carattere tecnico e a volte confinati nei margini della versione italiana, questi stessi schemi sono invece eseguiti con una cura considerevole. Essi sono per la maggior parte incorniciati, posti nel testo stesso e a volte decorati con la doratura come in questo esemplare realizzato a Thérouanne alla fine del duecento e conservato presso la Biblioteca nazionale di Parigi, ms. fr. 567 al fol. 36. Rispetto agli esempi italiani, tali schemi perdono tuttavia in leggibilità quello che recuperano in visibilità. Come intrepretare tali differenze a secondo che si tratti della versione francese o italiana, benché l’iconografia sia identica? In primo luogo, sono gli obiettivi di queste illustrazioni astronomiche ad essere diversi: quelle del Tesoro tendono a spiegare il testo, a chiarirlo, mentre nel caso del suo omologo francese è la questione della decorazione e dell’articolazione ad essere importante. In altri termini, l’efficacia didattica viene privilegiata nella tradizione italiana, mentre viene posto l’accento sulla qualità estetica in quella francese. Inoltre, la relativa povertà delle illustrazioni dei manoscritti italiani è sicuramente il segno di un investimento economico moderato, volontario o congiunturale. A conferma di quest’ultima ipotesi, non si conoscono purtroppo i nomi dei committenti di questi manoscritti che devono appartenere ad una classe di lettori meno agiati rispeto a quella del testo francese.

The modesty of the Italian production is redeemed when one compares the different series of astronomical diagrams which also appear, but associated with a different iconography, in some of the French Tresor manuscripts. Executed rapidly, of a technical quality and sometimes relegated to the marings of the Italian versions, these same schemes are here the object of considerable care: they are often framed, situated within the text itself and sometime illuminated with gold as in this example from Therouanne at the end of the thirteenth century and conserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, ms. fr. 567 at fol. 36 [fig. 4]. In comparison with the Italian examples these diagrams lose their readability but gain in visibility. How to interpret these charts when one has to do with the French or Italian versions when even the iconography is identical? In the first place, the objectives of these astronomical illustrations differ: those of the Tesoro are seen to explicate the text, to make it clearer, while it is the question of the decoration and of the articulation which is important in the French examples. In other words, the relative poverty of illuminations in the Italian manuscripts is, without doubt, the sign of a moderate economic investment, voluntary or supposed. To confirm this last hypothesis, we regrettably lack the names of the patrons of these manuscripts, who ought to belong to a less prosperous class than those owning the French text.

De fait, les seuls noms de possesseurs italiens dont nous disposons jusqu'à aujourd'hui s'associent tous à la version française de l'encyclopédie de Brunetto: la famille Bonacolsi en possède une copie illustrée qui passe par la suite aux mains des Gonzague à Mantoue et se trouve aujourd'hui à la BN de Turin, ms L. II. 18 ; un certain Giovanni Dandolo, membre d'une importante famille vénitienne, est nommé en tête d'un manuscrit de ce texte de la Biblioteca capitolare de Vérone (ms. DVIII) ; le marchand lucquois Federico Trenta en détient également un exemplaire ; quant à Bernardo Bembo, il fait l'acquisition en 1472 d'un Livre du Trésor croyant que celui-ci était annoté par la main de Pétrarque lui-même (BAV, vat. lat. 3203) . Ces quelques exemples sont de nature assez différente: les uns se font l'écho du prestige dont ce texte jouit auprès des familles patriciennes et seigneuriales, mais aussi auprès de la classe marchande, tandis qu'un autre atteste de l'intérêt d'un savant humaniste pour cet ouvrage. Mais ces exemples témoignent surtout de la diffusion simultanée et concurrente de la version française dans la péninsule italienne. Rien d'exceptionnel à ce fait, d'autres textes littéraires rédigés en français, comme les romans chevaleresques ou les compilations historiques par exemple, s'y diffusent, voire même y sont produits aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles surtout.

Difatto, gli unici nomi di possessori italiani di cui disponiamo oggi si collegano tutti alla versione francese dell’enciclopedia di Brunetto: la famiglia Bonacolsi ne possiede una copia illustrata che passerà poi nelle mani dei Gonzaga a Mantova ed è oggi conservata presso la BN di Torino (ms L. II. 18); un certo Giovanni Dandolo, membro di un’importante famiglia veneziana, è nominato all’inizio di un manoscritto di questo testo della Biblioteca capitolare di Verona (ms. DVIII); il mercante lucchese Federico Trenta ne possiede anche un esemplare; Bernardo Bembo acquisisce un Livre du Trésor nel 1472 credendo che questo fosse annotato dalla mano di Petrarca stesso (BAV, vat. Lat. 3203). Questi esempi appena citati sono di natura assai diversa: alcuni fanno eco al prestigio di cui questo testo gode presso certe famiglie patrizie e signorili, ma anche presso la classe mercantile, mentre uno di essi attesta dell’interesse per quest’opera da parte di un dotto umanista. Ma questi esempi testimoniano soprattutto della diffusione simultanea e concorrente della versione francese nella penisola italiana. Non vi è niente di eccezionale in questo fatto, altri testi letterari redatti in francese, come i romanzi cavallereschi o le compilazioni storiche ad esempio, si diffondono, addirittura sono prodotti soprattutto nel duecento e trecento.

In fact, the only names of Italian owners which we know today are those all associated with the French version of Brunetto's encyclopedia: the Bonacolsi family possessed an illuminated copy which passed from them into the hands of the Gonzaga family at Mantua and which is today in the National Library of Truin, ms L. II. 18, a certain Giovanni Dandolo, member of an important Venetian family, is named at the opening of the manuscript of this text in the Biblioteca Capitolare in Verona (ms. DVIII); the Luccese Marquis Federico Trenta also had a copy; while Bernardo Bembo acquired a Livre dou tresor in 1472 believing that it was annotated by the hand of Petrarch himself (Vatican Library, vat. lat. 3203). These few examples are of very different nature: they echo the prestige this text enjoyed amongst the noble and titled families, but also amongst them the merchant class, as can be attested by the interest of a learned humanist in this work. But these examples witness about all the simultaneous and concurrent diffusion of the French version in the Italian peninsula. There is nothing exceptional about this, other literary texts in French, such as chivalric romances and historical compilations for example, spread in Italy, above all thoese produced in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

C'est d'ailleurs aussi le cas d'au moins six exemplaires du Trésor en français qui sont réalisés en Italie, plus précisément à Gênes, à Bologne et dans la région vénéto-padouane . Ils remontent tous au dernier quart du XIIIe siècle. Au-delà de cette date, la préférence semble donc tout de même accordée à la version italienne pour des raisons qu'il faudrait encore éclaircir. En ce qui concerne leur programme iconographique, ils s'apparentent au groupe de manuscrits du Tesoro en italien uniquement ornés de portraits d'auteur. Mais en dépit de cette iconographie auctoriale identique, il semble excessif de dessiner un lien de filiation entre les deux groupes. Cette réticence tient à deux raisons au moins. Premièrement, les manuscrits du Trésor réalisés en Italie présentent, en plus des portraits d'auteurs, d'autres iconographies, que ne reprennent pas à leur compte ceux, postérieurs pour la plupart, de la tradition italienne. A titre d'exemple, les initiales historiées d'animaux introduisant les différentes espèces du bestiaire (fol. 51v) [fig. 5] et la figuration de la justice sous la forme d'un roi trônant (fol. 110) [fig. 6] d'un manuscrit de la BNF (fr. 570) restent sans suite. De même l'iconographie zodiacale du manuscrit de la Biblioteca capitolare de Vérone demeure sans lendemain (ms. DVIII, fol.49) [fig. 7]. Deuxièmement, la représentation de l'auteur, extrêmement répandue pendant tout le Moyen Age, dont l'origine est à chercher dans l'illustration des textes religieux, n'est absolument pas spécifique au Livre du Trésor . En somme, les images communes à ces deux traditions enluminées en Italie le sont à un niveau trop générique pour justifier l'idée d'une interdépendance ou d'une filiation entre elles.

E’ d'altronde anche il caso di almeno sei esemplari del Trésor in francese realizzati in Italia, a Genova, a Bologna e nella regione veneto-padovana. Questi esemplari risalgono tutti all’ultimo quarto del duecento. Oltre questa data, la preferenza sembra pur tuttavia data alla versione italiana per delle ragioni che bisognerebbe ancora chiarire. Per quanto riguarda il loro programma iconografico, essi si avvicinano al gruppo dei manoscritti del Tesoro in italiano soltanto adornati da ritratti dell'autore. Tuttavia, malgrado questa iconografia
« autoriale » identica, sembra eccessivo trarre un legame di filiazione fra i due gruppi, per almeno due ragioni. In primo luogo, i manoscritti del Trésor realizzati in Italia presentano, oltre ai ritratti dell’autore, altre iconografie che non verranno riprese in quelli posteriori della tradizione italiana. A titolo d’esempio, le iniziali istoriate di animali che introducono le diverse specie di bestiario (fol. 51 v) e la raffigurazione della giustizia sotto forma di un re in trono (fol. 110) di un manoscritto della BNF (fr. 570) non verranno mai riprese. Come anche l’iconografia zodiacale del manoscritto della Biblioteca capitolare di Verona rimane unica (ms. DVIII, fol. 49). In secondo luogo, la rappresentazione dell’autore, estremamente diffusa durante tutto il Medioevo, la cui origine è da ricercare nell’illustrazione dei testi religiosi, non è assolutamente specifica al Livre du Trésor. Insomma, le immagini comuni a queste due tradizioni miniate in Italia si limitano ad un livello troppo generico per poter giustificare l’idea di una interdipendenza o di una filiazione fra di esse.

There are besides at least six copies of the Tresor in French who were produced in Italy, more precisely at Genoa, at Bologna and in the Venetian-Paduan region. They are of the last quarter of the thirteenth century. After that date the preference seems to be accorded to the Italian version for reasons which we need to clarify. As for their iconographic programme, they belong to the group of manuscripts of the Tesoro in Italian which are only illuminated with the author portrait. But in depicting this identical authorial iconography, it seems excessive to define a connectin between the two groups. This reticence is for at least two reasons. First, the manuscripts of the Tresor carried out in Italy present, in most of the author portraits, other iconographies which do not take up that account, later for the most part, of the Italian tradition. For example, the historiated initials of animals introducting the different species f the bestiary (fol. 51v) [fig. 5] and the figure of Justice in the form of an enthroned King (fig. 110) [fig.6] of a manuscript in the Bibliotheque Nationale Française (fr. 570) has no equal. Similarly the zodiacal iconography of the manuscript in the Biblioteca Capitolare in Verona is uncopied (ms. DVIII.fol. 49)[fig. 7]. Secondly, the representation of the author, extremely common in all the Middle Ages, of which the origin is to be sought in the illustrations to religious texts, is not specific absolutely to the Book of the Treasure. Finally, the common images of the two illuminating traditions in Italy are from origins that are too generic to justify the idea of their interdependence upon each other.

Le livre du trésor

Puisqu'il semble que nous ne pouvons tisser des liens très pertinents entre ces deux traditions italiennes, y en a-t-il qui se noueraient avec la production du Livre du trésor en France même? A l'exception des portraits d'auteur qui marquent les principales divisions de ce texte dans un certain nombre de cas, elle semble de fait plutôt s'en démarquer. De plus, au sein même de la tradition française, s'étendant du dernier tiers du XIIIe siècle à 1510 pour son ultime occurrence , on rencontre une grande diversité de cycles illustrés. Pour un tiers des manuscrits enluminés du Trésor (16), il est toutefois possible de les ranger dans des groupes sur la base des programmes iconographiques similaires, dont il serait fastidieux de donner ici le détail.

Siccome sembra che non si possano tessere dei legami molto pertinenti fra queste due tradizioni italiane, si pone la domanda di un possibile legame da ricercare con la produzione del Livre du Trésor nella stessa Francia. Eccetto questi ritratti dell’autore che segnano le principali divisioni di questo testo in un certo numero di casi, la produzione francese sembra piuttosto allontanarsene. Inoltre, nell’ambito della tradizione francese stessa, che si estende dall’ultimo terzo del duecento al 1510 per la sua ultima occorrenza, si nota una grande diversità di cicli illustrati. Per un terzo dei manoscritti miniati del Trésor (16), è tuttavia possibile classificarli in gruppi sulla base di programmi iconografici simili, di cui non darò i dettagli in questa sede.

While it seems that we cannot connect the most pertinent relations between these two Italian traditions, is there one that can tie together the production of the Book of the Treasure in France itself? With the exception of the author portraits that mark the principle divisions of the text in a certain number of cases, it seems there is rather more to be done. Moreover, even in the French tradition, which stretches from the last third of the thirteenth century to 1510 for its final occurence, one encounters a great diversity of illustrated cycles. For a third of the illuminated Tresor manuscripts (16), it is nevertheless possible to range them in groups on the basis of their similar iconographic programmes, which we do not need to detail here.

Nous nous limiterons à l'examen d'un seul de ces ensembles comprenant quatre manuscrits peints vers la fin du XIIIe et le début du XIVe siècle à Thérouanne / Saint-Omer (voir en annexe la liste et la répartition des enluminures). Notons en préambule que l'un d'eux est le fruit de la collaboration de deux artistes d'origine différente, l'un vient effectivement de Thérouanne, tandis que l'autre est italien, ainsi qu'on le remarque nettement sur ce folio d'une copie de la BAV (fol. 64v, ms. reg. lat. 1320) [fig. 8]. La coopération de ces deux peintres n'entraîne pas de changements majeurs par rapport aux autres membres du groupe: en effet, ce manuscrit partage la même répartition des enluminures, ainsi que la plupart des thèmes. Seules quelques images sont italianisées comme le montre la comparaison des représentations des quatre éléments dans les manuscrits du Vatican (fol. 29v) [fig. 9] et de la BN, fr. 567, fol. 24v [fig. 10].

