Scriptores Historiae Augustae
- Toby Burrows
| Manuscript location | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Melbourne, Victoria | |
| Repository | State Library of Victoria | |
| Collection | ||
| Shelf mark | RARESF 096.1 AU4 | |
| Former shelf mark | ||
| Manuscript name | ||
| Name | Scriptores Historiae Augustae | |
| Contents | ||
| Summary | 1. Scriptores Historiae Augustae | |
| Physical description | ||
| Support | Parchment | |
| Dimensions | 375 x 245 mm. | |
| Extent | i (original parchment which is connected in bifolio form to the paste down), ii (recent parchment) + 216 + iii (early parchment) folios. Folio iii is tipped in; it is unclear if it was ever attached to the paste down. | |
| Collation | 1-2110, 226 | |
| Catchwords | Catchwords agree; they are positioned vertically in the bottom right corner of the page, running parallel to the gutter. On fol. 130v (p. 262) the catchword ‘unicum’ is printed on a white painted scroll which is pointed out by the index finger of a green cuffed hand above it; the scroll is grasped at the bottom by a hand extending from a red cuff. These hands appear to have been added to hide imperfections or stains in the parchment, with the scroll completing the visual logic of the image, as well as distracting from the imperfections. Compositional changes were made to the drawings of the hands before they were painted. Folio 130r displays white pigment covering the faults as well as a stain found in the text four lines from the bottom. | |
| Signatures | Most of the few remaining quire signatures were trimmed prior to the gilding of the edges of the manuscript. A few of these signatures, written in black ink, occur in the bottom right- hand corner of the recto of a folio. The best preserved examples are in the 16th and 22nd quires.2 The ten folios of quire 16 have the signatures, q1-q5 followed by +; the 6 folios of quire 22 have the signatures, y1-y3. | |
| Foliation | Pagination, beginning at page 3 (fol. 1r) in a sixteenth-century hand occurs in black ink at the top of the page. Folios 213v, 216v, ii and iii are blank. Folio 216r is blind ruled, but otherwise blank. The manuscript is not foliated but scholars often use foliation instead of the ancient pagination.3 | |
| Condition | Worm-holes are present in the front paste down, on fol. i and fols 1-7 and in the lower margin of fols 208-16. | |
| Layout | Text space: 250 x 130 mm. Thirty-six long lines, ruled in dry point. | |
| Scribes | The colophon on fol. 213r ends Omnium Rerum/Vicissitudo est ‘All things are subject to change’, a motto from the ancient Roman playwright, Terence, 5 which Albinia de la Mare showed occurred at the end of twenty-four other extant manuscripts of the period.6 The writer of these manuscripts came to be called ‘the omnium rerum scribe’and he was also identified as Neri di Filippo Rinuccini.7 Albinia de la Mare after studying the Scriptores on a visit to Australia in 1999 affirmed that it was written by this scribe.8 Rinuccini worked on other manuscripts for Lorenzo, which strengthens the argument for Lorenzo’s patronage of the Scriptores historiae Augustae. The manuscript also contains a small number of marginal notes that A.C. de La Mare identified as by the hand of the humanist, poet and protégé of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Angelo Poliziano (1454 -1494).9 This has been confirmed by Bill Kent. | |
| Scripts | Humanistic minuscule written in black ink | |
| Decoration | Decoration13 Eighty-one historiated initials introduce chapters relating to specific emperors or groups of emperors and the figures throughout the manuscript. Except for the ‘O’ on fol. 1r, which is eight lines high (60 x 50 mm), these initials are six lines high and they all follow the shape of fairly stolid roman capitals. Modelling and shading are employed in their rendering and each initial is executed in two different colours or tones. Colour combinations include emerald green and gold, light and dark blue, and red and blue. Most of the grounds on which the initials are set are in highly patterned burnished gold. In some cases there are traces of red glaze over the gold work. A few initials have grounds of divided colour with gold filigree work similar to that employed for the smaller decorated initials. The title - page fol. 1r has a