Lot Essay
PROVENANCE:
Johannes Valerius. One of several inscriptions (partly erased) records his birthday as 1st February 1426. He has also written in a fine humanistic hand three short Christian texts and quotations from Aulus Gellius (10/5v-6r).
TEXT:
Beccadelli, also called Antonius Panormita, was born at Palermo in 1394 and died at Naples in 1471. He was historian and Royal counsel to King Alphonso I of Naples and Sicily (Alphonso V of Aragon), whose sayings, deeds and character he described in the present work. During Alphonso's brilliant reign (1443-58) Naples became a centre of scholarship and letters. Beccadelli's text was first printed at Pisa in 1485 (GW 3752).
SCRIPT AND DECORATION:
The writing is closely related to the hand of GIOVANMARCO CINICO of Parma, to whom the manuscript can be attributed with a high degree of probability. The text ends with the Greek word Τεδοσ in red, which is characteristic of this scribe, who was active in Naples ca.1458-98 (see T. de Marinis, La Biblioteca Napoletana dei rè d'Aragona I, 42-51; and J.J.G. Alexander & A.C. de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts in the Library of Major J.R. Abbey 26-27). The illumination is of the highest quality and may be by the same artist as Ms.Vat.Ottob.Lat.1999 (Porcellio Pandone, Carmina) and the Letters of Diogenes Cynicus (olim Hornby-Abbey; see Alexander & de la Mare plate XXXIII). IN FINE CONDITION.
Johannes Valerius. One of several inscriptions (partly erased) records his birthday as 1st February 1426. He has also written in a fine humanistic hand three short Christian texts and quotations from Aulus Gellius (10/5v-6r).
TEXT:
Beccadelli, also called Antonius Panormita, was born at Palermo in 1394 and died at Naples in 1471. He was historian and Royal counsel to King Alphonso I of Naples and Sicily (Alphonso V of Aragon), whose sayings, deeds and character he described in the present work. During Alphonso's brilliant reign (1443-58) Naples became a centre of scholarship and letters. Beccadelli's text was first printed at Pisa in 1485 (GW 3752).
SCRIPT AND DECORATION:
The writing is closely related to the hand of GIOVANMARCO CINICO of Parma, to whom the manuscript can be attributed with a high degree of probability. The text ends with the Greek word Τεδοσ in red, which is characteristic of this scribe, who was active in Naples ca.1458-98 (see T. de Marinis, La Biblioteca Napoletana dei rè d'Aragona I, 42-51; and J.J.G. Alexander & A.C. de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts in the Library of Major J.R. Abbey 26-27). The illumination is of the highest quality and may be by the same artist as Ms.Vat.Ottob.Lat.1999 (Porcellio Pandone, Carmina) and the Letters of Diogenes Cynicus (olim Hornby-Abbey; see Alexander & de la Mare plate XXXIII). IN FINE CONDITION.