The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This manuscript contains Jean (also known as Johannes) Lamelin's abridged French translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (On the Fates of Famous Men). The contents, including the colophon, are very closely related to the autograph work of 1431 by Lamelin (Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, 3880), which is the only other known copy of this text, and it is likely that the Walters manuscript was directly copied from Lamelin's original work. The original date of 1431 has been copied in this manuscript's colophon, which long led to the assumption that the Walters manuscript was produced at that time. However, four fanciful inhabited initials are an element unique to this copy, and they help localize and date the manuscript. The style of the drawings is related to that of the Wavrin Master, an artist active in Lille in the third quarter of the fifteenth century, suggesting Lille as a place of production, and the fashionable clothing worn by the figures can be dated to 1465-1475. Watermarks in the paper likewise date the book to ca. 1470.
Littera batarda cursiva
Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Schuele, Allyson
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Wiegand, Kimber
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 848, cat. no. 517.
Gathercole, P.M. Laurent de Premieirfait's Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes. Book I, Translated from Boccaccio, A Critical Edition Based on Six Manuscripts. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 74, I968; p. 62.
Bozzolo, C. Manuscrits des traducion françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace XV siècle. Padua: Medioevo e Umanismo, 1973; pp. 173-174.
Burchmore, David W. "The Medieval Sources of Spenser’s Occasion Episode." In Spenser Studies: A Renaissance Poetry Annual. Volume 2. Edited by Patrick Cullen and Thomas P. Roche, 93-120. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981; p. 119.
Kristeller, Paul O. Iter Italicum. Vol. 5. London: Brill, 1990; p. 212.
Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 353-356, cat. no. 271.
Branca, Vittorio. Boccaccio visualizzato: Opere d'arte d'origine francese, fiamminga, inglese, spagnola, tedesca. Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1999; p. 101, 365.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Lille, France (French Flanders)
Ca. 1470 CE
book
Non-original Binding
Early nineteenth-century French binding, dark blue paper over card; gilt patterns on spine, with gold inscription on salmon colored paper: "NOBLES HOMMES ET FEMMES MANUSCRIT 1431"; three labels from collections on spine: 112 (ca. 1800), 501 (ca. 1850) and W.314 (Walters number)
The primary language in this manuscript is French, Middle (ca.1400-1600). The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin.
Likely created in the Lille region of France, ca. 1470; localization based on influence of illumination style of the Wavrin master, active in Lille; date is later than that recorded in colophon, 1431, which copies exemplar but is not possible given the dating of the watermarks, which place the manuscript no earlier that 1460-1470
Owned by monastery by 1556; ownership inscription in top margin of fol. 3r reads: Ffrater Johannes de muer monachus sancti Andree me habet 1556"
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Barrois, owned by 1849; his manuscript number, 501, on spine, and also in pencil on front pastedown, along with inscription "Cor Sub
Bertram, fourth earl of Ashburnham, purchased from Barrois in 1849
Julius D. Ichenhauser, purchased from Ashburnham sale at Sotheby's, London, on June 10, 1901, for £22.10; this information, as well as the sale number for the book, 65, noted on the front pastedown
Henry Walters, Baltimore, likely purchased from Ichenhauser between 1901 and 1931
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
Lille, France (French Flanders)
Ca. 1470 CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is French, Middle (ca.1400-1600). The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin.
Likely created in the Lille region of France, ca. 1470; localization based on influence of illumination style of the Wavrin master, active in Lille; date is later than that recorded in colophon, 1431, which copies exemplar but is not possible given the dating of the watermarks, which place the manuscript no earlier that 1460-1470
Owned by monastery by 1556; ownership inscription in top margin of fol. 3r reads: Ffrater Johannes de muer monachus sancti Andree me habet 1556"
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Barrois, owned by 1849; his manuscript number, 501, on spine, and also in pencil on front pastedown, along with inscription "Cor Sub
Bertram, fourth earl of Ashburnham, purchased from Barrois in 1849
Julius D. Ichenhauser, purchased from Ashburnham sale at Sotheby's, London, on June 10, 1901, for £22.10; this information, as well as the sale number for the book, 65, noted on the front pastedown
Henry Walters, Baltimore, likely purchased from Ichenhauser between 1901 and 1931
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
This manuscript contains Jean (also known as Johannes) Lamelin's abridged French translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (On the Fates of Famous Men). The contents, including the colophon, are very closely related to the autograph work of 1431 by Lamelin (Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, 3880), which is the only other known copy of this text, and it is likely that the Walters manuscript was directly copied from Lamelin's original work. The original date of 1431 has been copied in this manuscript's colophon, which long led to the assumption that the Walters manuscript was produced at that time. However, four fanciful inhabited initials are an element unique to this copy, and they help localize and date the manuscript. The style of the drawings is related to that of the Wavrin Master, an artist active in Lille in the third quarter of the fifteenth century, suggesting Lille as a place of production, and the fashionable clothing worn by the figures can be dated to 1465-1475. Watermarks in the paper likewise date the book to ca. 1470.
Littera batarda cursiva
Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Schuele, Allyson
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Wiegand, Kimber
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 848, cat. no. 517.
Gathercole, P.M. Laurent de Premieirfait's Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes. Book I, Translated from Boccaccio, A Critical Edition Based on Six Manuscripts. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 74, I968; p. 62.
Bozzolo, C. Manuscrits des traducion françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace XV siècle. Padua: Medioevo e Umanismo, 1973; pp. 173-174.
Burchmore, David W. "The Medieval Sources of Spenser’s Occasion Episode." In Spenser Studies: A Renaissance Poetry Annual. Volume 2. Edited by Patrick Cullen and Thomas P. Roche, 93-120. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981; p. 119.
Kristeller, Paul O. Iter Italicum. Vol. 5. London: Brill, 1990; p. 212.
Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 353-356, cat. no. 271.
Branca, Vittorio. Boccaccio visualizzato: Opere d'arte d'origine francese, fiamminga, inglese, spagnola, tedesca. Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1999; p. 101, 365.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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