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Detailed record for Yates Thompson 31
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| Author |
Matfré Ermengau of Béziers |
| Title |
Breviari d'Amor (Catalan prose version) |
| Origin |
Spain, E. (Catalonia, Girona?) |
| Date |
last quarter of the 14th century |
| Language |
Spanish (Catalan), with some Hebrew (ff. 131-134) |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Artists |
Attributed to the atelier of the Catalan Master of St Mark |
| Decoration |
1 small miniature, accompanied by a large decorated initial and a full foliate border, in colours and gold (f. 2). 14 full-page miniatures, in colours and gold (ff. 8, 40, 40v, 43, 45, 48v, 49v, 55v, 66, 67v, 70v, 72, 77, 135). Numerous small one-column miniatures, in colours and gold (ff. 13v, 17, 35, 39v (x4), 46, 46v (x3), 47 (x3), 47v (x2), 48 (x3), 51v (x2), 52, 53, 53v, 54, 54v, 55 [in the margin], 56v, 63, 64, 73 (x2), 73v (x3), 74 (x3), 74v (x2), 75 (x2), 87, 88 (x2), 88v, 89, 99v, 100, 110v (x8), 125, 125v, 126, 127v, 128 (x2), 128v, 131 (x3), 131v (x2), 132 (x3), 132v (x3), 133 (x4), 133v (x3), 134 (x3), 134v, 142v (x2), 167v, 168v, 169, 169v, 170 (x2), 170v (x3), 171 (x3), 171v (x2), 174v (x3), 199v, 215v, 216, 216v, 220 (x2), 220v (x2), 221, 221v (x2), 222, 222v (x2), 223, 223v (x2), 224, 224v, 225 (x3), 225v (x5), 226 (x3), 226v (x4), 227, 227v, 228v, 229 (x2), 230 (x2), 231, 232 (x2), 233v (x2), 234, 234v, 235, 236 (x2), 236v (x2), 237, 238 (x2), 238v (x2), 239 (x3), 240, 240v (x3), 250 (x4), 251 (x2), 252, 252v (x2), 253, 254, 255). 2 diagrams, in colours (ff. 65, 70). Large decorated initials with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold. |
| Dimensions in mm |
365 x 250 (225 x 160) in two columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 260 (+ 1 parchment flyleaf at the beginning, and 1 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Pink silk embroidered with silver thread, 1st half of the 18th century, for J. de Valbelle, Bishop of St Omer. |
| Provenance |
Joseph Alphonse de Valbelle, bishop of St Omer (1727-1754): appliqué embroidery on binding with letters 'JAVM'; bequeathed to his seminary whose possessions were dispersed at the Revolution (see Yates Thompson Catalogue 1912 p. 1).
M. Paul Arbaud (b. 1831, d. 1911), collector, who founded the Musée Arbaud in Aix-en-Provence: an anonymous pamphlet descriptive of the book, Gratia Dei: de la gracia de nostra gloriosa virgine Madona Santa Maria etc. Etude critique archéologique et linguistique d'un MS. Appartenant aux collections de M. Paul Arbaud (Marseilles, 1899).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor, bought by him from Lucien Gougy (b. 1863, d.1931), bookseller of Paris: his book-plate inscribed '[MS] xcv / blos.e.e [i.e. £1986.0.0] / [bought from] Gougy / May 12 / 1906' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson. |
| Notes |
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
The text is originally a Provencal poem composed between 1288 and 1292 by Matfré Ermengau of Béziers, and is an encyclopaedic compilation that explains how the world is an emanation of love.
This manuscript is one of five known copies in Catalan. |
| Select bibliography |
A Descriptive Catalogue of Fourteen Illuminated Manuscripts (Nos. XCV to CVII and 79A) Completing the Hundred in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1912), no. XCV pp. 1-22.
Millard Meiss, 'Italian style in Catalonia and a 14th Century Catalan Workshop', Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 4 (1941), 45-87 (p. 78, fig. 35).
Francis Wormald, 'Afterthoughts on the Stockholm Exhibition', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 22 (1953), 75-84 (p. 81, fig. 4).
