The Property of
A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI (1313-1375). Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes, in French, translated by LAURENT DE PREMIERFAIT, illuminated by MAÎTRE FRANÇOIS. [Paris, c. 1470].
Details
BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI (1313-1375). Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes, in French, translated by LAURENT DE PREMIERFAIT, illuminated by MAÎTRE FRANÇOIS. [Paris, c. 1470].
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, iii + 244 (of 248) + vi leaves (ff. 246v-248v blank but ruled), in quires of four bifolia, horizontal catchwords on last versos of most quires, 500 x 350mm. (19 5/8 x 13 3/4in.), written in dark brown ink in lettre bâtarde, ruled in red ink, double columns of 51 lines, justification 310 x 200mm. (12 1/4 x 7 7/8in.); 7 HALF-PAGE MINIATURES (of 9) in colors and liquid gold within arched frames (225 x 200mm.) over twenty lines of text, each with a full border of flowers, fruits and leaves on colored hairline stems, interspersed with blue and gold arabesques, inhabited by grotesques and other figures, including a seated man wearing spectacles and reading a book (f. 112r), with a coat of arms in each lower border; 78 SMALL MINIATURES (of 79) in rectangular frames the width of one column (110 x 90mm.) introducing selected chapters, each with a three-quarter border surrounding the miniature and part of its column of text, the borders composed of burnished gold ivy leaves on scrolling black hairline stems interspersed with scrolling foliate arabesques, flowers and fruits and occasional grotesques; 173 (of 178) chapter initials, most three lines in height, in blue with white tracery, infilled with red and blue ivy leaves, on burnished gold grounds, the initials adjacent to miniatures with three-quarter borders as described, the other initials with L-shaped or rectangular border pieces in the same style; one chapter initial (f. 76r) a divided blue and gold Lombard with red and blue pen-flourishing, the paragraph signs on conjugate ff. 76-77 with red or blue pen-flourishing; the capitula preceding each book with burnished gold or blue Lonbard initials and line fillers in burnished gold and blue, chapter headings in red, headlines in alternating red and blue Lombards, paragraph marks in blue or burnished gold, capitals touched in yellow; neat scribal corrections in a contemporary hand in margins, between lines or over erasures in the text. Lacks 4 leaves (conjugate ff. 83 and 86, 162 and 167) with loss of 2 large miniatures, 1 small miniature, and some text; noticeable flaking of pigment from a number of miniatures, especially on ff. 3r, 55v, 130v, 139r, 142v, 175v, 180v, 188r, 197r, 209r; approximately two dozen leaves with vertical creases, resulting in some rubbing of text and miniatures; the small miniature on f. 84r with pigment offset from the large miniature formerly opposite; some smudging of borders and initials, occasional faint offset from borders; dark brown stains in the margins and/or text area of a number of leaves, especially ff. 1-30, 8-17, 98-99, 104-108, 193-195, 233-248; droplets of wax in the margins and/or text area of many leaves, e.g., ff. 79v-80r, 240v-241r; margins thumbed throughout; holes or slits in the lower margins of ff. 1-16 and several other leaves; c. 10 leaves with contemporary or early repairs to margins, especially at the lower corners; a few leaves frayed at the lower edges or lacking lower corners. Bound in seventeenth-century black morocco over older wooden boards (possibly original, since there are depressions in the upper board where straps for the clasps were attached), reusing 10 brass bosses from an earlier binding, resewn and rebacked, with the seventeenth-century gilt spine laid down.
Miniatures
[Brackets indicate those now missing from the manuscript]
LARGE MINIATURES:
Book I. The creation, the fall, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (f. 3r).
Book II. Saul annointed by Samuel, the battle of Mount Gilboa, and the death of Saul (f. 28v).
Book III. The contest between Poverty and Fortune; in the background, within a walled and moated city, a room in which Andalone di Negro, from whom Boccaccio first heard this story, lectures to six men (f. 55v).
Book IV. [Boccaccio in his doctor's robes and with his books about him, addresses a company of persons clad in different styles of costumes who half fill the room in which the scene is laid (f. 83v).]
Book V. The death of Antiochus and the death of Seleuceus (f. 112r). Book VI. Boccaccio seated at his desk, facing Fortune with her wheel; in the background a battle scene within a walled city (f. 139r).
Book VII. [Octavian orders the death of Anthony, who clings to an image of Caesar; the blinding of Gallus (f. 167r).]
Book VIII. Petrarch appears to Boccaccio in bed (f. 188r).
Book IX. Mohammed preaching; the death of Brunhilde (f. 217v).
SMALL MINIATURES:
Book I. Tower of Babel (f. 5r). Cadmus building the city of Thebes (f. 8r). Oedipus and Jocasta (f. 10r). Thyestes eating his children (f. 11r). Phaedra killing herself before Theseus (f. 12v). Priam, King of Troy, and Hecuba enthroned (f. 18r). Murder of Agamemnon (f. 20v). Samson destroying the house of the Philistines (f. 23r).