Ci limiteremo in quest’ambito all’esame di uno solo di questi gruppi che comprende quattro manoscritti miniati verso la fine del duecento e l’inizio del trecento a Thérouanne / Saint-Omer. Notiamo in preambolo che uno di questi manoscritti risulta dalla collaborazione di due artisti di origine diversa, l’uno viene effettivamente da Thérouanne, mentre l’altro è italiano, come si osserva nettamente su questo folio di una copia della BAV (fol. 64v, ms. reg. Lat. 1320). La cooperazione di questi due pittori non comporta cambiamenti maggiori rispetto agli altri membri del gruppo: infatti, questo manoscritto condivide la stessa ripartizione delle miniature, come anche la maggior parte dei temi. Solo qualche immagine è italianizzata come dimostra il paragone delle rappresentazioni dei quattro elementi nei manoscritti del Vaticano (fol. 29v) e della BN, fr. 567 (fol. 24v).

We shall limit ourselves to the examination of one of these groups comprising four illuminated manuscripts towards the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century at Thérouanne/ Saint Omer (see the list in the appendix and its division of the illuminations). We need in the preamble that one of these is the fruit of the collaboration between two artists of different origin, one coming effectively from Thérouanne, while the other is Italian, such as we can clearly see in this folio of a copy of the Vatican Library (fol. 64v, ms. reg. lat. 1320) [fig. 8]. The cooperation of these two painters did not involve major changes amongst the other members of the group: in effect, this manuscript uses the same division of illuminations, as it does of the majority of the themes. Only some images are Italianized as can be shown in the comparison of the representations of the four elements in the Vatican manuscript (fol. 29v) [fig.9] and that in the Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 567, fol. 24v [fig. 10].

Pour l'ensemble des copies thérouannaises, c'est le premier livre qui est le plus illustré des trois, selon un usage courant dans toute la production du Trésor , les deux derniers étant uniquement introduits par des scènes d'enseignement. La différence principale entre ces quatre occurrences réside dans le nombre de peintures les ornant. Une seule miniature représentant des lions ouvre le bestiaire dans le Trésor conservé à Paris (fol. 51), alors que chaque chapitre de cette partie, une soixantaine environ, est illustré d'un animal dans les trois autres. De même, dans le manuscrit de Saint-Pétersbourg, la partie consacrée aux saints et aux prophètes contient une vignette par chapitre (fol. 18) [fig. 11]. Les raisons de ces variations quantitatives selon les manuscrits peuvent tenir aux moyens financiers, ainsi qu'aux exigences des commanditaires qui ne sont pas identifiés, bien que figurés agenouillés et en prière devant la Trinité de sainte Anne dans deux cas (BNF, fr. 567, fol. 15v [fig. 12] et Saint-Pétersbourg, fol. 19v). Mais étant donné la productivité de cet atelier de Thérouanne, d'où sortent des livres d'heures, des copies illustrées du Roman d'Alexandre ou du Lancelot, il se peut aussi que ces manuscrits soient tout simplement des produits de librairie légèrement particularisés, qui attendent leur acheteur.

Per l’insieme delle copie di Thérouanne, fra i tre libri è il primo libro ad essere il più illustrato, come è uso comune in tutta la produzione del Trésor, gli ultimi due libri essendo soltanto introdotti da delle scene d’insegnamento. La differenza principale fra queste quattro occorrenze risiede nel numero delle miniature che li adornano. Un’unica miniatura raffigurando dei leoni apre il bestiario nel Trésor conservato a Parigi (fol 51), mentre ogni capitolo di questa parte, pressoché una sessantina, è illustrato da un animale negli altri tre manoscritti. Come nel manoscritto di San Pietroburgo, la parte dedicata ai santi e ai profeti presenta una vignetta per ogni capitolo (fol 18). Si possono spiegare le ragioni di queste variazioni quantitative a secondo dei manoscritti a motivo dei mezzi economici limitati, come anche dalle esigenze dei committenti che non sono identificati, anche se raffigurati inginocchiati e in preghiera davanti alla Trinità di Sant’Anna nei due casi (BNF, fr. 567, fol. 15v e San Pietroburgo, fol. 19v). Ma vista la produttività di questa bottega di Thérouanne, da cui vengono i libri d’ore, certe copie illustrate del « Roman d’Alexandre » o di « Lancelot », è anche possibile che questi manoscritti siano semplicemente dei prodotti di libreria leggermente particolarizzati, che attendono il loro compratore.

For the group of copies from Thérouanne, it is the first book that is the most illustrated of the three, according to the typival use in all the production of the Tresor, the two last being uniquely introduced by scenes of teaching. The principle difference between these four occurrences resides in the number of illuminations in them. One miniature only representing the lion opens the bestiary of the Tresor in Paris (fol- 51), while each chapter of that part, about sixty of them, is illustred with an animal among three others. Even, in the St Petersburg manuscript, the part consecrated to the saints and to the prophets contains a scene for each chapter (fol. 18) [fig. 11]. The reasons for these quantitative variations among the manuscripts could be financial ones, even though the patrons have not been identified, even though shown kneeling in prayer before the Trinity of Saint Anne in two cases (Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 567, fol. 15v [fig. 12] and St Petersburg, fol. 19v). But given the productivity of this Thérouanne workshop, from which came Books of Hours, illuminated copies of the Romances of Alexander and of Lancelot, it is possible that these manuscripts are simply the products of a bookshop, lightly customized, awaiting their purchaser.

Ce groupe homogène de Trésors réalisés à Thérouanne connaîtra un premier prolongement une dizaine d'années plus tard dans une nouvelle copie, conservée à la Biblioteca Laurenziana, ms. Ashburnham 125. De toute évidence, le peintre de ce manuscrit connaît l'ensemble que nous venons de commenter brièvement. Il pratique en effet la même distribution des enluminures, reproduit les principaux thèmes, même s'il introduit aussi quelques sujets supplémentaires, telle cette Crucifixion entre l'Eglise et la Synagogue (fol. 12v) [fig. 13] qui illustre le chapitre consacré à la nouvelle loi (chap. 63). La survivance de ce cycle perdure bien au-delà dans une version réalisée à Paris vers 1400 (BNF, fr. 573) qui actualise le modèle Ashburnham. Les marges fleuries ont fait place aux drôleries, les figures sont vêtues à la mode du XVe siècle, comme on le note dans le même motif de la Crucifixion (fol. 26) [fig. 14].

Questo gruppo omogeneo di Trésors realizzati a Thérouanne conoscerà un primo prolungamento in una nuova copia dieci anni dopo, la quale copia è conservata presso la Biblioteca Laurenziana, ms. Ashburnham 125. In tutta evidenza, il miniatore di questo manoscritto conosce l’insieme che abbiamo appena commentato brevemente. Questo artista distribuisce infatti le miniature nello stesso modo, riproduce i temi principali, anche se introduce qualche soggetto supplementare, come questa Crocefissione fra la Chiesa e la Sinagoga (fol. 27v) che illustra il capitolo consacrato alla nuova legge (capitolo 63). La sopravvivenza di questo ciclo dura ben oltre in una versione realizzata a Parigi verso il 1400 (BNF, fr. 573) che attualizza il modello Ashburnham. I margini fioriti hanno lasciato posto alle drôleries, le figure sono vestite alla moda del quattrocento, come si nota nello stesso motivo della Crocefissione (fol. 26). [fig. 14]

This similar grouping of the Tresor realized at Thérouanne was followed a dozen years later with a new copy, preserved in the Laurentian Library, ms. Ashburnham 125. From all the evidence, the illuminator of this manuscript knew the group upon which we have commented briefly. He used in effect the same distribution of miniatures, reproduced the same principle themes, while introducing also supplementary subjects, such as the Crucifixion between the Church and the Synagogue (fol. 12v) [fig. 13] which illustrates the chapter consacrated to the new law (chap. 63). The survival of this cycle lasts even longer in a version realized in Paris towards 1400 (Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 573) which copies the Ashburnham model. The flowery margins have taken the place of the droleries, the figures are dressed in the style of the fifteenth century, as one notes in the same motif of the Crucifixion (fol. 26) [fig. 14].

Mais l'écart le plus significatif entre les deux se situe au frontispice. Dans le Trésor de Thérouanne (fol. 1) [fig. 15], Brunetto Latini assis à son lutrin, sur lequel repose son livre, enseigne à un clerc debout à ses côtés, tandis qu'il est dédoublé dans la version parisienne (fol. 13) [fig. 16]: en train de compiler à gauche, il présente son ouvrage achevé à un roi, à droite. Alors que le manuscrit du XIVe siècle met en valeur la transmission du savoir par l'enseignement, ce qui est souligné dans sa copie ultérieure, c'est le travail de compilation ainsi que la dédicace, selon un usage iconographique en vogue depuis une cinquantaine d'années, en premier lieu dans les traductions françaises commandées par le roi de France, Charles V. La réactualisation concerne donc aussi bien des éléments de style - abandon des drôleries, adaptation du costume à la mode contemporaine -, que le contenu même des miniatures. Cet exemple de copie conforme remise au goût du jour demeure toutefois exceptionnel dans le cadre de la transmission du programme iconographique du Trésor où les rares groupes qui se dessinent dépendent plutôt du fait d'être issus d'un lieu de fabrication identique.

Tuttavia la differenza più significativa fra i due esempi si rivela nel frontispizio. Nel Trésor di Thérouanne (fol 16), Brunetto Latini seduto al suo leggio, sul quale riposa il suo libro, insegna ad un chierico in piedi accanto a lui, mentre è sdoppiato nella versione parigina (fol. 13): a sinistra lo compila, a destra presenta la sua opera finita ad un re. Mentre il manoscritto del trecento valorizza la trasmissione del sapere tramite l’insegnamento, ciò che viene enfatizzato nella sua copia ulteriore è il lavoro di compilazione e la dedica, secondo un uso iconografico di moda da una cinquantina d’anni nelle traduzioni francesi comandate dal re di Francia, Carlo Quinto. La riattualizzazione riguarda quindi gli elementi stilistici – con l’abbandono delle drôleries, l’adattamento del costume alla moda contemporanea -, come anche il contenuto stesso delle miniature. Quest’esempio di copia conforme aggiornata rimane tuttavia eccezionale nell’ambito della trasmissione del programma iconografico del Trésor dove i rari gruppi si delineano dal fatto di provenire dallo tesso luogo di produzione.

But the most significant likeness between the two is in the frontispiece. In the Tresor from Thérouanne (fol. 1) [fig. 15], Brunetto Latino is seated at a lectern, on which a book rests, teaching a clerk beside him, which is doubled in the Parisian version (fol.13) [fig. 16]: while compiling it on the left, he presents his finished work to a king on the right. While the fourteenth century manuscript values the transmission of knowledge by teaching, which was present in his exemplar, it is the work of compilation also to which it is dedicated, according to an iconographical usage in vogue for fifty years, in the first place in the French translations commanded by the King of France, Charles V. The reactualization concerns not just the stylistic elements - abandoning the droleries, adaption of the costumes to contemporary style, as much as the contents even of the miniatures. This example of copying conforming to the taste of the day is exceptional in the group of the transmission of the iconographic programme of the Tresor where the rare groups that are drawn depend rather on being made like those issuing from an identical place of production.

De fait, la longévité de la production de cette encyclopédie semble être un obstacle majeur à l'existence d'un cycle enluminé standard valide pour toutes ses occurrences. Il paraît par exemple inéluctable que le format des enluminures se transforme sur une aussi longue durée. Aux initiales historiées apparaissant dans les plus anciens exemplaires, selon un format usité dans l'illustration religieuse surtout, succèdent des vignettes de plus en plus grandes qui imitent les mises en page des cycles profanes illustrés.

Difatto, la longevità della produzione di questa enciclopedia sembra essere un ostacolo maggiore all’esistenza di un ciclo miniato standard valido per tutte le sue occorrenze. Sembra ad esempio ineluttabile che il formato delle miniature si trasformi in un così lungo arco di tempo. Alle iniziali istoriate che compaiono nei più antichi esemplari, secondo un formato utilizzato soprattutto nell’illustrazione religiosa, seguono delle vignette sempre più grandi che imitano le impaginazioni dei cicli profani illustrati.

In fact, the longevity of the production of this encyclopedia seems to be a major obstacle for the existance of a standard illuminated cycle valid for all its occurences. It seems for example inevitable that the format of the illuminations would change over such a long period. The historiated initials which appear amongst the earliest exemplas, using a format typical of religious illumination above all, are taken over by larger vignettes which imitate the what is placed on the pages of secular illuminated cycles.

L'iconographie, également très tributaire du répertoire religieux à ses débuts, se libère peu à peu de cette source pour prendre une orientation profane plus marquée à mesure que l'on avance dans le temps. De plus, les images perdent de leur caractère narratif au profit d'un contenu plus allégorique ou simplement descriptif. Parallèlement à ces questions de mise à jour des pratiques artistiques, les causes de la diversité des solutions iconographiques rencontrées dans les copies du Trésor tiennent aussi en partie à son genre littéraire.

L’iconografia, ai suoi inizi anch’essa tributaria del repertorio religioso, si libera a poco a poco da questa fonte per orientarsi con il tempo verso un repertorio più profano. Inoltre, le immagini abbandonano il loro carattere narrativo a favore di un contenuto più allegorico o semplicemente descrittivo. Parallelamente a queste questioni di aggiornamento delle pratiche artistiche, le cause della diversità delle soluzioni iconografiche incontrate nelle copie del Trésor risultano anche in parte dal suo genere letterario.

The iconography equally drawn from the religious repertoire at its beginning, is liberated little by little from this source to take up a secular orientation that becomes more marked the more the time passes. More, the characters lose their narrative character to a more allegorical or simply descriptive content. Parallel to these questions are the artistic practices carried out, the causes for the different iconographical solutions encountered in the copies of Tresor being also a part of its literary genre.

