Acquisition number: 1977.06
Other images
190 folios, complete; early foliation omits ff 73 and 77; gatherings of 8 leaves; 32 lines ruled in blind; written in dark brown ink with a fine pen with regular humanistic script, headings in pale red, spaces left for Greek words (occasionally added later), some capitals in red, over 400 two-line initials in burnished gold or blue with decorative penwork in purple or red; 16 large white-vine initials with borders extending into 1 or 2 margins, f. 1 with full border of leafy and fruit design including the IHS monogram, a silver scroll and coat-of-arms flanked by initials and surmounted by an eagle standing on a pile of books and holding a silver scroll, some marginal notes, many initials smudged and rubbed; ff. 122, 178b and last 2 leaves stained, tear in f. 13 mended, last leaf repaired, upper extremities of decoration just cropped on f. 1, other stains and many signs of use.
Early 19th-century red morocco gilt incorporating red morocco gilt covers from a 17th-century Parisian binding with the arms of Anne of Austria and a semé of crowned “A’s” in the borders.
Illumination:
The initials are in burnished gold and are in-filled with knotted white-vine decoration on grounds of bright green, pink and deep blue. The borders are of coloured and gold leaves and fruit supported from penwork branches decorated with dots. The style is that associated with the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum and the Ippolita Master, both of Milan. It is very close to that of Turin Bibl. roy. MS Var. 75, copied by Ludovic Maria Sforza (1452-1508) in 1476 (cf E. Pellegrin, La Bibliothèque des Visconti et des Sforza, Ducs de Milan, Florence and Paris, 1969, pl. 154; cf also pls. 123 and 148 for comparable mss., both by the Ippolita Master.
Title: Manuscript of Cicero’s Epistulae ad familiares - 1977.06
Acquisition number: 1977.06
Culture or period: Renaissance.
Date: Late 15th century AD.
Material: Vellum
Object type: Writing materials
Dimensions: 200mm (w) × 292mm (h)
Origin region or location: Italy
Origin city: Milan
Display case or on loan: 6
Keywords: Renaissance, Milan, Cicero, Anne of Austria, Manuscript, Inscription, humanistic script
Sotheby Parke Bernet (New York), Sale Cat., 13 July 1977, no. 51; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 123.
1977.06
Manuscript of Cicero’s Epistulae ad familiares
Purchased. 29.2cm x 20cm; 190ff.; 32 lines (ruled in blind); gatherings of 8 (last, 2 and 4), with catchwords. Many illuminated initials (some stained). f. 1 full border (cropped). ff. 4, 13, 180 and 192 mended. Early foliation omits ff. 73 and 77. Two front and two rear fly-leaves, blank.
Bound in the seventeenth century in red morocco with the arms of Anne of Austria; rebound early nineteenth century incorporating the original covers.
In Latin on vellum, late fifteenth century, humanistic script, probably from Milan.
The letters are numbered 1-421 and divided, by rubricated incipits and explicits and elaborately illuminated initials, into 16 books.
It has defaced arms of the original owner, flanked by initials. f. 27 has an ownership inscription partly defaced inc. “Carolus de bovis?”, expl. “bonus puer”. ff. 6, 105, 124v, 178r & v have sixteenth-century scribble and names.
The style of script is close to that of Turin, Bibl. Real., MS. Var. 75, copied by Ludovic Maria Sforza (1452-1508) (E. Pellegrini, La Bibliothèque des Visconti et des Sforza, Ducs de Milan [Florence and Milan 1969] pl. 154).
Although related to a period rather earlier than this, P.F. Gehl, “Latin Readers in Fourteenth-Century Florence. Schoolkids and the Books”, Scrittura e Civiltà 13, 1989, 387-440, is not without interest.
Sotheby Parke Bernet (New York), Sale Cat., 13 July 1977, no. 51; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 123.