Book II. Saul and Samuel at table (f. 29r). King Jeroboam on his throne (f. 31r). Death of Queen Athalie (f. 34r). Death of Dido (f. 36r). Sardanapalus, King of the Assyrians, throwing himself into the flames (f. 39r). Amazias and Ozias (f. 42r). King Zedekiah (f. 43v). Astyages and Cambyses (f. 45v). King Croesus (f. 50r). The fight of the last of the Horatii with the last of the Curatii (f. 53v).
Book III. Tarquin (f. 59v). King Darius with his army (f. 67r). Death of Virginia and suicide of Appius Claudius (f. 71r). Death of Alcibiades (f. 74v). Execution of Haymon (f. 79r). Artaxerxes watching his children murdered (f. 82r).
Book IV. Marcus Manlius thrown into the river (f. 84r). [Pillage of the temples by Dionysius, King of Syracuse (f. 86v)]. King Polycrates hung by Orontes (f. 88). King Alexander and the philosopher Callisthenes (f. 89r). Alexander, King of the Epirotes (f. 91r). King Darius escaping from battle (f. 92r). Battle between Eumenes and Craterus (f. 96r). Suicide of Olympias, wife of Philip of Macedon; in the background, the corpse of the murdered King Philip eaten by ravens (f. 97r). Murder of Syracusan citizens by Agathocles; in the background, the death of Agathocles by poison (f. 99r). Death of Arsinoe and her two children (f. 104r). The head of King Pyrrhus presented to Antigonus (f. 108r). Arsinoe and Demetrius surprised in bed (f. 109r).
Book V. Fight between Romans and Carthaginians; in the background, the murder of Regulus by the Carthaginians (f. 115r). King Syphax drawn in a chariot (f. 119v). Fight between Romans and Carthaginians (f. 123r). Fight between Prusias and Eumenes; in the foreground, Hannibal poisoning himself (f. 126r). Death of King Prusias (f. 128r). Perseus, King of Macedonia, drawn captive in a chariot by Romans (f. 128v). Andriscus drawn captive in a chariot by the Romans (f. 130v). The head of the Syriac King Ballas presented to Ptolemy, King of Egypt (f. 131r). Decapitation of Demetrius, King of Syria (f. 133v). Murder of Alexander Zebenna, King of Syria (f. 135r). Jugurtha watching his brother murdered (f. 136v).
Book VI. Murder of Marius (f. 142v). Death of Cleopatra (f. 145v). Death of Mithridates (f. 146r). The Roman general Crassus killed at the order of Orodes, King of Parthia, by having melted gold poured down his throat; in the background, Orodes murdered by Phraates (f. 149v). Battle of Philippi (f. 152r). Death of Cicero (f. 159v). Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra (f. 164v).
Book VII. Herod having his sons Aristobulus and Alexander hung (f. 168r). Nero and the massacre of the Christians (f. 175v). Death of Aulus Vitellius (f. 180v). Capture of Jerusalem (f. 184r).
Book VIII. Battle of Edessa between Valerian and Sapor I; in the foreground, Valerian kneeling while Sapor steps on him to mount his horse (f. 192v). Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, led captive in Aurelian's triumphal entry into Rome (f. 196r). Massacre of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian; in the background, Diocletian drinking poison (f. 197r). Execution of the Emperor Maximilian (f. 198v). Massacre of Christians by the Emperor Maximinus (f. 199v). Julian the Apostate wounded in battle (f. 202r). Radagais, King of the Goths, decapitated by Stilicho (f. 206v). Odoaker killed by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths (f. 209r). Battle between Britons and Romans; in the foreground, King Arthur and his Round Table (f. 212r). Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards, having her husband murdered before her eyes (f. 215r).
Book IX. Death of Gisulph (f. 223r). Siege of Paris by Charlemagne (f. 225r). Pope John VII punishing two cardinals (f. 227r). Diogenes, Emperor of Constantinople, lying at the feet of Belset, King of Persia, feasting with his court (f. 229r). Andronicus, Emperor of Constantinople, having Alexius thrown into the sea and his sister killed; in the background, Andronicus blinded, put on an ass, and hung (f. 230r). William III, King of Sicily, prisoner before Henry VI, Emperor of Germany (f. 232r). Henry VII, Emperor of Germany, taken prisoner (f. 233r). Battle between Charles, King of Sicily, and Konradin, Emperor of Germany (f. 234v). Philip IV of France having the Knights Templars burnt (f. 237r). Gualterius of Florence assuming the government of the city (f. 240v). Death of Philippote and her children at Naples (f. 243v).
