Beschreibung:

COURCY, Simon de, L'Aiguillon d'amour divine , paraphrase of Pseudo-Bonaventure (?Jacobus Mediolanensis), Stimulus amoris , in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
COURCY, Simon de, L'Aiguillon d'amour divine , paraphrase of Pseudo-Bonaventure (?Jacobus Mediolanensis), Stimulus amoris , in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Reims] 1461190 x 135mm. 201 + i: 1 1 0 , 2-3 8 , 4 6 , 5-12 8 , 13 7 (of 8, lacking iii), 14-24 8 , 25 1 0 , traces of catchwords at the inner right gutter of most final versos, original foliation in red at top right of each folio excludes prologue, modern pencil foliation followed here, 21 lines of lettre bâtarde in black ink between 22 horizontals and two verticals ruled in plummet, text justification: 125 x 88mm, paraphs alternately red or blue, foliation and rubrics in red, capitals touched yellow, one- and two-line illuminated initials of burnished gold with grounds of pink and blue with white penwork decoration throughout, four-line illuminated initials of blue with white patterning on burnished gold grounds, infills with ivy-leaf sprays of pink and blue, FIVE HALF-PAGE MINIATURES and one ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURE all accompanied with FULL-PAGE BORDERS (slight thumbing, rubbing and spotting to first folios, worming at foot of gutter of ff.7-12, yellowing of ff.97-99 and page excised between ff.98 and 99). Contemporary blind-stamped brown leather, central panel with lozenges with fleur-de-lys bordered by alternating swans or winged-fruit tools, two later pins and straps (joints and corners worn, two worm-holes in lower cover). PROVENANCE: The scribe recorded the completion of his work on 11 September 1461 and asks 'messieurs' to pray for him (f.196). Nonetheless, the manuscript was illuminated for a lady, and she is shown in miniatures on ff.3, 10, 48 and 101. She is accompanied by a man on ff.48 and 101, where she appears in the superior position, on the heraldic right, indicating that the younger-looking man is her son. Not strictly dressed as a widow, her headdress could imply that she was not noble despite her evident wealth and status; she may have been a member of the Reims urban patriciate. In the 16th century the manuscript was owned by a succession of sisters at the Hôtel Dieu in Reims, including Perette Charpentier and Marie Lalemant (1525) -- Ambroise Firmin-Didot-(1790-1876), printer, publisher, and art collector, his sale in June 1883, lot 27 -- Acquired from Librairie Paul Jammes, 1977. CONTENT: Beaulz enseignem[en]s po[u]r b[ie]n vivre ff.1-2; Prologue and chapter list ff.3-9v; Aguillon d'amour divine ff.10-196; devotions ff.196v-201, including two in verse, La voie de paradis opening 'Qui vault en paradis aler Cy en puet la voie trouver' f.196v and a 'Notable devot', opening 'Qui des clos Ihesus Christ sent en soy la pointure En son chef la couronne que lui fut aspre et dure' f.197 and five prose meditations or prayers including one opening 'Toutes les choses que les personnes seculieres tournent a nourissament de pechie' f.197v, Les armeures de l'ame f.198, and Meditation par maniere doroison a ihucrist et a sa douce mere and ends with the note 'Summa philosophia est meditationis mortis'. The Stimulus amoris was a popular devotional work often attributed to St. Bonaventura but probably the work of another Franciscan, James of Milan. It was translated into French for Marie, Duchess of Bourbon, daughter of John, Duke of Berry, and presented to her in 1406 with other treatises by her confessor, Simon de Courcy, also a Franciscan. Marie de Berry's own manuscript (BnF, ms. fr.926) has only two miniatures for this text (see E. Taburet-Delahaye and F. Avril, Paris 1400: les arts sous Charles VI , 2004, no. 205). De Courcy made the text more accessible by turning it into a dialogue between the 'devout person' and his or her soul, a theme continued in the speech scrolls in the miniatures. That he was successful in appealing to a female reader is shown by this handsomely illustrated copy. ILLUMINATION: These colorful and charming miniatures are by the illuminator known as the Master of Walters 269 from his slightly later work in a Book of Hours for