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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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