TEXT AND TRANSLATION
Boccaccio wrote De casibus virorum illustrium ("On the fates of illustrious men") between 1355 and 1360, revising and expanding the text in 1373 and dedicating it to his friend Mainardo de' Cavalcanti. These stories of the rise and fall of unfortunate men and women were intended to demonstrate the folly of pride and the vanity of earthly things, using exempla gathered from classical and Christian history and literature. The work proved extremely influential: the editors of the Latin text list more than 80 manuscripts (Tutte le opere di Giovanni Boccaccio, IX, Milan, 1983; see also Vittore Branca, Tradizione delle opere de Giovanni Boccaccio, Rome, 1958-91). Chaucer drew extensively on De casibus, expecially for "The Monk's Tale", which is subtitled "De casibus virorum illustrium". The work was translated into French by Laurent de Premierfait, and this version was in turn paraphrased in English by John Lydgate as "The Fall of Princes".
The present manuscript contains the second of Laurent de Premierfait's two French translations of De casibus virorum illustrium. Laurent, a clerk from the village of Premierfait near Troyes, translated not only De casibus but also the Decameron into French (the latter from an intermediate version in Latin). Both translations were undertaken at the request of Jean, Duc de Berry, to whom they were dedicated. Laurent's first translation of De casibus, a literal rendering, was completed in 1400. Subsequently he reworked this text, adding new historical and geographical material, often taken from Valerius Maximus, Livy and other classical sources that had also been used by Boccaccio. The second translation was completed in 1409.
This copy of the second translation agrees with a number of other manuscripts in omitting the translator's dedication and first prologue. It begins with the translator's second prologue (f.lr: Selon raison et bonnes meurs...) and Boccaccio's prologue (f.lv: Quant ie enqueroie quel prouffit...), both preceding the nine books of the text. The colophon records the completion of translation (f. 246r: Cy fine le livre iehan bocace des cas des nobles hommes et femmes translate de latin en francois par moy lorens du premier fait clerc du diocese de troies Et fut compilee ceste translation le XVe iour dauril mil iiiie et neuf cestauoir le lundy apres pasques.)
Laurent's second version of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes became one of the most popular secular works of the fifteenth century. Some 70 manuscripts are now recorded, representing more than half of all known manuscripts of any of Boccaccio's works in French (C. Bozzolo, Manuscrits des traductions françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace, Padua, 1973). Most are found in institutional libraries: 21 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 19 in other French libraries, 10 in Continental European libraries outside France, 10 in British libraries, and 6 in North American institutions. The great majority of the manuscripts are illustrated, often extensively; a recent census lists 65 manuscripts of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes with at least one or as many as 183 miniatures (V. Branca, "Boccaccio visualizzato," Studi sul Boccaccio, 15, 1986, 121-148).
Illumination
THE PRESENT MANUSCRIPT IS AN IMPORTANT AND HITHERTO UNSTUDIED EXAMPLE OF THE WORK OF MAÎTRE FRANÇOIS.
This accomplished and prolific Parisian illuminator is now seen as the central figure of a group of three artists who produced a number of luxury manuscripts in both large and small formats during the second half of the fifteenth century and whose followers were responsible for the many codices conventionally described as "in the style of Maître François". The first attempt to characterize the work of this circle grouped together a number of manuscripts which shared distinctive stylistic affinities (P. Durrieu, Un grand enlumineur parisien au XVe siècle, Jacques de Besançon, Paris, 1892). Soon after the publication of this first list of codices, documentation was discovered identifying the artist by whose name the school has subsequently been known: egregius pictor Franciscus was described in a 1473 letter by Robert Gaguin as working on the illumination of a two-volume City of God in French (now Paris, BN, ms. fr. 18-19) commissioned by Charles de Gaucourt (A. de Laborde, Les manuscripts à peintures de la Cité de Dieu de Saint Augustin, Paris, 1909). Subsequent research established the identity of a predecessor to Maître François, the Master of Jean Rolin (E.P. Spencer, "L'Horloge de Sapience," Scriptorium, 17, 1967, pp. 277-99), and a successor, formerly called the Chief Associate of Maître François (E.P. Spencer, "Dom Louis de Busco's Psalter," Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy E. Miner, Baltimore, 1974, pp. 227-40). Recent work by Nicole Reynaud has not only identified the Chief Associate with Jacques de Besançon, but has also contributed to the elucidation of criteria for distinguishing among the work of the three artists (F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, Paris, 1993). The present manuscript does not figure in these or related discussions. It was not known to Durrieu; James Wardrop mentioned it briefly with reference to its sale in 1929 at Sotheby's ("Egregius Pictor Franciscus," Apollo 15, 1932, 76-82); and Bozzolo and Branca (op. cit.) list it on the basis of the description in Sotheby's 1963 sale catalogue.