En effet, alors que les cycles d'illustrations des textes religieux, comme les bibles, les psautiers et autres livres d'heures, s'avèrent très répétitifs et stables du fait de leur statut canonique, ceux des encyclopédies semblent quant à eux affranchis des contraintes liées à la canonicité textuelle. Seule exception à cette règle au sein des encyclopédies contemporaines du Trésor, la traduction française du De proprietatibus rerum de Barthélemy l'Anglais, commandée par le roi Charles V à Jean Corbechon, expose un programme régulier d'illustrations . La trentaine de manuscrits enluminés de ce texte partage un si grand nombre de caractéristiques communes que leur dérivation d'un seul prototype est à supposer. Dans ce cas précis, la diffusion du même cycle iconographique tient probablement au prestige attaché à la commande royale, prestige que les commanditaires suivants désirent rappeler en acquérant des copies identiques. A l'inverse les nombreux manuscrits du Trésor ne se réfèrent à aucun modèle prestigieux et varient indéfiniment.

Infatti, mentre i cicli d’illustrazioni dei testi religiosi, come le bibbie, i saltieri ed altri libri d’ore, si rivelano molto ripetitivi e stabili dato il loro statuto canonico, i cicli illustrativi delle enciclopedie sembrano invece liberati dalle costrizioni legate alla canonicità testuale. Vi è un’unica eccezione a questa regola all’interno delle enciclopedie contemporanee del Trésor, ossia la traduzione francese del De proprietatibus rerum di Bartolomeo Anglico, commissionata dal re Carlo Quinto a Jean Corbechon, la quale espone un programma regolare d’illustrazioni. La trentina di manoscritti miniati di questo testo condividono un numero così importante di caratteristiche comuni fra di essi che si suppone la loro derivazione da un solo prototipo. In questo caso specifico, la diffusione dello stesso ciclo iconografico proviene probabilmente dal prestigio legato all’ordine reale, prestigio che i successivi committenti desiderano ricordare acquisendo delle copie identiche. Inversamente i numerosi manoscritti del Trésor non fanno riferimento a nessun modello prestigioso e variano indefinitamente.

In effect, while the illuminative cycles of religious texts, like the Bible, the Psalter and other Books of Hours, were very repetitive and stable because of their canonical state, those of encyclopeidas seem freed from the constraints tied to canonical textuality. The only exception to this rule amongst the encyclopedias contemporary to the Tresor, the French translation of Du proprietatibus rerum of Bartholomaeus Anglicanus, commissioned by King Charles V of Jean Corbechon, which opened up a regular programme of illustrations. The thirty illuminated manuscripts of this text partake of such a great number of common characteristics that their derivation from a sole prototype is assured. Precisely, in this case, the diffusion of the same iconographic cycle probably was due to the prestigue attached to the royal command, a prestige a patron wished to recall on acquiring identical copies to it. While the many Tresor manuscripts do not refer back to any prestigious model and vary indefinitely.

En conclusion, le texte unique du Livre du trésor suscite donc une multiplicité de solutions illustrées dépendant de facteurs très divers, comme la langue, italien ou français, le lieu de production, la classe sociale des commanditaires, ainsi que l'actualisation des pratiques artistiques. En l'absence d'un prototype illustré régissant toute la tradition du Trésor , il faudrait caractériser la culture visuelle des enlumineurs attelés à orner ces nombreuses copies. Butinant dans des répertoires contrastés, tantôt religieux, tantôt profane, tantôt scientifique, ils accomplissent le plus souvent un travail de compilation analogue à celui mené par Brunetto comparant son œuvre à un "rayon de miel cueilli de plusieurs fleurs" (I, 1). On pourrait pousser l'analogie entre les méthodes des encyclopédistes et des peintres en soutenant que tout comme les premiers - les encyclopédistes - ne réalisent une œuvre originale que par l'ordonnancement inédit des extraits issus des Anciens, les seconds - les peintres -, comme dans un jeu de miroir, citent des formes et des iconographies connues. Cependant ce jugement est un peu trop sévère et restrictif étant donné les inventions remarquables qui s'y rencontrent quelquefois.

Per concludere, il testo unico del Livre du Trésor suscita quindi una molteplicità di soluzioni illustrative che dipendono da vari fattori, quali la lingua, italiana o francese, il luogo di produzione, la classe sociale dei committenti, come anche l’attualizzazione delle pratiche artistiche. In mancanza di un prototipo illustrato che regga tutta la tradizione del Trésor, sarebbe importante caratterizzare la cultura visiva dei miniatori impegnati nell’ornamento di queste varie copie. Raccogliendo le immagini in repertori contrastanti, ora religioso, ora profano, ora scientifico, i miniatori compiono molto spesso un lavoro di compilazione analogo a quello portato avanti da Brunetto, il quale paragona la sua opera ad un « raggio di miele colto da vari fiori » (I, 2). Si potrebbe spingere l’analogia fra i metodi degli enciclopedisti e i pittori ancora oltre, asserendo che come i primi – gli enciclopedisti – realizzano un’opera originale solo tramite l’ordinamento inedito degli estratti derivati dagli Antichi, i secondi - i pittori - come in un gioco di specchi, riprendono forme e  iconografie conosciute. Tuttavia questo giudizio rimane un po' troppo severo e restrittivo visto le notevoli invenzioni che s’incontrano a volte.

To conclude, the one text of the Livre du Tresor gave rise to a multiplicity of illuminating solutions, depending on very different factors, such as the language, Italian or French, the place of production, the social class of the patrons, even the carrying out of artistic practices. In the absence of an illuminated prototype which includes the whole tradition of the Tresor, we must characterize the visual culture of the illuminators trained to illuminate the numerous copies. Profiting from contrasting repertories, sometimes religious, sometimes secular, sometimes scientific, they often accomplished a compilation analogous to what even did Brunetto in comparing his work to a 'flowing of honey gathered from many flowers' (I.1). One can push the analogy between the encyclopedists and the illuminators in holding that just as the first - the encyclopedists - were not original except in their ordering of the extracts they derived from the Ancients, the second - the painters - as in a playing with mirrors, used already tried and true forms and iconographies. But this judgement is rather too severe and restrictive, given the remarkable inventions one can find in this Treasure.
 

ANNEXE 1

TABLEAU COMPARATIF DES TRESORS RÉALISÉS à THÉROUANNE

Trésor FR 567 Y.T. 19 REG. 1320 FR. F.V. III.4 ASHB. 125 FR. 573
I, 1 enseignement (f.1) enseignement (f.3) enseignement (f.5) enseignement (f.5) enseignement (f.1) BL; dédicace (f.13)
I, 6 Dieu en majesté (f.3) création Eve (f.5) Dieu créateur (f.7) cercles él., planètes, év. (f.7) création animaux/ Eve (f.2v) création Eve (f.15)
I, 19 auteur dev. 2 rois (f.5v) roi trônant (f.18)
I, 21 arche de Noé (f.7v) arche de Noé (f.10) arche de Noé (f.11v) arche de Noé (f.11) arche de Noé (f.21) arche de Noé (f.19)
I, 25 Abraham a vision Dieu (f.7) Abraham vision Dieu (f.19v)
I, 30 reine trônant couronnée (f.13v) reine trônant couronnée (f.8) reine trônant (f.21)
I, 32 roi couronné (f.15)
I, 38 Jules César assassiné (f.9v) Jules César attaqué (f.22v)
I, 40 enseignement (f.12)
I, 41 Saül et David (f.10v) Saül/ David? (f.23v)
I, 44-61 prophètes
I, 63 arbre de Jessé (f.15) arbre de Jessé (f.18) arbre de Jessé (f.19v) arbre de Jessé (f.19) Crucifixion (f.12v) Crucifixion (f.26)
I, 64 trinité sainte Anne et comm. (f.15v) Elisabeth/Jean (?) et trinité Anne (f.18v) Esmerie/Anne - Elisabeth/Marie (?) (f.20) trinité ste Anne + command. (f.19v)
I, 65-84 saints
I, 86 Epiphanie (f.18) trône de grâce (f.21v) Epiphanie (f.23) trône de grâce (f.22v) Moïse/tables (f.15) Moïse/tables (f.28v)
I, 89 destruction idoles (f.16) destruction idoles (f.29v)
I, 90 Scène de bataille (f.20) pape bénit empereur (f.23) pape bénit empereur (f.24v) pape bénit empereur (f.24) pape avec pierre/paul; empereur (f.17v) pape avec pierre/paul à empereur (f.31v)
I, 95
I, 96 double sc. dialogue (pape, empereur) (f.22v) rencontre 4 hôs dont empereur (f. 26). Innocent et hôs. ds barque (f.27v) pape et dialogue (f.26v)
I, 97 rencontre hôs et pape (f.27) rencontre pape/empereur (f.28v) pape et dialogue (f.27v)
I, 98 dialogue pape à empereur (f.23v)
I, 99 schéma 4 él. (fol.24v) schéma él. et médecin (f.28) schéma 4 él. (f.29v) schéma 4 él. et médecin (f.28v) auteur dev. hô nu (f.20)) auteur dev. hô couché (f.34)
I, 104 schéma 4 él. (f.30v) schéma 4 él. (f.21) schéma 4 él. (f.35v)
I, 106 schéma 4 él. (f.28) schéma 4 él. (f.31v) schéma 4 él. (f.33) schéma 4 él. (f.31v) schéma 4 él. (f.24) schéma 4 él. (f.38v)
I, 121 mappemonde (f.36) mappemonde (f.40) mappemonde (f.41) mappemonde (f.38v) mappemonde (f.28v) mappemonde (f.44)
I, 130-99 bestiaire bestiaire bestiaire
I, 174 lion (f.51)
II, 1 enseignement (f.57) enseignement (f.65) enseignement (f.64v) enseignement (f.59) auteur au travail (f.45) auteur travail (f.61v)
II, 50 enseignement (f.77v) enseignement (f.87) enseignement (f.85) enseignement (f.77) auteur au travail (f.61) enseignement (f.78)
II, 68 enseignement (f.86v) dialogue 2 pers. (f.94v) enseignement (f.68)
III, 1 enseignement (f.114v) enseignement (f.118v) auteur (f.123) enseignement (f.110v) auteur au travail (f.100) enseignement (f.109)
 

ITALIANISMES DANS L'ENLUMINURE LYONNAISE. LES ILLUSTRATIONS DU DES CAS DES NOBLES HOMMES ET FEMMES DE BOCCACE PEINT PAR LE MAITRE DU ROMAN DE LA ROSE DE VIENNE (PARIS, B.N.F., Fr 229)

ITALIANATE ILLUMINATIONS IN LYON: THE MINIATURES OF BOCCACCIO'S DES CAS DES NOBLE HOMMES ET FEMMES PAINTED BY THE MASTER OF THE ROMAN DE LA ROSE DE VIENNE (PARIS, B.N.F., FR 229)

CECILE QUENTEL TOUCHE
 

Dans l’Italie du XIVème siècle, aucune copie du De casibus de Boccace n’avait été enluminée, comme d’ailleurs l’ensemble des exemplaires italiens de son œuvre. Les humanistes s’intéressaient surtout aux textes du Bucolicum carmen et des œuvres érudites ou historiques que sont le De genealogia deorum gentilium, le De casibus virorum illustrium et le De mulieribus claris. Il fallut attendre le troisième quart du XVème où deux luxueux exemplaires enluminés ont été exécutés à Ferrare (Decameron pour Albert d'Este et Filocolo pour Louis III de Gonzague, duc de Mantoue). /1 C’est vers 1400-1415, à un moment particulièrement brillant de l'histoire de l'enluminure française, que les premières traductions françaises de Boccace se diffusent dans les bibliothèques seigneuriales. En 1409, le succès de la seconde traduction du De casibus virorum illustrium (Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes ) par Laurent de Premierfait,/2 donne naissance à une extraordinaire lignée de manuscrits enluminés. /3 Parallèlement, le Decameron, traduit également par Laurent de Premierfait en 1414, et les Cleres et nobles femmes , /4 traduction anonyme du De mulieribus claris, sont également diffusés en France par de luxueux manuscrits réalisés pour la clientèle de la cour, des marchands et des fonctionnaires royaux.

In fourteenth century Italy no copies of the De casibus of Boccaccio were illuminated, unlike the collection of the Italian exemplars of his work. The Humanists were interested only in the texts of the Bucolicum carmen and in the learned and historical works such as De genealogia deorum gentilium, De casibus virorum illustrium and De mulieribus claris. We must wait until the third part of the fifteenth century when two sumptious volumes were carried out at Ferrara (Decameron for Alberto d'Este and Filocolo for Luigi III de Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua). It was towards 1400-1415, at a moment particularly auspicious in the history of French illumination, that the first French translations of Boccaccio began to spread amongst the libraries of the nobility. In 1409, the success of the second translation of De casibus virorum illustrium (Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes) by Laurent de Premierfait gave rise to an extraordinary lineage of illuminated manuscripts. At the same time the Decameron , translated also by Laurent de Premierfait, in 1414, and the Cleres et nobles femmes, an anonymous translation of De mulieribus claris, spread similarly in France in sumptious manuscripts executed for the members of the Court, for merchants and for royal officers.

Plus de quatre-vingt manuscrits du Des cas des nobles hommes ont été recensés, dont certains illustrés par les plus grands artistes du XVème siècle, le Maître de Boucicaut, le Maître de la Cité des Dames et Jean Fouquet./5 Le manuscrit que nous présentons ici n’est pas le plus célèbre, ni par l’enlumineur, ni par le commanditaire, ni par le nombre de ces enluminures. Il est toutefois remarquable, et c’est ce que nous démontrerons, par son style « italo-gothique » peu répandu en France et par le renouvellement de l’illustration, partie intégrante de la traduction, dont la variété et la vitalité sont le reflet de la profonde assimilation de l’œuvre. Plusieurs moyens sont mis en œuvre : dérivation de modèles iconographiques religieux au service d’un texte profane, combinaison d’éléments de l’imagerie contemporaine dans un processus de création inédit, détails topographiques identifiables, technique de composition héritée de modèles italiens.

