Epigrammata

Accession number:

MS M.946

Title:

Epigrammata

Created:

Italy, probably Rome, ca. 1480.

Binding:

Previously in original stamped binding; rebound after 1852 in russet morocco over beveled boards with 15th-century Florentine style interlace gold tooling, gilt edges, signed by Francis Bedford (1799-1883).

Credit:

Gift; John A. Saks; 1970.

Description:

194 leaves (1 column, 28 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 231 x 150 mm

Provenance:

Gonzaga family, perhaps Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga (1444-1483); sale, London, Sotheby's, Dec. 23, 1852, lot 55; H. Bohn; Robert Samuel Turner (1818-1887); sale, London, Sotheby's, June 18, 1888, lot 1952; Bernard Quaritch; Henry White, New York; Robert Hoe (1839-1909), New York; sale, New York, Anderson Auction Co., Apr. 24, 1911, lot 2149; George D. Smith, New York; V.G. Simkhovitch, New York; Adolph Lewisohn, New York; Chaucer Head Bookshop, New York; John A. Saks, Greenwich, Connecticut.

Notes:

Ms. written and illuminated in Italy, probably in Rome, about 1480. The Index of Christian Art dates some folios to 1495-1498.
Collation: I10-VI10, VII8, VIII10-IX10, X8, X10-XIII10, XIV8, XV10, XVI8, XVII10-XVIII10, XIX8, XX10, XXI4.
Scribe: text attributed to a scribe probably working in Rome, much influenced by Bartolomeo Sanvito; rubrication (and perhaps the illuminated initials) attributed to Bartolomeo Sanvito himself (by Albinia de la Mare in a letter 14 December 1998)
Artist: attributed to Lauro Padovano by Ulrike Bauer-Eberhardt.
Decoration: 1 illuminated title page with architectural frame, historiated initial and arms (Gonzaga family, three fesses sable), 13 illuminated initials with classical motifs; opening lines of each book are in gold, blue, red, green, and purple ink, the text is in brown ink.

Script:

Humanistic cursive script

Language:

Latin

Resources:

Description/Bibliography

Century:

15th century

Genres:

Illuminated manuscripts

Illuminated initials (layout features)

Historiated initials