The standard for attribution to Maître François himself is provided by Paris, BN, ms. fr. 18-19, the Cité de Dieu illuminated for Charles de Gaucourt, to which may be added London, British Library, Harley ms. 4374-4375, a French translation of Valerius Maximus illuminated for Philippe de Comines. The present manuscript of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes corresponds closely to features of these two manuscripts. Though somewhat less elaborate in its decorative scheme -- there are no full-page miniatures -- it has the same luxurious format: all three manuscripts have a leaf height of 500mm. or more, and ample margins, with borders and initials conforming to the same patterns. The palette corresponds to Maître François's characteristic use of color: "the general effect is that of richness and brilliance, the two most prominent colors being blue and rose-pink, but golden brown, green, light yellow and a vivid orange-red are also common. At the same time a decided partiality is also shown for softer tones of violet and gray, while the figures in the background, or of minor importance, are clad in garments of sober hue, chiefly in dark shades of violet, gray or brown....There is a peculiarity about the orange-red....Except very rarely for a short tunic or surcoat, this colour is never used for drapery, but is restricted almost entirely to boots, caps and girdles" (G.F. Warner, Valerius Maximus, London 1907, p. 10). The management of perspective, indoors and outdoors, is similar, as are the slender, elegant figures and the balance and tension with which the individual scenes are composed. Stylistic and decorative details also correspond: e.g., the modelling of faces and hands, the techniques for painting grass and trees, the green tile floor and red-and-gold tapestry that occur repeatedly, the triangular rock outcropping that figures in many landscapes, the stony path that frequently winds away into the distance, and the use of captions in the form of names in fine gold script written on the pictures next to the persons they identify.
A number of manuscripts of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes were illustrated in the style of Maître François, the majority of them in the hands of followers. One, however, British Library, Add. ms. 35,321, which is apparently by Maître François himself, corresponds closely to the present codex. Its 9 large and 75 small miniatures (described by Sotheby's, 23 May 1889, lot 12) correspond for the most part to the subjects illustrated in the present manuscript. At least four of the large miniatures (introducing Books II, III, VIII, IX) follow the same models, though with many differences of detail (Sir E. Maunde Thompson, "The Rothschild Ms. in the British Museum of 'Les cas des malheureux nobles hommes et femmes'." Burlington Magazine, 7, 1908, pp. 198-210). Similar differences are documented in three books of hours illuminated by Maître François: British Library, Egerton ms. 2045; Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, L.A. 147; and Victoria, Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, ms. Felton 1 (1072/3) 1920 (see the reproductions in M. Manion, The Wharncliffe Hours, Sydney, 1972). For the large miniature introducing Book VI, which depicts Boccaccio's interview with Fortune, the present manuscript places in the background the entire scene depicted in the BL codex; in the foreground, Boccaccio is seated at a desk recognizable in other works of Maître François, and to the depiction of Fortune with her two faces, fair and dark, is added a representation of her wheel. The present manuscript also differs from the BL copy in that both depictions of Fortune show her clothed in an ermine-trimmed jacket and a distinctive long skirt in tiers of gold, pink, mauve and blue. The small miniatures of the BL manuscript appear to lack the gold-lettered captions characteristic of the present manuscript (and other work by Maître François), and there are also differences in the way the same subjects are depicted (three small miniatures from BL, Add. 35,321 are reproduced by Wardrop, op. cit.). The three subjects depicted in the present manuscript but not in the British Library copy are: Thyestes eating his children (f. 11r), King Alexander and the philosopher Callisthenes (f. 89r), and the death of Cleopatra (f. 145v).
A single miniature in the present manuscript, the small miniature on f. 136v, is not in the hand of Maître François, and appears to be in the hand of Jacques de Besançon.
CONDITION
The flaking of pigment from a number of miniatures in the present codex appears to be characteristic of manuscripts illuminated by Maître François and his workshop. Published reproductions of illuminated pages from the British Library's Valerius Maximus and the Cité de Dieu in Paris show evidence of similar damage, as do some other manuscripts in the style.
The leaves missing from the present codex were removed between 1929 and 1963. Descriptions of the missing miniatures are taken from the 1929 sale catalogue. The missing portions of the text are the ends and beginnings of chapters from Book III, ch. 19 - Book IV, ch. 1; Book IV, ch. 3-5; Book VI, ch. 12-14; Book VII, ch. 1.
Provenance:
1. Unidentified coat of arms of the original owner, repeated in the lower border at the opening of each book. This consists of a silver shield, with a black cross, on the crosspiece of which are three gold rings.
2. Abbé de Sassenages, abbot of St. Jean des Vignes in Soissons, gift to:
3. Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, marquis de Magny (1643-1721), bookplate; inscription on flyleaf: Ce liure m'a esté donné par M. l'abé de Sassenage abé de St. Jean des vignes de Soissons le 10e dec. 1711. Foucault.