three-sided border inhabited by several winged putti. At the top of the left-hand section of the border stands a long-haired angel dressed in violet robes. In front of this figure is a gem cluster. In the centre of its gold mounting is a ruby; surrounding this are four pearls, two diamonds and two emeralds. The putti stand on a ground of ochre-coloured earth, strewn with pebbles, feathery leaves and flowers. The border is of the ruled-panel type: outlined in gold, but with horizontal terminations of delicate tendril clusters of flower and foliate motifs. Arms and devices relating to Lorenzo de’Medici form a prominent part of this border decoration. A green trunk or broncone, pruned of its branches, extends along the three-sided panel. White scrolls, inscribed with the words Le Tens Revient (French for ‘the times return’) wind around its trunk. These scrolls are now somewhat discoloured. In the lower margin four putti support three shields emblazoned with the Medici arms. The central shield, encircled by a laurel wreath is charged: or, six palles gules and one azure charged with three fleur-de-lys. The eight-sided shields on either side are charged: or, eight palles gules and one azure. Another eight-sided shield, only recently identified, appears in the top right-hand section of the border on the title page.14 It bears the coat-of-arms of the Orsini family and probably refers to Lorenzo de’ Medici’s wife, Clarice Orsini, whom he married in 1469. Supported by a putto, the shield is charged: argent, three bands gules; the chief argent is charged rose gules, and the fillet argent with an eel gules wavy. A goldfinch appears near the bottom right of this opening page below the flourish of branches of roses and gold balls that sit to the right of the bottom panel of the border.15 From the eighty initials on the other folios extend partial tendril borders of symmetrically disposed floral motifs rendered in shades of pale green, yellow, pink and blue, further embellished by gold circlets and fine brown pen flourishes. On folios with two or more initials the tendril border joins them, sometimes extending the length of the margin. In two instances, on fols 10v and 125r, the borders are enclosed by gold fillets, forming regular panels. Program of Decoration and Illustration16 Eighty-one historiated initials containing bust or three-quarter length images of Roman Imperial figures, interspersed with chapters introduced by two-line decorated initials, relate to the text as follows:
1. Scriptores Historiae Augustae
Fol. 1r. ‘O’ Hadrian. Origo imperatoris... Fol. 22r. ‘S’ Verus. Scio plerosque... Fol. 99r. ‘G’ Gordianus Jnr. (Two-line decorated initial). Fol. 120v. ‘N’ Odaenathus (Tyrant). Nisi Odeanatus... Fol. 123v. ‘O’ Herennianus (Tyrant). Odaenathus moriens... Fol. 145v. ‘C’ Prologue and Dedication to the life of Probus. Certum est... Fol. 146v. ‘P’ Probus. Probus oriundus... 2. Eutropius Breviarium ab Urbe Condita (Transl. Paul the Deacon) Fol. 159v. ‘E’ Prologue. Eutropius valenti... (Two-line decorated initial). Fol. 189v. ‘P’ Book Nine. Post Aurelian... 3. Paul the Deacon (Historia Romana) Fol. 196r. ‘A’ Book One. Anno ab urbe... Fol. 209r. ‘E’ Egressus... (Two-line decorated initial). | |
| Musical notation | ||
| Binding | Original: 391 x 256 mm. Fifteenth-century Italian, red morocco on wooden boards with bevelled edges; blind tooled in five panels of different interlace cable. Edges are trimmed, gilded and goffered. The text block is sewn in kettle stitch on five flat alum-tawed thongs, which are laced into wooden boards. The head and tail bands are also laced into the wooden boards and are composed of alum-tawed pigskin. The tie-downs of the bands appear in the middle of each quire, past the kettle stitch. Leather has been attached at the top and bottom of the spine and sown over to protect the bands. Faded red brocade cloth, probably silk, at the head of the binding has been recorded as a repair. It appears to be padded underneath with a buff coloured chamois or twine. Originally, there were four clasps nailed to the front and back boards; the front consists of leather strips and those at the back have left a rounded impression with scalloped edges in the leather covering and were probably made of metal. E. H. Goldschmidt observes that many of the Medici codices were bound in red morocco over wooden boards.10 Robothan also indicates that red leather bindings were used to characterise history books in the Medici library.11 | |