Pedro Bohigas, La Ilustración y la Decoratión del Libro Manuscrito en Cataluña: Período Gótico y Renacimiento, 2 vols (Barcelona: Asociación de Bibliófilos de Barcelona, 1965-1967), I, 82 n. 44, 150-55, 192-98, figs 73, 99, 100, 102, 103.
[D. H. Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), no. 29.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), pp. 53-54.
Katja Laske-Fix, Der Bildzyklus des Breviari d'amor (Munich and Zurich: Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1973), p. 132.
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, 168 [rejected].
François Avril and others, Manuscrits enluminés de la péninsula ibérique (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1982), p. 101.
Francis Wormald, Collected Writings, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander, T. J. Brown, and Joan Gibbs, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1984-1988), II: Studies in English and Continental Art of the Later Middle Ages, p. 149, pl. 135.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 112 p. 134.
The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, ed. by Frances Carey (London: British Museum, 1999), pp. 89-90, no. 19 [exhibition catalogue].
Carlos Miranda Garcia-Tejedor, 'Los manuscritos con pinturas del Breviari d'Amor d Matfre Ermengaud de Beziers. Un estado de la cuestion' in La miniatura medieval en la Península Ibérica, ed. by Joaquín Yarza Luaces (Murcia: Nausícäa, 2007), pp. 313-73 (p. 323, n. 16).
Peter T. Ricketts, Connaissance de la littérature occitane: Matfre Ermengaud (1246-1322) et le Breviari d'amor (Perpignan, Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 2012), p. 78.
Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Nigel F. Palmer, The Prayer Book of Ursula Begerin, 2 vols (Dietikon-Zurich: Urs Graf Verlag, 2015), I, pp. 148, 219. |
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f. 2
Matfré Ermengau of Béziers |
f. 2
Matfré Ermengau of Béziers |
f. 2
Matfré Ermengau of Béziers |
| |
f. 2
Stag and Lion |
f. 7
Text page |
f. 7
Text page |
| |
f. 8
Tree of Love |
f. 13v
An angel chastizing zealots |
f. 17
The Holy Trinity |
| |
f. 35
God instilling his divine nature |
f. 39v
Offices of the Angels |
f. 40
Offices of angels |
| |
f. 40v
The Nine Choirs of Angels surround Jesus, God the Father, and Mary |
f. 43
Devils |
f. 45
Cosmological diagram |
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f. 46
Aries |
f. 46v
Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer |
f. 47
Leo, Virgo, and Libra |
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f. 47v
Scorpio and Sagittarius |
f. 48
Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
| |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
| |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
f. 48v
Diagram of the Zodiac |
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f. 49
Illuminated initial |
f. 49v
Astrological sphere |
f. 49v
Astrological sphere |
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f. 51v
Saturn and Jupiter |
f. 51v
Saturn and Jupiter |
f. 53
Solar eclipse |
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f. 53v
Venus |
f. 55v
Diagram of the phases of the Moon |
f. 55v
Diagram of the phases of the Moon |
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f. 56v
Maiden with a wreath |
f. 63
Properties of earth and water |
f. 64
Diagram of the dimensions of the Earth |
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f. 65
Diagram of precious stones |
f. 65v
Illuminated initial |
f. 66
Cosmological diagram of the spheres |
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f. 66v
Illuminated initial |
f. 70v
Diagram of the planets |
f. 72
Diagram of the seasons |
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f. 73
January and February |
f. 73v
March, April, and May |
f. 74
June, July, and August |
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f. 74v
September and October |
f. 75
November and December |
f. 77
Six Ages of the World |
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f. 77
Six Ages of the World |
f. 87
Creation of Eve |
f. 87v
Text page |
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f. 88
Fall of Man |
f. 88v
Fall of Man |
f. 89
Expulsion from Eden |
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f. 99v
Ten Commandments and the Profession of Faith |
f. 100
Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf |
f. 110v
Works of Mercy |
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f. 110v
Works of Mercy |
f. 110v
Works of Mercy |
f. 110v
Burying the Dead |
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f. 110v
Sheltering the homeless |
f. 110v
Angels carrying the soul of a virtuous man to Heaven |
f. 110v
Feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty |
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f. 125
Virgin and Child |
f. 125
Virgin and Child |
f. 125v
The Virgin and the Serpent |
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f. 126
Moses and the Burning Bush |
f. 127v
The flowering of Aaron's staff |
f. 128
Prophesies of Ezekiel and Isaiah |
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f. 128v
Prophecy of Isaiah |
f. 131
Blindness of the Jews; Peter; Paul |
f. 131v
Blindness of the Jews; Gregory |
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f. 132
Blindness of the Jews; Jeremiah |
f. 132v
Blindness of the Jews; Bernard; John |
f. 133
Blindness of the Jews; Augustine, Ambrose |
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f. 133v
Blindness of the Jews; Jacob |
f. 134
Blindness of the Jews; Daniel; Malachai |
f. 134v
Blindness of the Jews |
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f. 142v
Dormition and Coronation of the Virgin |
f. 167v
A priest absolving a penitent sinner |
f. 168v
The Flagellation of Christ |
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f. 169v
A dying man sees two devils |
f. 170
Weighing of Souls and one of the Torments of Hell |
f. 170v
The Torments of Hell |
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f. 171
The Torments of Hell |
f. 171v
The Torments of Hell |
f. 172
Illuminated initial |
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f. 172v
Text page |
f. 174v
The Last Judgement |
f. 199v
Christ preaching to his disciples |
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f. 215v
The Angel Gabriel and Zacharias |
f. 216
The Annunciation |
f. 216v
The Visitation |
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f. 220
The Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds |
f. 220v
The Circumcision of Christ and the Three Magi |
f. 221
The Adoration of the Magi |
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f. 221v
Presentation in the Temple and the Flight into Egypt |
f. 221v
Presentation |
f. 221v
Flight into Egypt |
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f. 222
Massacre of the Innocents |
f. 222v
Christ among the Doctors |
f. 223
John the Baptist prophesies the coming of Christ |
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f. 223v
Agnus Dei and the Baptism of Christ |
f. 224
The Temptation of Christ |
f. 224v
Andrew and Peter |
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f. 225
Miracles of Christ |
f. 225v
Miracles of Christ |
f. 226
Miracles of Christ |
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f. 226v
Miracles of Christ |
f. 227
Miracles of Christ |
f. 227v
Christ's Mission to the Apostles |
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f. 228
Illuminated initial |
f. 228v
Salome receiving the head of John the Baptist |
f. 229
Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes; Christ gives the keys to Peter |
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f. 229v
Illuminated initials |
f. 230
The Transfiguration; Christ healing a possessed boy |
f. 230v
Illuminated initials |
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f. 231
The Raising of Lazarus |
f. 231v
Illuminated initial |
f. 232
Entry into Jerusalem; Expulsion of the moneylenders |
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f. 232v
Illuminated initial |
f. 233
Illuminated initials |
f. 233v
Washing of the Feet; Judas and the Thirty Pieces of Silver |
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f. 234
The Last Supper |
f. 234v
Agony in the Garden |
f. 235
Betrayal and Arrest of Christ |
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f. 235v
Text page |
f. 236
Mocking of Christ and the Denial of Peter |
f. 236v
Christ before Pilate and the death of Judas |
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f. 237
Jesus before Herod |
f. 237v
Text page |
f. 238
Pilate washing his hands and the Flagellation of Christ |
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f. 238v
The Crown of Thorns and the bearing of the Cross |
f. 239
The Crucifixion |
f. 239v
Illuminated initial |
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f. 240
The Crucifixion |
f. 240v
The Crucifixion, the Deposition, and the Entombment |
f. 250
The Harrowing of Hell; Purgatory, Limbo, and Hell |
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f. 251
The Three Maries at the Tomb; Noli me tangere |
f. 251v
Illuminated initial |
f. 252
The Supper at Emmaus |
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f. 252v
Apparition to the Apostles and the Doubting of Thomas |
f. 253
Christ appearing to the Apostles |
f. 255
Pentecost |
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f. 260
Text page |
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