4. In England in the eighteenth-century, sale notice on front pastedown: 6th day lot 85; and leaf of eighteenth-century manuscript notes in English laid in.
5. Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's London, 16 December 1929, lot 841).
6. Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's London, 9 December 1963, lot 145).
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, iii + 244 (of 248) + vi leaves (ff. 246v-248v blank but ruled), in quires of four bifolia, horizontal catchwords on last versos of most quires, 500 x 350mm. (19 5/8 x 13 3/4in.), written in dark brown ink in lettre bâtarde, ruled in red ink, double columns of 51 lines, justification 310 x 200mm. (12 1/4 x 7 7/8in.); 7 HALF-PAGE MINIATURES (of 9) in colors and liquid gold within arched frames (225 x 200mm.) over twenty lines of text, each with a full border of flowers, fruits and leaves on colored hairline stems, interspersed with blue and gold arabesques, inhabited by grotesques and other figures, including a seated man wearing spectacles and reading a book (f. 112r), with a coat of arms in each lower border; 78 SMALL MINIATURES (of 79) in rectangular frames the width of one column (110 x 90mm.) introducing selected chapters, each with a three-quarter border surrounding the miniature and part of its column of text, the borders composed of burnished gold ivy leaves on scrolling black hairline stems interspersed with scrolling foliate arabesques, flowers and fruits and occasional grotesques; 173 (of 178) chapter initials, most three lines in height, in blue with white tracery, infilled with red and blue ivy leaves, on burnished gold grounds, the initials adjacent to miniatures with three-quarter borders as described, the other initials with L-shaped or rectangular border pieces in the same style; one chapter initial (f. 76r) a divided blue and gold Lombard with red and blue pen-flourishing, the paragraph signs on conjugate ff. 76-77 with red or blue pen-flourishing; the capitula preceding each book with burnished gold or blue Lonbard initials and line fillers in burnished gold and blue, chapter headings in red, headlines in alternating red and blue Lombards, paragraph marks in blue or burnished gold, capitals touched in yellow; neat scribal corrections in a contemporary hand in margins, between lines or over erasures in the text. Lacks 4 leaves (conjugate ff. 83 and 86, 162 and 167) with loss of 2 large miniatures, 1 small miniature, and some text; noticeable flaking of pigment from a number of miniatures, especially on ff. 3r, 55v, 130v, 139r, 142v, 175v, 180v, 188r, 197r, 209r; approximately two dozen leaves with vertical creases, resulting in some rubbing of text and miniatures; the small miniature on f. 84r with pigment offset from the large miniature formerly opposite; some smudging of borders and initials, occasional faint offset from borders; dark brown stains in the margins and/or text area of a number of leaves, especially ff. 1-30, 8-17, 98-99, 104-108, 193-195, 233-248; droplets of wax in the margins and/or text area of many leaves, e.g., ff. 79v-80r, 240v-241r; margins thumbed throughout; holes or slits in the lower margins of ff. 1-16 and several other leaves; c. 10 leaves with contemporary or early repairs to margins, especially at the lower corners; a few leaves frayed at the lower edges or lacking lower corners. Bound in seventeenth-century black morocco over older wooden boards (possibly original, since there are depressions in the upper board where straps for the clasps were attached), reusing 10 brass bosses from an earlier binding, resewn and rebacked, with the seventeenth-century gilt spine laid down.
Miniatures
[Brackets indicate those now missing from the manuscript]
LARGE MINIATURES:
Book I. The creation, the fall, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (f. 3r).
Book II. Saul annointed by Samuel, the battle of Mount Gilboa, and the death of Saul (f. 28v).
Book III. The contest between Poverty and Fortune; in the background, within a walled and moated city, a room in which Andalone di Negro, from whom Boccaccio first heard this story, lectures to six men (f. 55v).
Book IV. [Boccaccio in his doctor's robes and with his books about him, addresses a company of persons clad in different styles of costumes who half fill the room in which the scene is laid (f. 83v).]
Book V. The death of Antiochus and the death of Seleuceus (f. 112r). Book VI. Boccaccio seated at his desk, facing Fortune with her wheel; in the background a battle scene within a walled city (f. 139r).
Book VII. [Octavian orders the death of Anthony, who clings to an image of Caesar; the blinding of Gallus (f. 167r).]
Book VIII. Petrarch appears to Boccaccio in bed (f. 188r).
Book IX. Mohammed preaching; the death of Brunhilde (f. 217v).
SMALL MINIATURES:
Book I. Tower of Babel (f. 5r). Cadmus building the city of Thebes (f. 8r). Oedipus and Jocasta (f. 10r). Thyestes eating his children (f. 11r). Phaedra killing herself before Theseus (f. 12v). Priam, King of Troy, and Hecuba enthroned (f. 18r). Murder of Agamemnon (f. 20v). Samson destroying the house of the Philistines (f. 23r).
