Beschreibung:

JAN DU QUESNE (fl.1466-79). Commentaires de Cesar and Cronique habregie , in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Lille and Bruges, c.1480] 435 x 320mm. 326 leaves: 1-2 6, 3-15 8, 16 6, 17 5(of 6, vi cancelled blank), 18 8, 19-20 6, 21-33 8, 34 6(of 8, vii & viii cancelled blanks), 35 4, 36-42 8, 43 9(ix a singleton), COMPLETE apart from the textually blank folios cxvi, ccxlvii and ccxlviii that were cancelled in a subsequent binding, original foliation from i-cccxvii in red in upper outer corners from 13th folio to end, followed here, two columns of 37 lines written in black ink in a lettre bâtarde between four verticals and 38 horizontals, two further horizontals for the foliation, ruled in violet, text justification: 280 x 90-14-90mm, paraphs, one- and two-line initials of burnished gold on grounds and infills of dark pink and blue with white penwork decoration, line-endings of the same colours, five- and six-line initials beneath large miniatures with staves of pink or blue against grounds of burnished gold with trefoil-leaf sprays in the infills, ELEVEN LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES ACCOMPANIED BY FULL-PAGE BORDERS with sprays of fruit and flowers and blue and gold acanthus and two containing the achievement of arms of the original owner, FOUR COLUMN-WIDE MINIATURES accompanied by large illuminated initials and three-sided borders and FOUR LARGE HISTORIATED INITIALS with borders of the same type (cropping to final numerals of foliation on some folios, a few tiny pigment losses from opening miniature and border, occasional spots or smudges in margins). Gold-tooled red morocco, sides panelled with central arabesques, turn-ins with multiple fillets, vellum doublures, Botfield arms painted on front doublure, gilt edges, by C. Smith stamp on front flyleaf (faded). A LUXURIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED SECULAR MANUSCRIPT: THE ONLY COPY OF THE COMMENTAIRES DE CESAR IN PRIVATE HANDS, AND THE UNIQUE EXAMPLE WITH THE SECOND VOLUME, SIGNED AND DATED BY THE AUTHOR PROVENANCE: 1. André de Haraucourt, seigneur de Bayon, Ubéxy, Landécourt, Franconville, Seneville, Louppy-Dreuville and Maréville (d.1484): his achievement of arms in the borders of ff.1 and 253. The Haraucourt, one of the four oldest families of Lorraine, took their name from a château near the capital of Nancy. In 1419 René of Anjou had married the heiress of Lorraine, and it was in Angevin service that members of the Haraucourt family attended the Dukes of Lorraine for much of the 15th century. André's father, Gérard, seigneur de Haraucourt (d.1456), was regent for René in the neighbouring Duchy of Bar and in 1448 was a founding member of René's Order of the Crescent, which is seen below his son's arms in this manuscript. André was elected to the order in 1462 (C. de Mérindol, Le roi René et la seconde maison d'Anjou , Paris, 1987, p.136). His career seems to have been closely connected with that of his brother, Guillaume, Bishop of Verdun from 1456, who was head of the council of René's son and heir, John of Calabria, and with him fell foul of Louis XI. John of Calabria's brief alliance with Charles the Bold of Burgundy was revived by his son Nicolas, who died suddenly in 1473 during negotiations for his marriage to Charles's daughter and heiress. André's youngest brother Pierre, seigneur de Chauvirey, was chamberlain to Charles the Bold and André came to support Charles's longstanding ambitions in Lorraine, which culminated in his annexation of the Duchy in 1475. Although Charles was defeated and killed at the Battle of Nancy in January 1477, it was not until May that André surrendered the town and castle of Darney to the victor, René II of Lorraine. André's goods were confiscated and only restored to him in 1482. André is likely to have obtained this manuscript after his reconciliation with René II, yet its text celebrates his former leader, Charles the Bold, and it is typical of the luxurious secular manuscripts favoured by the Burgundian court. 2. ?Louis-César de la B