| Seals | ||
| Accompanying material | ||
| History | ||
| Origin | As described under ‘Decoration’ above, the arms and devices of Lorenzo de’ Medici, together with a shield of the Orsini arms which probably relates to his wife, appear in the borders of the title page, fol.1r. (p. 3); the scribal colophon on fol. 213r (p.427) gives the date of the completion of the text as 1478 (1479 in today’s calendar). Theories vary about the precise context for the commissioning of this manuscript, but scholars are in general agreement that it was made for Lorenzo de’ Medici and perhaps also for the use of other members of his family.17 | |
| Provenance | Written in a sixteenth-century hand inside the front cover is the number ‘269’, combined with two pieces of sealing wax impressed with the arms: a shield with mantle surmounted by a coronet and helmet with grilles affronté and blazoned quarterly 1 and 4 per pale a two-headed splayed eagle surmounted by a crown, and, 2 and 3 per pale a plain cross and a two-headed splayed eagle, over all a shield per pale, the sinister also per pale, the dexter indistinct (a mullet?), surmounted by a papal tiara and pavilion, with crossed keys behind.18 According to a recent analysis by Hugh Hudson, ‘these arms appear to be those of a count, marquis, or duke, given the coronet at the top. They probably had a Medici mother or female ancestor, given the arms in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, an heiress wife, given the arms of pretension over all, and some link to the papacy, as suggested by the crossed keys and pavilion’.19 A statement also written inside the front cover in Sir Thomas Phillipps’s hand in pencil reads: ‘The paintings are supposed to be done by Julio Clovio [no longer accepted], Lucca sale 1671 Sotheby July 18, 1825. Payne Feb. 1826. 566’ and ‘the arms at the bottom of the 1st page of the Volume are I believe those of the Medici family’. The fly-leaf is marked, ‘Thos. Phillipps/Middle Hall/1828’. Underneath is his lion rampant with the legend ‘Sir T. P./Middle Hall/2163 a2. 902.’ On the spine is his number ‘2163’. The manuscript was acquired by Abaté Celotti in 1816 with the collection of Don Tommaso de Lucca who sold to Sotheby’s in 1825 when it was acquired by Thorpe and sold later to Payne and Foss. In February 1826 Sir Thomas Phillipps acquired the manuscript. It remained for some decades in the possession of Phillipps's heir and grandson Mr Fitzroy Fenwick and was eventually purchased from him by W.H. Robinson who sold it to the State Library of Victoria in 1947.20 | |
| Acquisition | W.H. Robinson sold it to the State Library of Victoria in 1947. | |
| Bibliography | ||
| Bibliography list | P. Durrieu, Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, Vol. 50, Paris, 1889, pp. 383-5, 417- 18. B.L. Ullman, The Origin and Development of Humanistic Script, Storia e Letteratura, Vol. 79, Rome, 1960, pp. 122-3. Levi D’Ancona, Miniatura e miniatori a Firenze dal XIV al XVI secolo. Documenti per le storia della miniature. Florence, 1962. K.V. Sinclair ‘Phillipps Manuscripts in Australia’, The Book Collector, Vol. 2, 1962, pp. 332–7. K.V. Sinclair, ‘Un manuscrit enluminé ayant appartenu en deux Bourguignons: Nicole Fonssard et Pierre Maréchal’, Annales de Bourgogne, Vol. 34, 1962, pp. 170– 8. Sydney, 1967, Medieval Manuscripts, exh. cat., University of Sydney, Fisher Library, 1967, p. 10. K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts in Australia, Sydney, 1969, no. 219, pp. 370-3. C. O’Brien, The Illumination of Italian Renaissance manuscripts of the Scriptores historiae Augustae with special reference to an example in the State Library of Victoria, Thesis (MA) Melbourne, 1982. C. O’Brien, ‘No. 31’ in Manion and Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, no. 31, pl. 22, figs 68-74, pp. 89-91. A.C. de la Mare, ‘New Research on Humanistic Scribes in Florence’, in A. Garzelli (ed.), Miniatura fiorentina del rinascimento, 1440-1525: un primo censimento, Inventarie cataloghi toscani, 2 Vols, 1, Florence, 1985, pp. 395-592, 452-3, 471-3, 521-3. M.M. Manion, ‘Italian manuscripts in Australian collections’, in La miniatura italiana tra Gotico e Rinascimento, E. Sesti (ed.), Atti del II Congresso di Storia della Miniatura Italiana, Cortona, 1982, 2 Vols, Florence, 1985, Pl. 176, fig. 2, pp. 175–88. 