Book II. Saul and Samuel at table (f. 29r). King Jeroboam on his throne (f. 31r). Death of Queen Athalie (f. 34r). Death of Dido (f. 36r). Sardanapalus, King of the Assyrians, throwing himself into the flames (f. 39r). Amazias and Ozias (f. 42r). King Zedekiah (f. 43v). Astyages and Cambyses (f. 45v). King Croesus (f. 50r). The fight of the last of the Horatii with the last of the Curatii (f. 53v).
Book III. Tarquin (f. 59v). King Darius with his army (f. 67r). Death of Virginia and suicide of Appius Claudius (f. 71r). Death of Alcibiades (f. 74v). Execution of Haymon (f. 79r). Artaxerxes watching his children murdered (f. 82r).
Book IV. Marcus Manlius thrown into the river (f. 84r). [Pillage of the temples by Dionysius, King of Syracuse (f. 86v)]. King Polycrates hung by Orontes (f. 88). King Alexander and the philosopher Callisthenes (f. 89r). Alexander, King of the Epirotes (f. 91r). King Darius escaping from battle (f. 92r). Battle between Eumenes and Craterus (f. 96r). Suicide of Olympias, wife of Philip of Macedon; in the background, the corpse of the murdered King Philip eaten by ravens (f. 97r). Murder of Syracusan citizens by Agathocles; in the background, the death of Agathocles by poison (f. 99r). Death of Arsinoe and her two children (f. 104r). The head of King Pyrrhus presented to Antigonus (f. 108r). Arsinoe and Demetrius surprised in bed (f. 109r).
Book V. Fight between Romans and Carthaginians; in the background, the murder of Regulus by the Carthaginians (f. 115r). King Syphax drawn in a chariot (f. 119v). Fight between Romans and Carthaginians (f. 123r). Fight between Prusias and Eumenes; in the foreground, Hannibal poisoning himself (f. 126r). Death of King Prusias (f. 128r). Perseus, King of Macedonia, drawn captive in a chariot by Romans (f. 128v). Andriscus drawn captive in a chariot by the Romans (f. 130v). The head of the Syriac King Ballas presented to Ptolemy, King of Egypt (f. 131r). Decapitation of Demetrius, King of Syria (f. 133v). Murder of Alexander Zebenna, King of Syria (f. 135r). Jugurtha watching his brother murdered (f. 136v).
Book VI. Murder of Marius (f. 142v). Death of Cleopatra (f. 145v). Death of Mithridates (f. 146r). The Roman general Crassus killed at the order of Orodes, King of Parthia, by having melted gold poured down his throat; in the background, Orodes murdered by Phraates (f. 149v). Battle of Philippi (f. 152r). Death of Cicero (f. 159v). Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra (f. 164v).
Book VII. Herod having his sons Aristobulus and Alexander hung (f. 168r). Nero and the massacre of the Christians (f. 175v). Death of Aulus Vitellius (f. 180v). Capture of Jerusalem (f. 184r).
Book VIII. Battle of Edessa between Valerian and Sapor I; in the foreground, Valerian kneeling while Sapor steps on him to mount his horse (f. 192v). Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, led captive in Aurelian's triumphal entry into Rome (f. 196r). Massacre of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian; in the background, Diocletian drinking poison (f. 197r). Execution of the Emperor Maximilian (f. 198v). Massacre of Christians by the Emperor Maximinus (f. 199v). Julian the Apostate wounded in battle (f. 202r). Radagais, King of the Goths, decapitated by Stilicho (f. 206v). Odoaker killed by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths (f. 209r). Battle between Britons and Romans; in the foreground, King Arthur and his Round Table (f. 212r). Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards, having her husband murdered before her eyes (f. 215r).
Book IX. Death of Gisulph (f. 223r). Siege of Paris by Charlemagne (f. 225r). Pope John VII punishing two cardinals (f. 227r). Diogenes, Emperor of Constantinople, lying at the feet of Belset, King of Persia, feasting with his court (f. 229r). Andronicus, Emperor of Constantinople, having Alexius thrown into the sea and his sister killed; in the background, Andronicus blinded, put on an ass, and hung (f. 230r). William III, King of Sicily, prisoner before Henry VI, Emperor of Germany (f. 232r). Henry VII, Emperor of Germany, taken prisoner (f. 233r). Battle between Charles, King of Sicily, and Konradin, Emperor of Germany (f. 234v). Philip IV of France having the Knights Templars burnt (f. 237r). Gualterius of Florence assuming the government of the city (f. 240v). Death of Philippote and her children at Naples (f. 243v).