More than eighty manuscripts of Des cas des nobles hommes have been counted, with some of these illuminated by the greatest artists of the fifteenth century, the Master of Boucicault, the Master of the Cité des Dames and Jean Fouquet. The manuscript which we discuss here is not the most celebrated, neither for its miniaturist nor for its patron, nor for the number of its miniatures. Yet it is remarkable, as we shall show, for its 'Italo-Gothic' style rare in France and for the innovations of the illuminating, integral to the translation, of which the variety and the vitality reflect the profound assimilation of the work. Many means are used in the work, derived from iconographic religious models in the service of a profane text, combined with contemporary imagery in an unpublished creative process, identifiable scenes, composition techniques inherited from Italian examples.

Nous approfondirons l’analyse de deux thèmes déjà évoqués à propos du Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne, /6 c’est-à-dire le style italianisant des décors et des personnages et l’originalité thématique de plusieurs enluminures indépendantes des textes de Boccace et de Laurent de Premierfait. Nous conclurons cette recherche en tentant de résoudre quelques-uns des problèmes iconographiques et stylistiques posés par la grande enluminure située en tête du manuscrit et illustrant le prologue du traducteur. Il s’agit de comprendre comment, par le biais de l’illustration, s’exprime une assimilation profonde de l’œuvre de Boccace, dans un retour à la perception originelle du De casibus dans l’Avignon des papes et de la bibliothèque de Benoît XIII, qui en possédait au moins un exemplaire. Ce retour au Boccace historien, fournisseur d’exempla moraux tirés de l’histoire antique et de l’Ancien Testament, s’effectue en écho à une référence très appuyée à l’art toscan du Trecento et du Quattrocento.

We shall deepen the analysis of two themes already evoked in connection with the Master of the Roman de la Rose of Vienne, that is to say the Italianate style of the surroundings and the figures and the thematic originality of many of the miniatures independently of the Boccaccio and Laurent de Premierfait texts. We will conclude this research by attempting to resolve some of the iconographic and stylistic problems posed by the large miniature placed at the beginning of the manuscript and illustrating the translator's prologue. It will help us understand how, through the biases of the illustration, a profound assimilation of the work of Boccaccio is expressed in a return to the original perception of De casibus in Papal Avignon and the library of Benedict XIII, who possessed at least one copy. This returns us to Boccaccio as historian, the provider of moral exempla drawn from classical history and from the Old Testament, carried out with close references to Tuscan fourteenth and fifteenth century art.

I. Le manuscrit Français 229

Le Français 229 conservé au Département des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France se présente aujourd’hui dans une reliure de maroquin rouge du XVIIème siècle aux armes royales sur le dos duquel on peut lire en lettres dorées le titre « BOCACE. DU. DECHIET DES. NOBLES. HOMMES ». Le volume, qui mesure 390 millimètres de hauteur et 280 millimètres de largeur, compte 399 folios. A la fin du colophon, on apprend que « …Et fist escrire ce present extrait sire Jehan Paumier, receveur a Lyon pour le roy Nostre Sire, par Boniface de Remenant estant a Bourges la cite ». /7

Manuscript français 229 in the Manuscript Department of the Bibliothèque Nationale of France today is to be seen in a morrocco red leather binding of the seventeenth century with the royal arms on the back where one can read in gilded letters 'BOCACE. DU. DECHIET DES. NOBLES. HOMMES'. The volume which measures 390 mm by 280 mm, has 399 folios. At the end of the colophon, one learns that 'Et fist escrire ce present extrait sire Jehan Paumier, receveur a Lyon pour le roy Nostre Sire, par Boniface de Remenant estant a Bourges la cite' [Jean Paumier, Receiver at Lyon for the King our Lord, had this present extract be written by Boniface de Remenant when he was in the city of Bourges].

La copie, réalisée à Bourges en écriture cursive, reproduit l’ensemble du texte de Laurent de Premierfait, à l’exception de la dédicace à Jean de Berry. La lecture commence directement par le prologue du traducteur, se poursuit par le prologue de Boccace, la table du livre I, les livres I à IX avec des tables introduisant chacun des neuf livres et se termine par le colophon./8 Les feuillets sont ensuite envoyés à Lyon pour y être décorés de lettres ornées au début de chaque livre, sauf le premier, et de chaque chapitre, et de décorations marginales (fig.1). La dernière phase de travail, l’ajout de quatre-vingt six enluminures, est confiée à un artiste du nom de Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne, en référence au Codex 2568 conservé à la Bibliothèque Nationale de cette ville.

The copy executed in Bourges in cursive writing, reproduces the body of the text of Laurent de Premierfait, with the exception of the dedication to Jean de Berry. The reading commences immediately with the prologue of the translator, followed by Boccaccio's prologue, the Table of Contents of Book I, the I through IX Books with the Table of Contents introducing each of the nine Books and ends with the colophon. The folios were then sent to Lyon to be illuminated with decorated initials at the beginning of each book, except the first, and at each chapter, with marginal decorations (fig. 1). The last phase of the work, the adding of eighty-six miniatures, was entruseted to an artist known as the Master of the Roman de la Rose of Vienne, in reference to the Codex 2568 in the Bibliothèque Nationale of this town.

Une fois terminé, le manuscrit reste dans la cité rhodanienne. Jean Paumier, receveur général de Charles VII à Lyon de 1425 à 1435, en fait l’acquisition entre 1435 et 1440. Il était très lié aux Célestins lyonnais, dont l’Ordre s’est d’abord développé en Italie avant d’essaimer en France. Ce commanditaire fortuné avait fondé à Lyon la chapelle des Onze Mille Vierges, dont il paye la décoration, et où, probablement, il fut enterré. /9

Once finished the manuscript stayed in the city on the Rhone. Jean Paumier, Charles VI's Receiver General at Lyon from 1425-1435, had acquired it between 1435 and 1440. He was closely connected with the Lyon Celestines, of which the Order first developed in Italy before spreading in France. This prosperous official had founded the Chapel of the Eleven Thousand Virgins in Lyon, for whose decoration he paid, and where, probably, he is interred.
 

Fig.1. Enluminure (Pauvreté), colonnes de texte
et décorations marginales
Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes ,
Paris, B.N.F., ms 229, folio 22 verso

Dating from the years 1435-1440, it is one of the first known works of this illuminator active in Lyon between 1430 and 1460 and belonging to the same period as the Roman de la Rose de Vienne. An illuminator of Books of Hours and Psalters, the Lyon artist seems familiar with profane texts, as a manuscript of the Songe du verger (whereabouts unknown), the Alain Chartier de Paris in Paris (B.N.F., Fr 2265) and in Berlin (Kupferstitchkabinett, ms 78 C 7), a Vie du Duguesclin by Cuvalier (Bibliothèque Sainte.Genevieve, ms 814) and, among the latest works, a Virgil (Paris, B.N.F., Lat. 8200). By these different artistic experiences, the Lyon illuminator familiarized himself with scenes in the form of the column of text showing one or more episodes of the narration following the place reserved for his painting. In the Roman de la Rose as in the Boccaccio, the miniatures witness to the desire to render the text directly accessible to the reader and seem an essential element, since they give coherence and depth to the whole. This desire for accessibility through image also translates the needs of the public of the book, above all when encounteriung the work of an Italian author immersed in Classical culture.

Le texte de Boccace, introduit par la vision de la Roue de Fortune et par le récit de la Création d’Adam et Eve et du Péché originel, raconte les malheurs souvent tragiques de personnages célèbres de l’histoire de l’Antiquité, de la légende ou de l’histoire médiévale. L’intervention du mémorialiste italien, témoin privilégié des confidences de ces « malheureux », vise à assurer la valeur morale de chaque exempla et à convaincre ses lecteurs du bien fondé de la vertu et du contrôle de soi-même face aux épreuves. Le traducteur français enrichit encore le texte original en puisant des réflexions morales ou des compléments d’information chez les historiens latins dont il est un familier.

Boccaccio's text, introduced by the vision of Fortune's Wheel and by the narration of Adam and Eve's Creation and Original Sin, tells of the tragical misfortunes of famous people in historical Antiquity, in legends and in medieval history. The asides of the Italian recorder, privileged witness to the confidences of these unfortunates, serves to present the moral value of each exempla and to convince his readers of the good based in virtue and in the control of oneself in the face of such trials. The French translator further enriches the original text with moral reflections or with further information taken from the Latin historians with whom he is familiar.

Alors que la première version de la traduction de Premierfait ne se prête pas à l’organisation d’un cycle iconographique d’envergure, il existe quatre types de cycles iconographiques illustrant la seconde traduction. Un premier groupe de manuscrits ne comprend qu’une seule enluminure en tête de volume tandis que le second groupe d’une soixantaine d’exemplaires présente une illustration en tête de chacun des neuf livres. Une vingtaine d’ouvrages contient un cycle long qui traduit en image la quasi-totalité des 176 chapitres, allant de la chute d’Adam et Eve au supplice de Philippa la catinoise et ses fils. Enfin, un dernier groupe de manuscrits, dont le texte est réduit à un chapitre sur deux environ, qui s’accompagne d’une image en tête de chaque livre et de chaque chapitre (environ 80 enluminures). On retrouve dans l’illustration l’idée d’une humanité chrétienne qui évolue de la chute vers le salut, qui conduit à privilégier les supplices infligés aux personnages célèbres de l’Antiquité.

While the first version of Premierfait's translation was not ready for organizing an iconographical cycle, there are four iconographical cycles illustrating the second translation. A first group of manuscripts include only one illumination at the opening of the volume while the second group of some sixty examples presents an illustration at the head of each of the nine books. Twenty of these works contain a long cycle which translates into images in almost all the 176 chapters, from the Fall of Adam to the supplication of Philippa and her sons. Finally, a last group of manuscripts, of which the text is reduced to one chapter for every about two, is accompanied by a miniature at the opening of each book and each chapter (about 80 illuminations). One finds in the miniatures the idea of a Christian humanity which evolves from the Fall to Salvation, and which privileges us over the terrors inflicted on celebrated persons in Antiquity.

Tout au long du XVème siècle, l’évolution constante de l’illustration témoigne d’une lecture de plus en plus humaniste, dans laquelle la figure de Boccace, assis à sa table de travail ou à l’écoute des malheureux, joue un rôle de plus en plus important. On peut raisonnablement penser que les premiers cycles iconographiques, commandés par le duc de Berry et le duc de Bourgogne, aient été réalisés selon les indications du traducteur lui-même,/13 Laurent de Premierfait, qui a peut-être œuvré également pour les premiers cycles illustrant les exemplaires de sa traduction du Decameron. Dans le cas du Français 229, Laurent de Premierfait n’a pu être mis à nouveau à contribution pour l’adaptation de l’iconographie de ce volume, puisqu’il est décédé en 1418./14 Il faut envisager l’intervention d’un homme à la double culture italienne et française, résidant peut-être à Lyon dans le cadre des nouvelles foires commerciales, chargé d’établir une nouvelle liste d’illustrations en fonction des emplacements laissés irrégulièrement par le copiste.

During the whole fifteenth century, the constant evolution of illumination bears witness to a more and more Humanist reading, of which the figure of Boccaccio, seated in his study or listening to the Unfortunates, plays a role that becomes more and more important. One can reasonably think that the first iconographic cycles, commissioned by the Duke de Berry and the Duke of Bourgogne, had been realized according to the translator Laurent de Premierfait himself, who perhaps worked equally with the first cycles illustrating the exemplars of his translation of the Decameron. In the case of Français 229, Laurent de Premierfait could not have contributed anew to the adaptation of the iconography of the volume, since he had died in 1418. One must envisage the intervention of a bi-cultural person, Italian and French, residing perhaps at Lyon in the circle of the new commercial fairs, required to establish a new list of illustrations to function in the spaces left so irregularly by the copyist.

II. Une révision du programme iconographique

Les premiers programmes iconographiques élaborés en France vers 1409-1410 sont réalisés à Paris par des enlumineurs déjà connus pour leurs œuvres d’illustrations de manuscrits religieux ou profanes.

The first iconographic programmes carried out in France towards 1409-1410 are realized in Paris by miniaturists already known for their work of illustrating religious or profane manuscripts.

Tableau 1. Exemplaires antérieurs à 1440
Côte Date et Lieu Enlumineur Destinataire Nbr d’enluminures
Genève, BPU, ms Fr 190 1410, Paris Maître de Luçon et autres Jean de Berry 146
Wien, ÖNB, S.N. 12766 (311-48) 1410, Paris M. de la Cité des Dames 98
Pavia, Museo Civico, nn. 921-26 1410/20, Paris Ecole de Paris 6 découpées
Paris, Bibl. de l’Arsenal, ms 5193 1412, Paris M. de la Cité des Dames Jean sans Peur 152
Los Angeles, Getty M., ms 63 1415, Paris Maître de Boucicaut Un roi ? 52
Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr 131 1415, Paris M. de la Cité des Dames Etienne Gauthier 10
Paris, B.N.F, ms Fr 226 1415/20, Paris M. du duc de Bedford Famille ducale de Savoie ? 140
Paris, B.N.F. ms Fr 16994 1418/20 Paris M. de la Cité des Dames Augustin Isbarre 10
London, B.L., Royal 20 C IV 1420, Paris M. de la Cité des Dames Henri VII ou VIII 13
Chantilly, Musé. Condé, ms 487 1420, France M. H. de Marg. d’Orléans Prigent de Coëtivy 2
Oxford, BL, Bodley 265 1420, Amiens M. Hannibal d’Harvard 9
Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr 228 1400/25France M. Apocalypse de Berry 9
Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr 16995 1400/25 Paris Maître de Rohan Béraud III 9

S’il n’est pas possible de désigner tel ou tel manuscrit comme étant la référence unique du concepteur de l’illustration de l’exemplaire de Jean Paumier, il est intéressant de discerner des familles d’images, liées à des reprises de compositions, des détails d’architectures, de costumes ou de gestuelles. La première étape de cette recherche est d’établir les concordances possibles entre les sujets du Français 229 et ceux des manuscrits antérieurs. Le Français 190 de la Bibliothèque de Genève, /15 le Français 5193 de la Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal et le Français 226 de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France, tous trois illustrés du cycle long, constituent une famille dont les sujets iconographiques sont reproduits parfois à l’identique. Il existe cependant dans ces exemplaires des sujets inédits, mais en proportion moindre que dans le manuscrit lyonnais.

