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Detailed record for Royal 16 G V
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Author |
Giovanni Boccaccio |
Title |
De claris mulieribus in an anonymous French translation (Le livre de femmes nobles et renomées) |
Origin |
France, N. (Rouen) |
Date |
c. 1440 |
Language |
French |
Script |
Gothic |
Artists |
Talbot Master |
Decoration |
1 large miniature in colours and gold divided in four compartments, with full foliate borders of ivy and acanthus leaves, and a foliate initial in colours and gold, at the beginning of the prologue (f. 3v). 102 one-column miniatures in colours and gold with partial border of vine and acanthus leaves and foliate initial in colours and gold. Initials and paraphs in gold on rose and blue grounds with penwork decoration in white. |
Dimensions in mm |
410 x 270 (255 x 160) |
Official foliation |
ff. 129 (+ 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf attached to a modern paper flyleaf and 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
Form |
Parchment codex |
Binding |
Post-1600. Royal library parchment binding. |
Provenance |
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, ff. 11v, or 12v. Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
Notes |
Illuminated by the Talbot Master, an artist active in Rouen, named after two manuscripts produced for John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury: Royal 15 E VI, a collection of romances presented to Margaret of Anjou in honour of her marriage to Henry VI in 1445; and Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 40.1950, the 'John Talbot Book of Hours' (see Reynolds 1988). The miniatures share the designs of those in Royal 20 C V, containing the same version of the text, but produced in the early 15th century. Catchwords and bifolium signatures. |
Select bibliography |
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 208-09.
Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, Catalogue of Astrological and Mythological Illuminated Manuscripts of the Latin Middle Ages, 4 vols (London: The Warburg Institute, 1953), III: Manuscripts in English Libraries, p. 204.
P. M. Gathercole, 'Illumination of the French Boccaccio Manuscripts', Studi sul Boccaccio, 1 (1963), 387-414 (pl. 4).
Giovanni Boccaccio: Catalogue of an Exhibition held in the Reference Division of the British Library 3 October to 31 December 1975 (London: British Museum Publications, 1975), no. 28 [exhibition catalogue].
Catherine Reynolds, 'Illustrated Boccaccio Manuscripts in the British Library (London), Studi sul Boccaccio, 17 (1988) 114-81 (pp. 159-64).
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à Peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), p. 169-71 [exhibition catalogue].
The Mythical Quest: In Search of Adventure, Romance and Enlightenment, intro. by Penelope Lively (London: British Library, 1996), p. 19.
Jane Chance, 'Mostra - naturalità distorte: Bertram dal Bornio, Ecuba', in I mostra nell'inferno dantesco: Tradizione e simbologia, Atti del XXXIII Convegno Storico Internazionale, Todi 13-16 ottobre 1996 (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi Sull'Alto Medioevo, 1997), pp. 235-76 (p. 236, fig. 3).
Boccaccio visualizzato: Narrare per parole e per immagini fra Medioevo e Rinascimento, ed. by Vittore Branca, Biblioteca di Storia dell'arte, 30, 3 vols (Torino: Giulio Einaudi, 1999), I: Saggi generale con una prospettiva dal barocco a oggi, pp. 136; and III: Opere d'arte d'origine francese, fiamminga, inglese, spagnola, tedesca, pp. 46, 53-55, 105, 267, 316.
Sophie Page, Magic in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2004), p. 14, pl. 11.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 71 [exhibition catalogue]. |
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f. 2 Boccaccio presenting his book |

f. 3v Bocaccio |

f. 3v Boccaccio |
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f. 3v Boccaccio |

f. 3v Messenger presenting a letter |

f. 3v Queen with four women |
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f. 4 Text page |

f. 5 Eve |

f. 6 Semiramis |
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f. 8 Opis |

f. 8v Juno |

f. 9v Ceres |
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f. 11 Minerva |

f. 12 Venus, Vulcan, and Adonis |

f. 13 Isis |
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f. 14 Marpesia and Lampeto |

f. 15 Thisbe |

f. 15 Thisbe |
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f. 16v Hypermnestra |

f. 18 Niobe |

f. 19 Hypispyle |
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f. 20 Medea |

f. 20 Medea |

f. 20 Medea |
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f. 21v Arachne |

f. 22v Orithyia and Antiope |

f. 23 Erithrean Sibyl |
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f. 23v Medusa |

f. 24v Hercules |

f. 26v Deianira and Nessus |
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f. 27 Jocasta and Oedipus |

f. 27v Amalthea |

f. 28v Nicostrata or Carmenta |
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f. 30v Pocris |

f. 31v Argia |

f. 33 Manto |
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f. 34 Wives of Messenians |

f. 35v Penthesilea |

f. 36v Neoptolemus and Polyxena |
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f. 37 Hecuba |

f. 37v Cassandra |

f. 38v Agamemnon |
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f. 39v Helen and Paris |

f. 42v Circe |

f. 44 Camilla |
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f. 44 Camilla |

f. 45v Penelope |

f. 47v Lavinius |
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f. 48v Death of Elissa (Dido) |

f. 53v Nicaula |

f. 54v Pamphila |
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f. 55 Rhea Silvia |

f. 56 Gaia Caecilia |

f. 56 Gaia Caecilia |
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f. 57 Sappho |

f. 58 Lucretia |

f. 59 Thamyris |
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f. 59v
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f. 60v Leaena |

f. 62 Athaliah |
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f. 64v Cloelia |

f. 65 Ypone |

f. 66 Megullia Dotata |
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f. 66v Vetura and Volumnia |

f. 68v Thamar |

f. 69 Artemisia |
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f. 72 Virginia |

f. 72 Virginia |

f. 73v Irene |
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f. 73v Irene |

f. 74 Leonce |

f. 74v Olympias |
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f. 76 Claudia |

f. 76v Virginia |

f. 77 Text page |
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f. 77 Text page |

f. 77v Flora |

f. 77v Festival of the goddess Flora |
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f. 77v Flora |

f. 80 Jaia |

f. 81 Sulpicia |
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f. 82 Harmonia |

f. 82v Busa |

f. 83v Sophonista |
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f. 85 Theoxena |

f. 86v Berenice |

f. 87v Queen of Orgiagon |
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f. 88v Aemilia |

f. 89v Drypetina |

f. 90 Sempronia |
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f. 90v Claudia Quinta |

f. 91v Mithridates VI and Hypsicratea |

f. 91v Mithridates VI and Hypsicratea |
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f. 93 Sempronia |

f. 93 Sempronia |

f. 94v Wives of Cycabrons |
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f. 95v Death of Julia |

f. 96 Portia |

f. 97 Curie |
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f. 98 Hortensia |

f. 98v Sulpicia |

f. 99 Cornificia |
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f. 99v Mariamne |

f. 101 Cleopatra |

f. 104v Antonia |
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f. 105 Agrippina |

f. 105v Paulina |

f. 107 Agrippina |
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f. 109 Epicharis |

f. 109 Epicharis |

f. 110 Seneca and Pompeia Paulina |
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f. 111 Poppaea Sabina |

f. 112v Triaria |

f. 113v Proba |
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f. 114v Faustina |

f. 115v Semiamira |

f. 117v Zenobia |
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f. 120 Pope Joan |

f. 121 Irene |

f. 122 Engeldruda |
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f. 123 Constantia |

f. 124 Camiola |

f. 127v Jeanne |
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