TEXT AND TRANSLATION
Boccaccio wrote De casibus virorum illustrium ("On the fates of illustrious men") between 1355 and 1360, revising and expanding the text in 1373 and dedicating it to his friend Mainardo de' Cavalcanti. These stories of the rise and fall of unfortunate men and women were intended to demonstrate the folly of pride and the vanity of earthly things, using exempla gathered from classical and Christian history and literature. The work proved extremely influential: the editors of the Latin text list more than 80 manuscripts (Tutte le opere di Giovanni Boccaccio, IX, Milan, 1983; see also Vittore Branca, Tradizione delle opere de Giovanni Boccaccio, Rome, 1958-91). Chaucer drew extensively on De casibus, expecially for "The Monk's Tale", which is subtitled "De casibus virorum illustrium". The work was translated into French by Laurent de Premierfait, and this version was in turn paraphrased in English by John Lydgate as "The Fall of Princes".
The present manuscript contains the second of Laurent de Premierfait's two French translations of De casibus virorum illustrium. Laurent, a clerk from the village of Premierfait near Troyes, translated not only De casibus but also the Decameron into French (the latter from an intermediate version in Latin). Both translations were undertaken at the request of Jean, Duc de Berry, to whom they were dedicated. Laurent's first translation of De casibus, a literal rendering, was completed in 1400. Subsequently he reworked this text, adding new historical and geographical material, often taken from Valerius Maximus, Livy and other classical sources that had also been used by Boccaccio. The second translation was completed in 1409.
This copy of the second translation agrees with a number of other manuscripts in omitting the translator's dedication and first prologue. It begins with the translator's second prologue (f.lr: Selon raison et bonnes meurs...) and Boccaccio's prologue (f.lv: Quant ie enqueroie quel prouffit...), both preceding the nine books of the text. The colophon records the completion of translation (f. 246r: Cy fine le livre iehan bocace des cas des nobles hommes et femmes translate de latin en francois par moy lorens du premier fait clerc du diocese de troies Et fut compilee ceste translation le XVe iour dauril mil iiiie et neuf cestauoir le lundy apres pasques.)
Laurent's second version of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes became one of the most popular secular works of the fifteenth century. Some 70 manuscripts are now recorded, representing more than half of all known manuscripts of any of Boccaccio's works in French (C. Bozzolo, Manuscrits des traductions françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace, Padua, 1973). Most are found in institutional libraries: 21 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 19 in other French libraries, 10 in Continental European libraries outside France, 10 in British libraries, and 6 in North American institutions. The great majority of the manuscripts are illustrated, often extensively; a recent census lists 65 manuscripts of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes with at least one or as many as 183 miniatures (V. Branca, "Boccaccio visualizzato," Studi sul Boccaccio, 15, 1986, 121-148).
Illumination
THE PRESENT MANUSCRIPT IS AN IMPORTANT AND HITHERTO UNSTUDIED EXAMPLE OF THE WORK OF MAÎTRE FRANÇOIS.
This accomplished and prolific Parisian illuminator is now seen as the central figure of a group of three artists who produced a number of luxury manuscripts in both large and small formats during the second half of the fifteenth century and whose followers were responsible for the many codices conventionally described as "in the style of Maître François". The first attempt to characterize the work of this circle grouped together a number of manuscripts which shared distinctive stylistic affinities (P. Durrieu, Un grand enlumineur parisien au XVe siècle, Jacques de Besançon, Paris, 1892). Soon after the publication of this first list of codices, documentation was discovered identifying the artist by whose name the school has subsequently been known: egregius pictor Franciscus was described in a 1473 letter by Robert Gaguin as working on the illumination of a two-volume City of God in French (now Paris, BN, ms. fr. 18-19) commissioned by Charles de Gaucourt (A. de Laborde, Les manuscripts à peintures de la Cité de Dieu de Saint Augustin, Paris, 1909). Subsequent research established the identity of a predecessor to Maître François, the Master of Jean Rolin (E.P. Spencer, "L'Horloge de Sapience," Scriptorium, 17, 1967, pp. 277-99), and a successor, formerly called the Chief Associate of Maître François (E.P. Spencer, "Dom Louis de Busco's Psalter," Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy E. Miner, Baltimore, 1974, pp. 227-40). Recent work by Nicole Reynaud has not only identified the Chief Associate with Jacques de Besançon, but has also contributed to the elucidation of criteria for distinguishing among the work of the three artists (F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, Paris, 1993). The present manuscript does not figure in these or related discussions. It was not known to Durrieu; James Wardrop mentioned it briefly with reference to its sale in 1929 at Sotheby's ("Egregius Pictor Franciscus," Apollo 15, 1932, 76-82); and Bozzolo and Branca (op. cit.) list it on the basis of the description in Sotheby's 1963 sale catalogue.
