This late Renaissance Italian humanist manuscript contains excerpts of various works by Latin and Greek authors, among them Pliny, Cicero, Silius Italicus, Plautus, Livy, Horace, Sallust, Plutarch, Seneca and others. Pellegrin, following Tammaro de Marinis, attributes the writing to the copyist Gian Marco Cinico, who worked for the kings of Naples between 1458 and 1494. The different parts are introduced by golden initials with bianchi girari, only partly completed (ff. 1v, 4v, 20r, 22r, 50r, 186v). Some of these bianchi girari are left unfilled on a blue, red, green or black background, others are colored pink, green or blue on a black or golden background. The vine scrolls are inhabited by putti and animals such as rabbits, stags, butterflies or birds. Numerous frames show putti engaged in hunting or other playful activities (e.g., ff. 55r, 79r, 139r, 169r). (ber)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

The text De verborum significatu by the Latin grammarian Pompeius Festus is an extremely valuable dictionary of Latin language and mythology for those seeking to understand the world of the Romans. This manuscript is of Italian origin and retains its contemporary binding with a wooden cover. It was written during the 15th century on parchment and contains lovely gilded initials on a blue and red background. Quotations have been added in the margins to explain certain words in the text. The last leaves in the volume contain excerpts from Greek and Latin authors. (jos)

Online Since: 06/02/2010

At the request of Jean II of France, between 1354 and 1356, the Dominican Pierre Bersuire (Petrus Berchorius) undertook this translation of the three decades (I, II and IV) of Ab Urbe condita by Titus Livius that were known at the time. This history of Rome extends from the founding of the city to the war between the Romans and the Celtiberians. The exemplar held by the Bibliothèque de Genève was produced at the beginning of the 15th century and carries the Ex libris of the Duke of Berry. Paintings are by the "Maître des Cleres femmes" of the Duke of Berry and by artists working in the style of the "Maître du duc de Bedford". (hoc)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

Le Mignon is a collection of various historical narratives and moral or philosophical texts. Henri Romain is the author of the summary of the three decades of Titus Livius and the Compendium historial, a compilation of ancient stories. Laurent de Premierfait is the translator of De la vieillesse by Cicero, and Jean Courtecuisse translated Des Quatre vertus cardinales by Seneca. This manuscript from the studio of Maître François presents seven beautiful frontispiece illuminations. (hoc)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

This volume is the second of a three-volume set, an edition of Livius written in 1442 and 1143 in Padua. It is of particular interest because the texual model is well-known: the Livius manuscript of Sicco Polentone (1375/76-1446), Chancellor of Padua, today Holkham Hall Library, MS 349. This manuscript is written in an extremely regular semi-Gothic script augmented with exquisite white vine scroll initials. (gam)

Online Since: 05/20/2009