Lot Essay
This lot and the following lot were formerly part of an illuminated manuscript with 93 miniatures of scenes from Boccaccio's De claris mulieribus. The manuscript was dismembered after Lord Mostyn's sale in 1920. The largest part of the manuscript, with 73 miniatures, is now in the New York Public Library, Spencer Collection, Ms 33. Another detached miniature is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Wade 24, 1015.
The Boccaccio volume was possibly commissioned by Jacques d'Armagnac, duc de Nemours. It was subsequently owned by Claude Pons, seigneur de Vissac: the New York manuscript shows on its supporters his coat-of-arms, a mermaid and a wild man. In the beginning of the 18th Century Hobart, Lord Mostyn's librarian, bought the album.
The miniatures were attributed to Maître François by Friedrich Winkler in a typed communication to Rudolf Heinemann, dating from around 1958. C. Bozzolo, more recently, attributed the manuscript to his workshop, op. cit., p. 181-2. The artistic personality of Maître François is first mentioned in a letter written by Robert Gaugin in 1473. Egregius pictor Franciscus is described as working on a two-volume illuminated manuscript of the City of God, commissioned by Charles de Gaucourt. Another manuscript by Maître François is in the British Library (Harley ms. 4374-4375): a French translation of Valerius Maximus commissioned by Philippe de Comines.
Two other artists have been identified as working in the style of Maître François. The Master of Jean Rolin worked circa 1450-65 (E.P. Spencer, Dom Louis de Busco's Psalter, Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy E. Miner, Baltimore, 1974, pp. 227-40) and Jacques de Besançon circa 1480-95, F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, Paris, 1993, p. 46.
The present miniatures could be dated to around 1465-70. The range of colours used by Maître François has been described by G.F. Warner: 'the two most prominent are blue and rose-pink, but golden brown, green, light yellow and a vivid orange-red are also common', Valerius Maximus, London, 1907, p. 10. The present illuminations can also be compared to those in a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Avril and Reynaud, op. cit., no. 15, illustrated.
De claris mulieribus concerns celebrated but not necessarily virtuous women. Boccaccio intended to portray lust and fidelity, leadership and weakness. He chose women taken from mythology and finished with the contemporary Joanna, Queen of Sicily and Jerusalem.
The first illumination shows Sulpicia, wife of Lentulus Cruscellio, who was exiled to Sicily. Rather than divorcing her husband and marrying again Sulpicia followed him. Her mother Julia tried to prevent her from leaving, though Sulpicia escaped with two maids and servants. In the foreground of this illumination she is shown leaving with her servants and, in the background, meeting with her husband in Sicily. Megullia is shown in the second illumination. She was also nick-named Dotata by the Romans, sinceshe gave 50,000 bronze coins as dowry to her husband. This is shown in this illumination, to the right of the wedding ceremony. In Paris between 1460 and 1480 great bibliophiles such as Jacques d'Armagnac and those close to the Royal court encouraged the work of miniaturist through private commissions. Indeed Jacques d'Armagnac owned six manuscripts by Maître François and by his circle.
The Boccaccio volume was possibly commissioned by Jacques d'Armagnac, duc de Nemours. It was subsequently owned by Claude Pons, seigneur de Vissac: the New York manuscript shows on its supporters his coat-of-arms, a mermaid and a wild man. In the beginning of the 18th Century Hobart, Lord Mostyn's librarian, bought the album.
The miniatures were attributed to Maître François by Friedrich Winkler in a typed communication to Rudolf Heinemann, dating from around 1958. C. Bozzolo, more recently, attributed the manuscript to his workshop, op. cit., p. 181-2. The artistic personality of Maître François is first mentioned in a letter written by Robert Gaugin in 1473. Egregius pictor Franciscus is described as working on a two-volume illuminated manuscript of the City of God, commissioned by Charles de Gaucourt. Another manuscript by Maître François is in the British Library (Harley ms. 4374-4375): a French translation of Valerius Maximus commissioned by Philippe de Comines.
Two other artists have been identified as working in the style of Maître François. The Master of Jean Rolin worked circa 1450-65 (E.P. Spencer, Dom Louis de Busco's Psalter, Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy E. Miner, Baltimore, 1974, pp. 227-40) and Jacques de Besançon circa 1480-95, F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, Paris, 1993, p. 46.
The present miniatures could be dated to around 1465-70. The range of colours used by Maître François has been described by G.F. Warner: 'the two most prominent are blue and rose-pink, but golden brown, green, light yellow and a vivid orange-red are also common', Valerius Maximus, London, 1907, p. 10. The present illuminations can also be compared to those in a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Avril and Reynaud, op. cit., no. 15, illustrated.
De claris mulieribus concerns celebrated but not necessarily virtuous women. Boccaccio intended to portray lust and fidelity, leadership and weakness. He chose women taken from mythology and finished with the contemporary Joanna, Queen of Sicily and Jerusalem.
The first illumination shows Sulpicia, wife of Lentulus Cruscellio, who was exiled to Sicily. Rather than divorcing her husband and marrying again Sulpicia followed him. Her mother Julia tried to prevent her from leaving, though Sulpicia escaped with two maids and servants. In the foreground of this illumination she is shown leaving with her servants and, in the background, meeting with her husband in Sicily. Megullia is shown in the second illumination. She was also nick-named Dotata by the Romans, sinceshe gave 50,000 bronze coins as dowry to her husband. This is shown in this illumination, to the right of the wedding ceremony. In Paris between 1460 and 1480 great bibliophiles such as Jacques d'Armagnac and those close to the Royal court encouraged the work of miniaturist through private commissions. Indeed Jacques d'Armagnac owned six manuscripts by Maître François and by his circle.