The standard for attribution to Maître François himself is provided by Paris, BN, ms. fr. 18-19, the Cité de Dieu illuminated for Charles de Gaucourt, to which may be added London, British Library, Harley ms. 4374-4375, a French translation of Valerius Maximus illuminated for Philippe de Comines. The present manuscript of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes corresponds closely to features of these two manuscripts. Though somewhat less elaborate in its decorative scheme -- there are no full-page miniatures -- it has the same luxurious format: all three manuscripts have a leaf height of 500mm. or more, and ample margins, with borders and initials conforming to the same patterns. The palette corresponds to Maître François's characteristic use of color: "the general effect is that of richness and brilliance, the two most prominent colors being blue and rose-pink, but golden brown, green, light yellow and a vivid orange-red are also common. At the same time a decided partiality is also shown for softer tones of violet and gray, while the figures in the background, or of minor importance, are clad in garments of sober hue, chiefly in dark shades of violet, gray or brown....There is a peculiarity about the orange-red....Except very rarely for a short tunic or surcoat, this colour is never used for drapery, but is restricted almost entirely to boots, caps and girdles" (G.F. Warner, Valerius Maximus, London 1907, p. 10). The management of perspective, indoors and outdoors, is similar, as are the slender, elegant figures and the balance and tension with which the individual scenes are composed. Stylistic and decorative details also correspond: e.g., the modelling of faces and hands, the techniques for painting grass and trees, the green tile floor and red-and-gold tapestry that occur repeatedly, the triangular rock outcropping that figures in many landscapes, the stony path that frequently winds away into the distance, and the use of captions in the form of names in fine gold script written on the pictures next to the persons they identify.
A number of manuscripts of Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes were illustrated in the style of Maître François, the majority of them in the hands of followers. One, however, British Library, Add. ms. 35,321, which is apparently by Maître François himself, corresponds closely to the present codex. Its 9 large and 75 small miniatures (described by Sotheby's, 23 May 1889, lot 12) correspond for the most part to the subjects illustrated in the present manuscript. At least four of the large miniatures (introducing Books II, III, VIII, IX) follow the same models, though with many differences of detail (Sir E. Maunde Thompson, "The Rothschild Ms. in the British Museum of 'Les cas des malheureux nobles hommes et femmes'." Burlington Magazine, 7, 1908, pp. 198-210). Similar differences are documented in three books of hours illuminated by Maître François: British Library, Egerton ms. 2045; Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, L.A. 147; and Victoria, Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, ms. Felton 1 (1072/3) 1920 (see the reproductions in M. Manion, The Wharncliffe Hours, Sydney, 1972). For the large miniature introducing Book VI, which depicts Boccaccio's interview with Fortune, the present manuscript places in the background the entire scene depicted in the BL codex; in the foreground, Boccaccio is seated at a desk recognizable in other works of Maître François, and to the depiction of Fortune with her two faces, fair and dark, is added a representation of her wheel. The present manuscript also differs from the BL copy in that both depictions of Fortune show her clothed in an ermine-trimmed jacket and a distinctive long skirt in tiers of gold, pink, mauve and blue. The small miniatures of the BL manuscript appear to lack the gold-lettered captions characteristic of the present manuscript (and other work by Maître François), and there are also differences in the way the same subjects are depicted (three small miniatures from BL, Add. 35,321 are reproduced by Wardrop, op. cit.). The three subjects depicted in the present manuscript but not in the British Library copy are: Thyestes eating his children (f. 11r), King Alexander and the philosopher Callisthenes (f. 89r), and the death of Cleopatra (f. 145v).
A single miniature in the present manuscript, the small miniature on f. 136v, is not in the hand of Maître François, and appears to be in the hand of Jacques de Besançon.
CONDITION
The flaking of pigment from a number of miniatures in the present codex appears to be characteristic of manuscripts illuminated by Maître François and his workshop. Published reproductions of illuminated pages from the British Library's Valerius Maximus and the Cité de Dieu in Paris show evidence of similar damage, as do some other manuscripts in the style.
The leaves missing from the present codex were removed between 1929 and 1963. Descriptions of the missing miniatures are taken from the 1929 sale catalogue. The missing portions of the text are the ends and beginnings of chapters from Book III, ch. 19 - Book IV, ch. 1; Book IV, ch. 3-5; Book VI, ch. 12-14; Book VII, ch. 1.
Provenance:
1. Unidentified coat of arms of the original owner, repeated in the lower border at the opening of each book. This consists of a silver shield, with a black cross, on the crosspiece of which are three gold rings.
2. Abbé de Sassenages, abbot of St. Jean des Vignes in Soissons, gift to:
3. Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, marquis de Magny (1643-1721), bookplate; inscription on flyleaf: Ce liure m'a esté donné par M. l'abé de Sassenage abé de St. Jean des vignes de Soissons le 10e dec. 1711. Foucault.
4. In England in the eighteenth-century, sale notice on front pastedown: 6th day lot 85; and leaf of eighteenth-century manuscript notes in English laid in.
5. Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's London, 16 December 1929, lot 841).
6. Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's London, 9 December 1963, lot 145).