If it is not possible to point out which manuscript was the unique reference for the creator of the illustration for the exemplar for Jean Paumier, it is interesting to discern among the families of images, according to the copying of their compositions, the details of the architecture, costume or gesture. The first stage of this research is to establish the possible concordances between the subjects of Français 229 and those of the earlier manuscripts. Français 190 of the Bibliothèque de Genève, Français 5193 of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal and Français 226 of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, all three illustrating the long cycle, constitute a family of which the iconographic subjects are reproduced almost identically. There also exist some unpublished subjects among these exemplars, but to a lesser extent than in the Lyon manuscript.

L’hypothèse la plus probable est que le concepteur de l’illustration ait eu la possibilité de consulter le manuscrit de Jean de Berry (Genève, B.P.U., ms Fr.190), dont hérita Amédée VIII de Savoie en 1416 à la mort de son oncle, ou celui réalisé pour la famille ducale de Savoie (Paris, B.N.F, ms Fr 226). Cela suppose que le concepteur du programme iconographique ait été un familier de la maison ducale et un proche d’Amédée VIII. On sait notamment que Jaquerio eut accès aux enluminures des manuscrits de la bibliothèque d’Amédée VIII. /16

The most probable hypothesis is that the creator of the illustration was able to consult the manuscript of Jean de Berry (Genève, B.P.U., ms Fr. 190), which Amadeus VIII of Savoy inherited in 1416 at the death of his uncle, who intended it for the Ducal family of Savoy (Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr 226). This gives rise to the supposition that the creator of the iconographic programme was associated with the Ducal house and close to Amadeus VIII. One knows that Jaquerio especially had access to the illuminations of the manuscripts of Amadeus VIII's library.

Le Français 229 de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France compte 86 enluminures mesurant environ 80-85 mm de hauteur et 68-102 mm de largeur. Seule la première peinture située au recto du premier folio mesure 189 mm de hauteur et 152 mm de largeur. L’analyse de la répartition des enluminures dans le manuscrit donne l’impression que le copiste, pressé de finir comme il le rappelle dans le colophon , a progressivement réduit les espaces pour l’illustration. Ou peut-être lui a-t-on demandé de réduire le nombre des emplacements vides en tête de chapitre pour que le manuscrit soit réalisé plus vite et coûte moins cher? La décroissance irrégulière du nombre d’enluminures réduit les perspectives artistiques mais ne semble pas en relation avec le processus de création lui-même.

Français 229 of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France contains 86 illuminations measuring about 80-85 mm high and 68-102 mm wide. Only the first painting placed on the recto of the first folio measures 189 mm high and 152 mm wide. The analysis of the assignment of the miniatures in the manuscript gives the impression that the copyist, pressed to finish the work as he says in the colophon, has progressively reduced the spaces for illustrationas. Or perhaps someone asked him to reduce the number of empty spaces at the heads of the chapters so that the manuscript could be finished more quickly and not cost so much? The irregular decrease of the number of illuminations reduces the artistic perspectives but does not seem to do so in relation to the process of the creation itself.

Tableau 1. Répartition du nombre d’enluminures dans les neuf livres du Français 229.

Partie du manuscrit Nbr d’enluminures
Livre I 18
Livre II 16
Livre III 9
Livre IV 8
Livre V 8
Livre VI 7
Livre VII 4
Livre VIII 7
Livre IX 9

Le concepteur du programme iconographique, qui connaissait au moins un des exemplaires antérieurs, a du s’adapter à la situation de la commande.

The creator of the iconographic programme, who knew at least one of the previous exemplars, had to adapt to the situation at hand.

Tableau 3. Sujets iconographiques sans références antérieures.

Texte Sujet
I, prologue Boccace et Cavalcanti, Fortune cavalière
I,5 Rhéa cache le petit Zeus
I,6 La folie d’Autonoe et Ino, les fils de Cadmos
I,7 Aétès, Médée et Minos se lamentent
I,8 Oedipe frappe Laïos, suicide de Jocaste
I,10 Thésée expulsé de son royaume
I,11 Mort d’Hyppolite
I,12 Althéa tient le tison, suicide de Méléagre
I,14 Les cadavres d’Hector et de Pâris
I,18 Pendaison d’Amata et Phyllis
II,3 David massacre Adarezer et Hadad
II,6 Zara et Acab
II,8 Le massacre des Hébreux ; Jézabel
II,14 L’ange de Dieu punit Sennacherib
II,15 Les fils de Sedecias tués devant leur père
II,17 Cyrus pardonne à Astiages
III,6 Xerxès assassiné dans son palais
III,15 Massacre de Malco
IV,4 Denys de Syracuse expulsé de Sicile
V,7 Rencontre de deux armées
V,14 Andriscus et le consul Metellus
VI,2 Gaius Marius Arpinate se suicide
VI,5 Mithridate se suicide
VI,7 Fraate fait tuer le père Orode
VII,4 Suicide de Néron
VII,6 Cadavre de Vitellius flottant dans le Tibre
IX,4 Anastase et Tibère II se lamentent

Pour les nombreuses iconographies nouvelles, l’enlumineur a sans doute bénéficié d’indications écrites ou dessinées à l’emplacement réservé à l’illustration, ce qui explique qu’il n’y ait pas de traces dans le manuscrit. Le choix des sujets témoigne non seulement d’une connaissance approfondie de l’histoire de l’Antiquité, mais aussi de l’Ancien Testament. Par exemple, au livre II, deux enluminures font découvrir de nouveaux épisodes bibliques jamais encore utilisés dans les cycles longs dérivant du modèle du Boccace de Genève. Au chapitre 8, la figure d’Athalie est environnée de deux scènes inédites : le massacre des Hébreux et Jézabel, mère d’Athalie, jetée par la fenêtre. Enfin, au chapitre 14, Ozias atteint de la lèpre est remplacé par l’ange de Dieu punissant le roi d’Assyrie Sennachérib, épisode situé à la fin du chapitre.

For the numerous new iconographies, the illuminator without doubt benefited from written indications or designs in the places reserved for the illustration, which explains why there are no current traces in the manuscript. The choice of subjects witness not only to a profound knowledge of Classical history, but also of the Old Testament. For example, in Book II, two illuminations are discovered of new biblical episodes never before utilized in the long cycles deriving from the Geneva Boccaccio model. At chapter 8, the figure of Athalie is surrounded by two unique scenes: the massacre of the Hebrews and Jezebel, mother of Athalie, thrown from the window. Finally, in chapter 14, Ozias, struck with leprosy, is replaced by the Angel of God punishing the King of Assyria, Sennacherib, an episode at the end of the chapter.

Le chapitre 6, illustrée par un portrait en pied de Mucius Scaevola dans les trois manuscrits antérieurs, /18 s’ouvre ici sur une représentation de Zara (roi d’Ethiopie) et Adad (roi de Damas) situés à la fin du texte. Mucius Scevola, acceptant de se brûler la main devant Porsenna plutôt que de dénoncer ses complices, apparaît en illustration du chapitre 5 (folio 49 verso). Cette scène invite le spectateur à chercher dans le texte l’explication de ce geste invraisemblable, digne de ce personnage légendaire romain qui, durant la guerre contre les Etrusques, s’était introduit dans le camp ennemi pour tuer Porsenna. /19

Chapter 6, illustrated by a portrait at the foot of Mucius Scaevola in the three previous manuscripts, opens here with a representation of Zara (King of Ethiopia) and Adad (King of Damas) situated at the end of the text. Mucius Scaevola, voluntarily burning his hand before Porsenna rather than denounce his co-plotters, appears in an illustration to Chapter 5 (fol. 49v). This scene invites the spectator to seek in the text the explanation for this improbable gesture, worthy of this legendary Roman figure who, during the war against the Etruscans, was introduced into the enemy camp to kill Porsenna.

Ce souci d’approfondissement des connaissances du texte par l’image est une des richesses de l’évolution des illustrations du Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes tout au long du XVème siècle. Le manuscrit Français 229 apporte ici un large renouvellement d’une partie de l’iconographie en même temps qu’un approfondissement de l’assimilation du texte. Dans le chapitre XII du livre I, Boccace raconte l’histoire d’Hercule et de la tunique de Nessus, puis l’histoire d’Althéa et de son fils Méléagre. Les exemplaires du premier quart du XVème siècle réduisent l’iconographie au portrait d’Hercules portant la tunique de Nessus. Au contraire, dans le manuscrit lyonnais, le héros grec introduit deux nouvelles scènes : Althéa mettant le tison dans le feu en vengeance de l’assassinat de ses deux frères par son fils Méléagre, puis le suicide de Méléagre par un glaive en pleine poitrine (fig.2).

This anxiety to deepen the knowledge of the text by the image is one of the riches of the evolution of the illustrations of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes throughout the fifteenth century. Manuscript Français 229 brings about here a great innovation on the part of its iconography at the same time that it deepens the assimilation of the text. In chapter XII of Book I, Boccaccio tells the legend of Hercules and of Nessus' tunic, then the history of Althea and of her son Meleager. The copies of the first quarter of the fifteenth century reduce the iconography to the portrait of Hercules carrying Nessus' tunic. Instead, in the Lyon manuscript, the Greek heroes introduce two new scenes: Althea putting the ember in the fire to revenge the deaths of her two brothers by her son Meleager, then Meleager's suicide through falling on his sword.

L’image reprend fidèlement la description du texte :

« Laditte Althea oyant ceste nouvelle (le meurtre de ses deux frères par son fils lors de la chasse au sanglier de Calydon), comme fourscennee cheyt a terre et apres pour la vengence du delit que fist Meleager, elle boutta au feu le tison quelle avoit garde iusques alors (ce tison actif protégeait son fils du malheur). Apres lequel fait Meleager tomba a terre. Et il apres, comme repentant de la mort de ses oncles quil avoit tuez, se coucha sur lespee et ainsi se tua en finant meschamment sa vie.»/20

Althea hearing this news (the murder of her two brothers by her son during the hunt for the boar of Calydon), first fell to the earth and then to revenge Meleager's deed, she threw into the fire the ember which she had always guarded before (this ember protected her son from misfortune). After this Meleager fell to the ground. And afterwards, while repenting the death of his uncles whom he had killed, he fell on his sword and thus killed himself while lamenting his life.

Fig. 2. Hercules et la tunique de Nessus, suicide de Méléagre
et Althéa déposant le tison dans le feu
Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes,
Paris, B.N.F., ms 229, folio 22 verso

Peut-être la figure féminine (un cadavre ou une femme endormie ?) derrière la colline centrale fait-elle référence à la dernière phrase du texte : « Et laditte Altea sachans ces deux cas de ses deux freres Thoseus et Plexipus et de son filz Meleager occis, tua soy mesmes ». La jeune femme pourrait être une autre vision d’Althéa morte.

Perhaps the feminine figure (a cadavre or a sleeping woman?) behind the central hill is a reference to the last phrase of the text: 'And Althea knowing of the two misfortunes of her two brothers Thoseus and Plexipus and of her son Meleager's death, killed herself'. The young woman could be another vision of the dead Althea.

Lorsque l’enlumineur reprend une scène déjà représentée quelques années plus tôt, sa version montre des personnages plus typés, trapus, dans une composition simplifiée et un décor massif reconnaissable à la présence de hachures dans les architectures. Citons l’exemple de l’histoire d’Arsinoé en illustration du chapitre XV du livre IV dans le manuscrit Français 226 (peint à Paris par le Maître du duc de Bedford pour la famille ducale de Savoie) et dans le Français 229 (fig. 3 et 4). On y voit l’expulsion d’Arsinoé II, reine de Macédoine, traînée hors d’Athènes sur ordre de son demi-frère et mari Ptolémée Kéraunos après le meurtre de ses deux fils. Comme dans l’ensemble du manuscrit, l’enluminure adoucit la violente réalité décrite dans le texte :

« Arsinoe pout veoir soy despouillee de ses attours royaulx et soy amoittie affublee dune robe orde et detrenchee. Elle veyt soy marye et souillie du sang de ses deux enffans occis cruellement. Et elle seullement accompaingnee de deux varletz fut par le commandement de Keraunus traynee hors de la cite en cryant et plourant. Ses cheveux lui furent trenchez et son viaire couvert de fange et dordure » /21

Arsinoe could see herself spoiled of her royal attire and herself half clothed in a dirty torn robe. She saw her husband soiled with the blood of their two infants cruelly killed. And she was dragged out of the city by order of Keraunus, accompanied by two varlets, crying and weeping. She was dragged by the hair and covered with mud and excrement.

