Beschreibung:

BOCCACCIO, Giovanni. De Casibus illustrium virorum . THE SUICIDE OF PHEDRA, unfinished miniature on a leaf from Laurent de Premierfait's French translation, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT LEAF ON VELLUM [France, second half of the 15th century] 335 x 288mm, 48 lines (of 60, lacking the lower portion of the leaf, about 12 lines of text), double column, each 108mm, written in brown ink in a regular bâtarda, headings in red, five-line illuminated initial, pink on gold ground; half border of painted acorn leaves, flowers and golden ivy leaves on hairline stems. The miniature is rectangular (150 x 105mm), in two compartments, the upper 100 x 105mm. the lower 50 x 105mm. The upper miniature illustrates the scene of the suicide of Phedra in a vaulted chamber with an ornate wall hanging. Theseus watching as Phedra stabs herself in the chest with a short sword, at back in a corner lies the corpse of Hyppolitus. Phedra had caused Hyppolitus' execution on a false charge of attempting to seduce her, and kills herself in remorse. In the lower compartment Theseus in exile in Cyprus, stands alone in a rugged landscape, his crown and broken sceptre on the ground. These are line drawings in which only a few touches of colour have been applied, the crown and sceptre and some of the shading in muddy liquid gold and the blue sky. The details of the upper miniature are complete, but the landscape in the lower has only been roughly sketched in. Illustrating a stage in the making of an unusual illustration of a popular text, these are quite rare subjects; the chapter on Theseus is usually represented by other episodes in the text, such as the killing of the Minotaur. The text which is that of Laurent de Premierfait's second translation of 1409, comprises chapter 10 'Le Xe chappitre contient le cas de theseus roy dathenes', sections 1 to 17, with the loss of about 12 lines of text. Literature: P.M.Gathercole, Das Cas, Book I of Laurent's translation . Chapel Hill, Romance Literature Series 74 (1968). P.M.Gathercole, 'Paintings on manuscripts of Laurent de Premierfait'. Studi sul Boccaccio 4 (1967) pp 295-316