La comparaison des deux enluminures met en valeur les spécificités du maître lyonnais. A gauche, le fond quadrillé, la tour crénelée et les meurtrières s’inscrivent encore dans un univers visuel médiéval. L’oblique des cadavres raidis à l’arrière-plan, les visages inexpressifs des personnages et l’absence du commanditaire de l’expulsion sont autant d’éléments qui amoindrissent l’impact de la scène. A droite, la haute stature de Ptolémée Keraunos en armure, se détachant sur un mur d’enceinte grossièrement hachuré, s’oppose à la silhouette de la reine tirée par les cheveux vers la porte d’Athènes, sorte d’architecture massive qui sert d’encadrement à la figure du bourreau./22 Dans le cas du suicide de Cléopâtre et Marc-Antoine, l’une par des aspics lui piquant les bras, l’autre se transperçant d’un glaive en pleine poitrine. La version du Maître de la Cité des Dames dans le manuscrit 5193 de l’Arsenal fige les deux héros dans une attitude de gisants allongés dans un large cercueil. Le fond quadrillé de losanges et de fleurs de lys et le sol de petits carrés bicolores ferment l’espace visuel. En 1435, l’enlumineur lyonnais réutilise le mur-écran hachuré et le large pilier pour planter le décor de la scène. Cléopâtre gît par terre, son corps semble déjà en putréfaction. /23 Derrière elle, Marc-Antoine se suicide et semble déjà tomber sous l’effet de la douleur. Cette composition respecte le récit, puisque c’est la vision de Cléopâtre morte qui pousse le consul à se suicider.

The comparison of the two illuminators allows us to value the qualities of the Lyon Master. To the left, the tiled floor, the crenellated tower and the murderers are inscribed in a medieval visual universe. The obliqueness of the cadavres laid out in the foreground, the inexpressive faces of the figures and the absence of the sentencer of expulsion are some of the elements which lessen the impact of the scene. To the right the high statue of Ptolemy Keraunos in armour, attached to a wall crudely hatched, contrasts to the silhouette of the queen dragged by her hair to the gate of Athens, amidst massive architecture which frames the figure of the executioner. In the case of the suicide of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, one bitten by the asps, the other pierced by by falling on his sword. The version of the Master of the Citè des Dames in manuscript 5193 of the Arsenal presents the two heroes as like effigies in a large coffin. The back, squared with losanges and fleur de lys, and the ground, with small pied squares, closes the visual space. In 1435 the Lyon illuminator reused the hatched wall screen and the large pillar to present the decor of the scene. Cleopatra falls to the ground, her body seemingly already putrifying. Behind her, Mark Antony kills himself and seems already to fall due to sorrow. This composition respects the narration, since it is the vision of the dead Cleopatra which drives the Consul to suicide.

Fig.5. Suicide de Cléopâtre et de Marc-Antoine Fig.6. Suicide de Cléopâtre et Marc-Antoine
Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes, Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes,
Paris, Bibl. de l’Arsenal, ms 5193, folio 272 verso Paris, B.N.F., ms 229, folio 265

Cet exemple de relecture du texte avant d’entreprendre l’illustration rend l’image plus vivante, comme directement transmise par les mots de l’auteur. La recherche formelle de l’enluminure répond à cette exigence intellectuelle. L’influence des volumes cubiques des architectures giottesques ont probablement influencé l’enlumineur du Fr 229. Il les utilise pour cadrer les attitudes des personnages et diviser l’espace scénique. Les effets obtenus, par exemple dans le cas du meurtre de Virginie et de l’emprisonnement du juge Appius Claudius (fig.8) rappelle les compositions de Masaccio dans les panneaux de prédelle du polyptyque de Pise (1426), peint pur l’église du Carmine (fig.7). Dans la décapitation de saint Jean-Baptiste, contraint par la surface horizontale du panneau inférieur, le peintre italien utilise des personnages plus trapus que d’ordinaire. Il articule les gestes du commanditaire et du bourreau en jouant sur l’angle du bâtiment cubique sur lequel ils se détachent. A droite, les surfaces des rochers escarpés divisent les groupes d’hommes chargés d’assister le bourreau.

This example of rereading the text before embarking on the illumination makes the image more vivid, since it directly transmits the words of the author. The stylization of the illumination responds to this intellectual exigency. Giotto's architectural cubic volumes probably influenced the illuminator of Français 229. He uses these to enclose the attitudes of figures and to divide the scenic space. The effects obtained, for example in the case of the murder of Virginia and of the imprisonment of the judge Appius Claudius (fig. 8), recall Massaccio's compositions in the panels of the predella of the Pisa polytich (1426), painted for the church of the Carmine (fig. 7). In the beheading of St John the Baptist, constrained by the horizontal surface of the lower panel, the Italian painter uses more squat figures. To the right the surfaces of the rocks divide the groups of men assigned to assist the executioner.

Fig.7. La décapitation de saint Jean-Baptiste Fig.8. Meurtre de Virginie par Virginius,
Masaccio, Polyptyque de Pise, 1426 Appius Claudius en prison,
Berlin-Dahlem, Staatliche Museen Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes ,
(Inv. 58A) Paris, B.N.F., ms 229, folio 110 verso

Cette comparaison avec le panneau de prédelle de Masaccio n’est pas un cas isolé. Plusieurs points communs peuvent être relevés entre le travail de l’artiste toscan et les enluminures du manuscrit lyonnais. Les fresques de la chapelle Brancacci dans l’église du Carmine à Florence, privilégient en grand format la même économie de moyens de composition. Dans Le Tribut de Saint-Pierre (1425), le peintre figure des architectures cubiques, des collines dénudées, des hommes trapus et dont plusieurs portent la barbe. En conclusion de cette partie comparative des enluminures du Français 229 avec des illustrations des premiers exemplaires du Boccace au premier quart du XVème siècle, puis avec des œuvres italiennes, il est possible de dégager plusieurs lignes d’analyse. Tout d’abord, le travail de renouvellement de l’illustration traditionnelle impose une recherche de nouveaux modèles ou combinaisons de modèles. Par rapport aux œuvres du Maître de la Cité des Dames ou du Maître du duc de Bedford, on observe une simplification des décors extérieurs et des costumes. Les figurines graciles du style gothique international ont laissé la place à des personnages massifs aux visages carrés peu expressifs qui s’apparentent au style italo-gothique, sans en définir pour autant la ligne directrice. Le Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne illustre ce courant italianisant présent chez les artistes travaillant autour d’Amédée VIII de Savoie, Jaquerio, Jean Bapteur et le Maître du Prince de Piémont. L’analyse de la grande enluminure du premier folio du manuscrit lyonnais nous permet d’insister sur les liens avec la peinture monumentale italienne.

This comparison with the panels of the Masaccio altar painting is not an isolated case. Many things in common can be observed between the works of the Tuscan artist and the illuminations of the Lyon manuscript. The frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence privilege in a large format the same economy of composition. In the Tribute of St Peter (1425) the artist paints cubic architecture, bare hills, squat men, many with beards. In concluding this comparative part of the illuminations of Français 229 with the illustrations of the first exemplars of Boccaccio from the first quarter of the fifteenth century with Italian works, it is possible to pursue several lines of inquiry. Above all the work of refreshing the traditional illustrations imposes a quest for new models or combinations of models. In relation with the works of the Master of the Cité des Dames or the Master of the Duke of Bedford one observes a simplification of exterior decor and of garments. The graceful figures of the international Gothic style give place to massive figures with square unexpressive faces belonging to the Italian Gothic style, without defining meanwhile their direct descent. The Master of the Roman de la Rose de Vienne shows this Italianizing trend among the artists working around Amadeus VIII of Savoy, Jaquerio, Jean Bapteur and the Master of the Prince of Piedmont. The analysis of the great illumination of the first folio of the Lyon manuscript permits us to insist on ties with Italian monumental painting.

III. La grande illustration du prologue du traducteur/ The large illumination of the Translator's Prologue

Les premiers manuscrits de la traduction de Laurent de Premierfait adoptent différentes solutions au problème de l’enluminure introductive. Boccace apparaît aux côtés de Laurent de Premierfait dans la scène de dédicace illustrant un exemplaire de la première traduction. /24 Le portrait traditionnel du traducteur agenouillé ici devant Jean de Berry/25 connaît une variante. En s’inspirant du texte de la dédicace à Jean de Berry, la dédicace intervient en troisième position d’une composition quadripartite regroupant les trois états de la société (1-la noblesse (un roi entouré de princes), 2- les clercs (un pape, des cardinaux, un évêque et un clerc) et le tiers état (artisans et paysans). /26 Dans d’autres copies du premier quart du XVème siècle, certaines miniatures réutilisent la composition de la scène de rencontre entre Boccace à sa table et Fortune à huit bras située en tête du premier chapitre du livre VI./27 Elles opèrent ainsi, à l’intérieur même du cycle iconographique, une dérivation d’un modèle préexistant afin de composer une image d’introduction à l’ouvrage. Comme le précise le texte, l'auteur italien accueille des « malheureux » à sa table de travail: Adam et Eve âgés /28 ou une foule de « nobles hommes et femmes ». /29 Enfin, pour brosser un tableau tout à fait complet, il faut citer la solution sans doute la plus spectaculaire, celle de la peinture pleine page de la roue de Fortune, en filiation directe des roues peintes et sculptées des XIIème-XIIIème siècles et inspirées de la Consolation de Boèce. /30

The first manuscripts of the translation of Laurent de Premierfait adopted different solutions to the problem of the introductory miniature. Boccacci appears beside Laurent de Premierfait in the dedication scene illustrating an exemplar of the first translation. the traditional portrait of the translator kneeling before Jean de Berry is a variant. In being inspired by the text of the dedication to Jean de Berry, the dedication assumes a third position in a four-part composition, regrouping the Three States of Society: 1. Nobility (A King surrounded by Princes); 2. Clergy (A Pope, Cardinals, a Bishop and a Clerk); and the Third Estate (skilled labourers and peasants). Among other copies of the first quarter of the fifteenth century cetain miniatures reuse the composition of the scene of the meeting between Boccaccio in his study and Fortune with eight arms situated at the head of the first chapter of Book VI. Thus they operate, even within the iconographic cycle, as a derivation from a prexisting model before composing the scene of the introduction of the work. As the text notes, the Italian author gathers the 'Unfortunates' to his study table, aged Adam and Eve, or a crowd of 'Noble Men and Women. Finally, to embellish a tableau that is almost complete, we must cite the solution that is without doubt the most spectacular, that of the full page painting of the Wheel of Fortune, directly derived from the Wheels painted and sculpted from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and inspired by the Consolation of Boethius.

Fig. 9. Boccace et Mainardo de Cavalcanti, Fortune cavalière
Distribuant Bonheur à un empereur et Malheur à un pauvre
Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes,
Paris, B.N.F., ms 229, folio 1 recto

Dès le premier folio, la grande enluminure demi-page du manuscrit Fr. 229 adopte un autre ton. Pas de scène de dédicace, absence du traducteur, pas de confrontation directe entre Boccace et les personnages dont il raconte la vie (cette image intervient plus tard dans le livre). Le « style presque italianisant »/31 de la grande enluminure située en tête de l’ouvrage a retenu l’attention des historiens de l’enluminure. Cette création s’affirme indépendamment de toute référence littéraire, puisque dans le prologue dédié à Mainardo de Cavalcanti, Boccace fait encore référence à l’image traditionnelle de la Fortune tournant sa roue pour abaisser l’orgueil des hommes les plus puissants de ce monde. /32 Pourtant, le De casibus se prête à une iconographie polysémique de la Fortune. On rencontre, dans des manuscrits plus tardifs, Fortune pesant dans sa balance les Bonheurte et Malheurte de la reine Athalie (Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr. 127, f°45 recto) ou encore Fortune siégeant auprès de Dieu le Père dans sa nuée et conversant avec Boccace, sur terre, travaillant à sa table (Chantilly, Musée Condé, ms 401, f°190 recto). /33

From the first folio, the great half-page illumination of Manuscript Fr. 229 adopts a different tone. It is not a dedication scene, the translator is absent, there is no direct confrontation between Boccaccio and the figures whose lives he narrates (this image comes later in the book). The 'almost Italianate style' of the great illumination situated at the opening of the book has caught the attention of historians of illumination. This creation affirms independently of all literary reference, even in the prologue dedicated to Mainardo de Cavalcanti, Boccaccio's reference to the traditional image of Fortune turning her wheel to abase the pride of the most powerful men of this world. Meanwhile, the De casibus prepares us for a polysemous iconography of Fortune. One meets in later manuscripts Fortune weighing in the balance the Good and Bad Fortune of the Queen Athalie (Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr. 127, fol. 45) or again Fortune seated before God the Father among the clouds and conversing with Boccaccio, on earth, working at his study table (Chantilly, Musée Condé, ms 401, fol. 190).

Plusieurs éléments de cette image font référence à des lieux ou des personnages connus du commanditaire et de l’enlumineur. Leur figuration en tête d’un manuscrit du Boccace témoigne d’une réflexion approfondie sur deux thèmes : l’importance du lien de la France avec l’Italie et la coexistence des deux états de la destinée humaine, la puissance et la pauvreté. La force du premier thème, la relation à l’Italie, tient au lieu de production du manuscrit (Lyon, à la frontière de la Savoie à laquelle est rattaché le Piémont en 1429), à la culture intellectuelle du concepteur de l’iconographie et à l’influence artistique de l’enlumineur. Le second thème, celui de la relation entre puissance et pauvreté, est peut-être ressenti de manière plus aiguë dans les années 1435-40, à Lyon. Cette cité, rattachée au royaume de France en 1312 et qui reste fidèle au roi pendant la guerre de Cent Ans, se retrouve isolée et appauvrie au centre de campagnes affaiblies par la longueur du conflit. A partir de 1420, le dauphin Charles y autorise deux foires annuelles. C’est à partir des années 1440 que les foires de Lyon ont été encouragées par les rois de France. Lyon devient alors un véritable carrefour et un lieu de transit idéal entre le nord de l’Europe (Angleterre, Allemagne, Pays-Bas) et les pays méditerranéens.

Many elements of this image make reference to the place or the people known to the patron and to the illuminator. Their placement at the opening of a Boccaccio manuscript testify to a profound reflection on two themes: the importance of the bond of France with Italy and the coexistence to the two states of human destiny, power and poverty. The strength of the first theme, the relation to Italy, given the place of the manuscript's production (Lyon, at the frontier of Savoy, which became attached to Piedmont in 1429), to the intellectual culture of the conception of the iconography and to the artistic influence of the illuminator. The second theme, that of the relation between power and poverty, is perhaps felt in the sharpest way in the years 1435-40 at Lyon. This city, reattached to the Kingdom of France in 1312 and which remained faithful to the king during the Hundred Years' War, found itself isolated and impoverished at the centre of a countryside ravished by the length of the conflict. From 1420 the Dauphin Charles authorized two annual fairs there. Lyon then became a veritable crossroad and a place of ideal exchange between the north of Europe (England, Germany, the Lowlands) and the Mediterranean countries.

Chaque détail de cette grande enluminure constitue une clef pour la compréhension de l’ensemble. Devant un paysage digne de la fresque de l’Allégorie du Bon Gouvernement et son effet dans les campagnes d’Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1337-1339, Sienne, Palazzo Pubblico), la composition générale associe deux scènes distinctes : à gauche, Boccace à sa table recevant le dédicataire de son ouvrage, Mainardo de Cavalcanti, et, à droite, la Fortune cavalière distribuant Bonheur et Malheur à un empereur et un pauvre qui la suivent à pied. Ces deux tableaux successifs peuvent être analysés en détail séparément, mais l’assemblage dans ce même espace pictural constitue une sorte de rébus dont chaque élément renvoie à une redécouverte de l’ouvrage de Boccace par un intellectuel dont la culture classique et religieuse semble plus approfondie que celle de Laurent de Premierfait lui-même.

Each detail of this great miniature constitutes a key for understanding the whole. Before a landscape worthy of the fresco of the Allegory of Good Government and its effect upon the countryside of Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1337-1339, Siena, Palazzo Pubblico), the general composition associates two distinct scenes: at the left, Boccaccio at his table receives the one to whom he dedicates his work, Mainardo de Cavalcanti, and, at the right, Fortune on horseback distributes Good and Bad Fortune to an emperor and a pauper who follow her on foot. These two successive scenes can be analysed in separate detail, but the ensemble of the same pictorial space constitute a kind of riddle in which each element is a rediscovery of Boccaccio's work by an intellectual whose classical and religious culture seems more profound than that even of Laurent Premierfait himself.

Comme Masaccio dans les panneaux de prédelles du retable de Pise, qui utilise les encadrements de porte et la division des espaces architecturaux pour organiser l’action de ses personnages, le Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne encadre Boccace et Cavalcanti sous le volume tripartite d’un dais gothique, qui ressemble à une version épurée du dais peint par Jaquerio au-dessus de la Madone de l’abbaye de Sant’Antonio de Ranverso (1430). /34 L’espace central ouvre une perspective vers l’extérieur et le paysage environnant par l’intermédiaire d’une baie en grisaille. Le couple Boccace/Cavalcanti, représenté pour la première fois, remplace ici l’iconographie traditionnelle du prologue, c’est-à-dire la dédicace de Laurent de Premierfait à Jean de Berry ou à un roi entouré de ses conseillers. L’Italie s’impose dans une composition inédite du couple auteur/destinataire. En effet, il ne s’agit pas ici d’une scène de dédicace, d’offrande. Cavalcanti est entré dans le cabinet de travail de Boccace qui, tel un évangéliste absorbé par sa tâche, ne prend pas la peine de lever les yeux vers son visiteur (fig. 11). Cette composition originale rappelle le couple évangéliste/attribut tel qu’il apparaît dans le portrait de saint Marc et le lion dans un livre d’Heures français daté de 1407 et enluminé dans le style du Maître de Bedford (fig. 10). /35 De ce modèle de l’écrivain penché sur le livre posé sur une tablette inclinée fixée à son fauteuil, indifférent à l’animal ailé qui semble s’adresser à lui et l’inspirer, l’enluminure du Des cas des nobles offre une dérivation adaptée au contexte littéraire du prologue de Boccace. /36 L’identification de Cavalcanti et la composition de la scène impose la référence à ce texte pourtant absent du manuscrit qui débute par le prologue du traducteur.

As had Masaccio in the panels of the Pisan altarpiece, which utilized the doors and the architectural divisions of space to organize the actions of the figures, the Master of the Roman de la Rose of Vienne encloses Boccaccio and Cavalcanti under the tripartite space of a Gothic tabernacle, which resembles a version of a tabernacle painted by Jaquiero around the Madonna of the Abbey of St Anthony at Ranverso (1430). The central space opens onto a perspective towards the exterior and the countryside surrounding it through the means of a bay in grisaille glass. The couple, Boccaccio and Cavalcanti, represented for the first time, replace the traditional iconography of the prologue, which is to say the dedication of Laurent de Premierfait to Jean de Berry or to a king surrounded by his counsellors. In effect, this is not a dedication scene. Cavalcanti has entered Boccaccio's study who, like an Evangelist absorbed in his task, does not even raise his eyes towards his visitor (fig. 11). This original composition recalls the Evangelist attribution such as appears in the portrait of Saint Mark and the Lion in a French Book of Hours dated 1407 and illuminated in the style of the Bedford Master (fig. 10). In this model of the writer leaning over the book placed on a lectern attached to his chair, indifferent to the winged animal which seems to address and inspire him, the illuminator of the Des cas des nobles offers a copy adapted to the literary context of Boccaccio's prologue. The identification of Cavalcanti and the composition of the scene imposes the reference to this text which is somewhat lacking from the manuscript in the prologue of the translator.

Fig. 10. Style Maître de Bedford, Fig.11. Boccace et Mainardo de Cavalcanti
Saint Marc et le bœuf, vers 1407, Horae (détail fig. 9)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Douce 144, f°5v°
[Oxford University refuses permission to scholars
seeking to reproduce Bodleian manuscripts]

Le seigneur italien est un ami très estimé de Boccace. Dans son texte original, il parle longuement du prestige de cet homme illustre « ex Cavalcantibus, clara civitatis nostre familia » /37 décrit comme le « generoso militi domino Maghinardo de Cavalcantibus de Florentia preclaro regni Sycilie marescallo »./38 Boccace le charge de diffuser son ouvrage dans le cercle de ses amis. Boccace lui-même se nomme « pauperis amici », honoré de pouvoir offrir son modeste présent à un si auguste personnage. Dans l’image, l’auteur ne semble pas écouter les encouragements de son ami à continuer son étude des destins humains les plus dramatiques de l’histoire de l’Antiquité. Cette scène insiste sur l’importance de la réflexion intellectuelle et de l’encouragement par les seigneurs des travaux de recherche et de compilation des clercs. Le rôle du traducteur Laurent de Premierfait s’efface ici devant la référence aux circonstances de la rédaction originelle de Boccace et à la figure emblématique du chevalier toscan, Mainardo de Cavalcanti.

The Italian lord is Boccaccio's greatly esteemed friend. In the original text he speaks at length about the fame of this nobleman, 'ex Cavalcantibus, clara civitatis nostre familia' [of the famous Cavalcanti family], described as the 'generoso militi domino Maghinardo de Cavalcantibus de Florentia preclaro regni Sycilie marescallo' [the generous warlord Mainard de Cavalcanti of Florence, and famed Marshall of the Kingdom of Sicily]. Boccaccio requests that he seminate his work amongst his circle of friends. Boccaccio himself names himself 'pauperis amicis' [among his poor friends], being honoured to present his modest present to so august a personage. In the illumination, the author does not seem to listen to the encouragement of his friend to continue his study of the most dramatic human destinies in Classical history. This scene underlines the importance of intellectual meditation and the encouragement offered by lords for the work of research and the compiling of books by clerics. The role of the translator Laurent de Premierfait is effaced here by the reference to the circumstances of the original edition by Boccaccio and by the emblematic figure of the Tuscan Cavalier, Mainardo de Cavalcanti.

L’analyse approfondie de la partie droite de l’enluminure confirme la prégnance de l’Italie par l’évocation de certains paysages et de certaines œuvres d’art. Tout d’abord, le personnage inédit de Fortune cavalière. Dans les premiers exemplaires de la traduction de Premierfait, cette figure omnipotente était traditionnellement montrée tournant sa roue (en tête d’ouvrage), combattant Pauvreté (III, 1) ou parlant avec Boccace assis à sa table de travail (VI, 1)./39 Les personnages de la Fortune cavalière, de l’empereur et du pauvre qui la suivent apportent encore des éléments d’analyse dont certains indiquent l’influence italienne. La robe bipartite de Fortune juxtapose une moitié de tissu gris en grosse toile rapiécée et une autre moitié de tissu soyeux couleur or digne des étoffes de Gentile da Fabriano, inspiré par un brocard italien d’importation probablement, puisque la soie n’est produite à Lyon qu’à partir du XVIIème siècle. C’est la même Fortune que l’on retrouve dans un combat ardu avec Pauvreté au folio 84 recto.

The analysis deepens from the right side of the miniature confirming the Italian engendering by the evocation of certain landscapes and particular works of art. Above all, the original figure of Fortune as horsewoman. In the first exemplars of the Premierfait translation, this powerful figure was traditionally shown turning her wheel (at the opening of the work), combatting Poverty (III.1), or speaking with Boccaccio seated at his writing desk (VI,1). The figures of Fortune on horseback, of the Emperor and the Pauper who follow her, bring with them certain elements which, when analysed, betray Italian influence. The split robe of Fortune juxtaposes a coarse grey patched fabric with, on the other side, cloth of gold worthy of Gentile da Fabriano's fabrics, likely inspired by an imported Italian brocade since silk was not produced at Lyon until the seventeenth century. It is the same Fortune whom one finds in ardent combat with Poverty at folio 84 recto.

Fig. 12. Saint Martin et un pauvre Fig.13. Fortune cavalière distribuant Bonheur
Assise, Basilique San Francesco, à un empereur et Malheur à un pauvre
église intérieure, chapelle Saint-Martin, vers 1317 (détail fig.9)

Fortune semble un mélange de deux mythes contemporains, l’un religieux (saint Martin partageant son manteau avec un pauvre) et l’autre profane (la Mort à cheval tirant des flèches sur les vivants). En ce qui concerne le modèle de saint Martin, le Maître du Roman de la Rose semble être revenu à la composition originelle de Simone Martini à Assise (fig.12), alors que les versions peintes au début du XVème siècle par le Maître de Boucicaut et les frères de Limbourg, /40 pourtant les artistes parmi les plus italianisants de l’Europe du Nord,/41 inversent la composition et modifient la position du pauvre.

Fortune seems a mixture of two contemporary myths, one religious (St Martin sharing his cloak with a Pauper), and the other profane (Death on horseback hurling arrows at the living). As regards the model of St Martin, the Master of the Roman de la Rose seems to return to the original composition of Simone Martini at Assisi (fig. 12), while the versions painted at the beginning of the fifteenth century by the Boucicault Master and the Limbourg brothers, perhaps the most Italianate artists in northern Europe, invert the composition and modify the position of the Pauper.

Dans la partie droite du décor naturel situé derrière la figure monumentale de la Fortune cavalière (fig.13), derrière le bosquet situé à droite de son visage, l’enlumineur a représenté un pont fortifié traversant un large fleuve. A l’entrée du pont, une porte fortifiée et, de l’autre côté, une porte flanquée de deux tours encadrée à gauche et à droite par une enceinte fortifiée protégeant un château entouré de bâtiments civils. Derrière cette imposante construction, dans la montagne, une abbaye dont on voit l’église abbatiale et un bâtiment conventuel mitoyen.

In the right part of the natural landscape behind the monumental figure of Fortune on horseback (fig. 13), behind the little wood situated at the right of her face, the miniaturist has shown a fortified bridge crossing a great river. And the entry of the bridge, a fortified gate, and at the other side, a gate flanked by two towers with a fortified wall to the right and the left prots a castle surrounded by civilian buildings. Behind this imposing construction, on the mountain, a abbey of which one sees the monastery church and the partly conventual buildings.

Fig. 14. Fuite en Egypte (détail du pont de Saint-Maurice) Fig. 15. Pont de Saint-Maurice,
Jaquerio, fresque du cloître de l’abbaye d’Abondance, XVIIème siècle, Archives de Berne
Galerie ouest, vers 1430. D’après J.-M. Benand,
Abondance, 2000, p. 89.

Plusieurs détails peuvent nous permettrent d’identifier ces deux édifices. Nous avons rappelé le style italianisant du Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne. De formation française, travaillant à Lyon pour une clientèle de fonctionnaires royaux, cet artiste a très probablement voyagé en Italie et visité Florence et Padoue, comme son contemporain Jean Bapteur, où il aurait découvert les fresques de Giotto, de Masolino et de Masaccio. A l’aller ou au retour de son voyage, l’artiste a pu visiter l’abbaye d’Abondance, située entre le château de Saint-Maurice et Lyon, encouragé par la réputation des fresques peintes vers 1430 dans le cloître par Giacomo Jaquerio. Or il semble que, dans la fresque de La Fuite en Egypte située dans la galerie ouest, Jaquerio ait représenté, avec d’autres éléments du paysage de la région lémanique, le château de Saint-Maurice et le pont fortifié sur le Rhône (fig.14). /42 Ce détail de la topographie régionale présent dans une œuvre de l’un des plus célèbres peintres de la cour d’Amédée VIII a peut-être inspiré le concepteur de l’illustration du prologue du traducteur, à moins qu’il ne s’agisse d’une initiative de l’enlumineur ou du commanditaire.

Several details can permit us to identify the two buildings. We have mentioned the Italianate style of the Master of the Roman de la Rose of Vienne. Of French formation, working in Lyon for royal functionaries, this artist probably travelled to Italy and visited Florence and Padua, as did his contemporary Jean Bapteur, where he would have discovered the Giotto, Masolino and Massacio frescoes. On both going and the return of his journey, the artist would have visited the Abbey of Abundance, situated between the Saint-Maurice Castle and Lyon, and be encouraged by the reputation of the frescoes painted by Giacomo Jaquerio in the cloister around 1430. Now it seems that in the fresco of the Flight into Egypt situated in the west gallery Jaquerio has represented, with other elements of the region, the Saint-Maurice Castle and the fortified bridge over the Rhone (fig. 14). This detail of the regional landscape present in a work by one of the most celebrated painters of the court of Amadeus VIII likely inspired the creator of the illustration to the Translator's Prologue, either at the initiative of the miniaturist or of the patron.

L’hypothèse d’une relation thématique entre les deux œuvres conduirait à identifier le pont et le château représenté derrière Fortune comme le château Saint-Maurice, point névralgique entre la Savoie et l’Italie, passage obligé de tout voyageur. La comparaison avec un dessin du XVIIème siècle conservé aux archives de Berne vient confirmer cette hypothèse (fig.15). Cette référence concrète au trajet vers l’Italie, le pays d’origine de Boccace et de Mainardo de Cavalcanti, invite le lecteur à un contact direct, sans intermédiaire, avec leur discours. Il peut suivre Fortune dans son voyage vers le De casibus, ce livre de réflexion sur les vicissitudes du pouvoir, de la richesse et de l’orgueil. On peut voir dans les figures de l’empereur et du pauvre une réplique des personnages de Mainardo et de Boccace. Fortune distribue le Bonheur à celui qui la suit de plus près, alors que le pauvre, affaibli, semble avoir du mal à suivre le pas de la cavalière.

The hypothesis of a thematic relationship between the two works leads us to identify the bridge and castle represented behind Fortune as the Castle of Saint-Maurice, the nerve point between Savoy and Italy, the obligatory passage for all travellers. The comparison with a drawing of the seventeenth century in the Bern archives confirms this hypothesis (fig. 15). This concrete reference toward Italy, the country of origin for Boccaccio and Mainard de Cavalcanti, invites the reader to direct contact, without an intermediary, with their discourse. One can follow Fortune on her journey towards the De casibus, this book of reflections on the vicissitudes of power, of wealth and of pride. One can see in the figures of the Emperor and the Pauper a replication of the persons of Mainard and Boccaccio. Fortune strews Goods on the one who follows closest to her, while the Pauper, enfeebled, seems endangered through following in the steps of the Cavalier.

L’analyse comparative du manuscrit et des enluminures a permis de montrer les spécificités de la réinterprétation du Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne. L’originalité se situe surtout dans la relecture stylistique : décors simplifiés, paysages d’inspiration toscane, architectures cubiques, hachures, personnages trapus aux faciès méditerranéens, perspective. Le concepteur du programme iconographique, qui connaissait les cycles présents dans des manuscrits antérieurs du Des cas des nobles hommes , a également puisé hors du texte de Boccace et de la traduction de Premierfait de nouvelles scènes à illustrer. Avec le Maître du Prince de Piémont, l’enlumineur du Boccace de Lyon illustre une inspiration italienne antérieure à la présence massive des grandes familles italiennes qui arrivent dans la cité rhodanienne après 1460 (1466 pour les Médicis). Les liens artistiques avec l’Italie et la cour de Savoie qui s’expriment de manière si détaillée dans les œuvres de ces deux artistes laissent la place, après l’introduction de l’imprimerie à Lyon en 1473, à une inspiration à dominante nordique des enlumineurs travaillant dans la cité dans les décennies qui suivirent. /43

The comparative analysis of the manuscript and the illuminations permits us to show the details of the reinterpretation of the Master of the Roman de la Rose de Vienne. His originality is found above all in the stylistic revisions: simplified decors, Tuscan-inspired landscapes, cubic architecture, persons with Mediterranean features, perspective. The creator of the iconographic programme, who knew the cycles present in the earlier manuscripts of Des cas des nobles, has equally thrust beyond Boccaccio's text and Premierfait's translation to illustrate new scenes. With the Master of the Prince of Piedmont, the illuminator of the Lyon Boccaccio demonstrates an Italian inspiration prior to the massive presence of the great Italian families who arrived in the Rhone city after 1460 (1466 for the Medicis). The artistic ties between Italy and the court of Savoy which is shown in such a detailed manner in the work of these two artists, give way, following the introduction of the printing press at Lyon in 1473, to an inspiration that is predominantly northern amongst the miniaturists working in the city in the following decades.

NOTES

1 F. Callu, "L'influence de Boccace en France", dans Boccace en France, De l'humanisme à l'érotisme, catalogue de l'exposition de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1975, p. XIV.
2 H. Hauvette, De Laurentio da Primofato, Paris, 1903, p. 34-62
3 P.M. Gathercole, « Illuminations on Des cas des nobles » (Boccaccio’s De Casibus »), Studi sul Boccaccio , 2, 1964, p. 343-356.
4 Brigitte Buettner, Boccaccio’s « Des cleres et nobles femmes ». Systems of Signication in an Illuminated Manuscript, Seattle (Wash.)-Londres, 1996.
5 F. Avril, "Boccace et ses illustrateurs au Moyen Age", dans Boccace en France , op.cit. p. XIII-XIV.
6 Andreina Griseri, Jaquerio e il realismo gotico in Piemonte, Turin, 1966, p. 33 et note 55, p. 122 ; F.Avril et N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440-1520, Paris, 1993, p. 199-201 ; M.-H. Tesnière, « Lectures illustrées » de Boccace en France au XVème siècle. Les manuscrits du De casibus virorum illustrium dans les bibliothèques parisiennes », Studi sul Boccaccio , 18, 1990, p. 192-194 et 225-30, fig. 20-23 ; « I codici illustrati del Boccaccio francese e latino nella Francia e nelle Fiandre del XV secolo », dans Boccaccio visualizzato, Narrare per parole e per immagini fra Medioevo e Rinascimento , Turin, 1999, p. 7-8 et notice n°35, p. 101-104, fig. 147-153.
7 F. Winckler, Die flämische Buchmalerei, Leipzig, 1925 (reprint Amsterdam, 1978), p. 33, fig.7; C. Bozzolo, Manuscrits des traductions françaises d’œuvres de Boccace, XVème siècle , Padoue, 1973, p. 16-23, 65-66 ; P.M. de Winter, “French Gothic and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts in Vienna”, Scriptorium , 34, 1980, p. 289-294; E. König, Les Heures de Marguerite d’Orléans , Paris, 1991, p. 97-98M.-H. Tesnière dans Boccaccio visualizzato, op.cit., p. 103.
8 P.M. Gathercole, Laurent de Premierfait’s “Des Cas des nobles hommes et femmes », Book 1, translated from Boccaccio. A critical edition based on six manuscripts , Chapel Hill (N.C.), 1968.
9 Paris, BNF, Fr 6146, ff°33-36.
10 L. Fourez, «Le Roman de la Rose de la bibliothèque de la ville de Tournai », Scriptorium, 1 (1946-47), p. 213-239 ; G. Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia ou Etat des officiers royaux des bailliages et des sénéchaussées de 1328 à 1515 , Paris, 1947, vol. III, p. 590, n°14318.
11 F.Avril et N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, op.cit., p. 199.
12 F.Avril et N. Reynaud, op.cit., notice n°111, p. 201, reproduction du folio 49 verso.
13 « Le programme iconographique de départ semble avoir bénéficié des directives du traducteur lui-même » d’après M.-.H. Tesnière, « Boccace », dans Dictionnaire des Lettres Françaises, Le Moyen Age, Paris, 1992, p. 202.
14 S. Lefèvre, « Laurent de Premierfait », dans Dictionnaire des Lettres françaises , op.cit., p. 923.
15 B. Gagnebin, « Le Boccace du duc de Berry », Genava, 5, 1957, p. 129-148.
16 Notice « Jaquerio Giacomo », dans Dictionnaire de la peinture , M. Laclotte et J.-P. Cuzin (dir.), Paris, 1999, p. 478.
17 « Prenez en gré se faulte y a, car escript a esté hastivement », cité par M.-H. Tesnière, dans Boccaccio visualizzato , op.cit., p. 103.
18 Genève, B.P.U., ms Fr 190, folio 52 verso ; Vienne, Ö.N.B, ms S.N. 12766 (311-48), folio 40 recto ; Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, ms Fr 5193, folio 54 verso.
19 Texte de Laurent de Premierfait cité par M.-H. Tesnière, « Lectures illustrées ..., op.cit., p. 193.
20 Boccace, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes, Londres, British Library, ms Royal 14 E V, folio 38 recto.
21 Boccace, Idem, folio 219 verso.
22 On retrouve ailleurs dans le manuscrit le personnage de Keraunos en armure vêtu d’une tunique bordée d’un galon doré, Saül (folio 45 recto) et Marc-Antoine (265 recto). La blonde Arsinoé, au visage massif et à la robe épurée, rappelle les figures de Jocaste (folio 14 recto), de Lucrèce (folio 91 recto) et de Rosemonde (folio 347 verso). De même, le bourreau au faciès carré et à la barbe claire devient un des quatre « malheureux » hommes du folio 268 verso.
23 Son corps partiellement dénudé et les trous creusés par les serpents dans ses flancs rappellent les figures des morts dans la fresque de La Rencontre des trois vifs et des trois morts peinte par Buonamico Buffalmaco vers 1333-1336 au Camposanto de Pise. Cette référence iconographique s’accompagne d’un lien sémantique étroit entre les thèmes du De casibus, écrit vers 1350, et les thématiques macabres développées au moment des épidémies de Peste actives vers 1346-48 en Europe.
24 Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr. 24289, f°1r°.
25 Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr 226,f°1r°.
26 Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr. 131, f°1 recto ; Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Bodley 265, f°2r°.
27 Genève, B.P.U., ms Fr. 190, vol. II, f°29 v°, Paris, Arsenal, ms 5193, f°229 r°.
28 Los Angeles, Getty Museum, ms 63, f°3r°; Paris, B.N.F., ms Fr. 228, f°9v°.
29 Chantilly, Musée Condé, ms 487, f°1r°.
30 E. Mâle, L’art religieux du XIIIème siècle en France, t. I , Paris, 1958, p. 183-188 et fig. 47-48.
31 M.-H. Tesnière, « Lectures illustrées ..., op.cit., p. 192.
32 M.-H. Tesnière, « Lectures illustrées ..., op.cit., fig. 18.
33 M.-H.Tesnière, dans Boccaccio visualizzato, notice 50, fig. 198,
34 A. Griseri, Jaquerio…, op.cit., Planche 4.
35 Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Douce 144, folio 5 verso, d’après M. Meiss, French Painting…, op.cit., fig. 50.
36 Il faudrait pouvoir comparer le couple Boccace/Cavalcanti aux figures d’évangélistes peintes par le Maître du Roman de la Rose de Vienne dans plusieurs livres d’Heures à l’usage de Rome mais avec des calendriers et des litanies lyonnaises (Paris, B.N.F., Lat. 13265, Lat 1353 ; Milan, Bibliothèque Trivulziana, ms 449).
37 Boccace, De casibus virorum illustrium, Tutte le opere di Boccaccio, V. Branca (dir.), Turin, 1983, p. 6.
38 Idem, p2.
39 Cf M. Meiss, French Painting in the time of Jean de Berry, The Boucicaut Master , Londres, 1968, figs. 393 et 394.
40 Cf M. Meiss, French Painting…, op.cit., figs. 19, 117 et 487.
41 Ibid., 1968, p. 66. Cf aussi M. Meiss, « French and italian variations on an early fifteenth-century theme: St. Jerome and his study”, Gazette des Beaux-Arts , 62, p. 147-170 et O. Pächt, “The Limbourgs and Pisanello”, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1963, 62, p. 109-122, qui analyse l’impact d’une iconographie byzantinisante des Limbourg sur l’iconographie italienne de la Madone.
42 Jean-Marie Benand, Abondance, Les peintures murales du cloître de l’abbaye , Montmélian, 2000, p. 89.
43 E. Burin, Manuscript Illumination in Lyons (1473-1530) , Turnhout, 2002, p. 3.

GO TO CITY AND BOOK II: FLORENTINE LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES, AND MONUMENTS

Appendices/Appendici:

Female City Builders: Hildegard von Bingen's Scivias and Christine de Pizan's Livre de la cité des dames, prof.ssa Christine McWebb, University of Alberta, Canada ;
Dante Alighieri e Christine de Pizan, prof.ssa Ester Zago, University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.A.

FLORIN WEBSITE © JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY, AUREO ANELLO ASSOCIAZIONE, 1997-20242: ACADEMIA BESSARION || MEDIEVAL: BRUNETTO LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, SWEET NEW STYLE: BRUNETTO LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, & GEOFFREY CHAUCER || VICTORIAN: WHITE SILENCE: FLORENCE'S 'ENGLISH' CEMETERY || ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING || WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR || FRANCES TROLLOPE || ABOLITION OF SLAVERY || FLORENCE IN SEPIA  || CITY AND BOOK CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII || MEDIATHECA 'FIORETTA MAZZEI' || EDITRICE AUREO ANELLO CATALOGUE || UMILTA WEBSITE || LINGUE/LANGUAGES: ITALIANO, ENGLISH || VITA
New: Dante vivo || White Silence

City and Book Websites
 

Si ringraziano per la collaborazione
Lapo Mazzei, Carlo Steinhauslin

Rotary Club Bisenzio - Firenze

To donate to the restoration by Roma of Florence's formerly abandoned English Cemetery and to its Library click on our Aureo Anello Associazione's PayPal button:   THANKYOU!