12 Melbourne, Gold and Vellum: Illuminated Manuscripts in Australia and New Zealand, exh. cat., University of Melbourne, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, 1989, No. 40. D. Cowley, ‘Scriptores Historiae Augustae: An Historical Note’, The La Trobe Journal, Vol. 45, Autumn 1990, p. 6. R. Taits, ‘The Conservation Treatment of Scriptores Historiae Augustae’, The La Trobe Journal, Vol. 45, Autumn 1990, pp. 8-11. B. Hubber, ‘“Of the Numerous Opportunities”: the Origins of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts at the State Library of Victoria’, The La Trobe Journal, Vols 51–52, 1993, pp. 7-8. C. O’Brien, ‘Lorenzo’s Book: A Medicean Manuscript of the Augustan History’, The La Trobe Journal, Vols 52–53, 1993, pp. 72-8. Canberra, The Book of Kells and the Art of Illumination, exh. cat. National Gallery of Australia, 2000, No. 18, pp. 47-8. F.W. Kent, Lorenzo de Medici and the Art of Magnificence, Baltimore and London, 2004, p. 85. Galizzi, in M. Bollati (ed), Dizionario biografico dei Miniatori Italiani. Secoli IX- XVI, Milan, 2004, p. 729 (which, however, cites the manuscript incorrectly). S. Carmody, ‘”Vain, Aggressive and Somewhat Quarrelsome”: The Enduring Impact of Sir Sydney Cockerell on the Melbourne Collections’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Vol. 13, Art, Academia and the Trade: Sir Sydney Cockerell (1867-1962), 2007, pl. 6, pp. 421-55. F. W. Kent and B. Stocks, ‘Scriptores Historiae Augustae’ in B. Stocks and N. Morgan (eds), The Medieval Imagination, exh. cat. State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 2008, pp. 258-9, no. 89, fig. 47, pl. 89. S. Carmody, ‘William H Robinson, Booksellers and the Public Library of Victoria’, The La Trobe Journal, Vol. 81, Autumn 2008, pp. 90-105. F.W.Kent, ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Scriptores historiae Augustae’, in Kratzmann (ed), Imagination, Books and Community in Medieval Europe, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 137- 43, and fig. 3. H. Hudson, ‘Solidarity, Betrayal, and Opportunism in the Commissioning of Two Florentine Renaissance Manuscripts’, Parergon, Vol. 30.1, 2013, pp. 91-116, figs. 1- 6. | |
| Analysis | ||
| Commentary | This fine Renaissance manuscript and its patron have attracted the attention of scholars since the early 1980s when Cecilia O ‘Brien completed a Master’s thesis on the work. Her findings were published in Manion and Vines (1984) and then more fully in the La Trobe Journal in 1993.21 Later writers, including Albinia de la Mare (1993), F.W. Kent and Bronwyn Stocks (2008), F.W. Kent (2009) and Hugh Hudson (2013) have confirmed her identification of the scribe and the artist, together with the declared interests of the book’s patron Lorenzo de’ Medici. At the same time, they have recognised certain differences in the Scriptores from other works owned by Lorenzo, as well as the fact that he seems to have commissioned very few books or works of art at this time which followed on from the assassination of his brother Giuliano as part of the Pazzi conspiracy, and the downturn of his own political prospects. Kent and Stocks suggest that the book may have been a more personal commission than most of Lorenzo’s books, and Hudson extends this theory proposing that the book may even have been a commission made by the family for Lorenzo. The recent identification of an Orsini coat-of-arms on the title-page, which probably refers to Lorenzo’s wife Clarice Orsini, has also helped to focus attention on the interests of Lorenzo’s family. O’Brien has shown that the Medici devices and mottoes on the title-page relate closely to Lorenzo’s marriage celebration a decade earlier. The event was recorded in Luigi Pulci’s poem, La Giostra di Lorenzo de’ Medici.
Blooming and wilting roses, pearls, rubies and diamonds, the broncone and the motto ‘Le Tens Revient’, all feature in the poem and the title-page.22 The presence of Poliziano’s annotations in the manuscript accords with the very close practical and intellectual partnership that the poet enjoyed with Lorenzo from the early 1470s onwards.23 | |
| Description by | ||
| Acknowledgements | Digital imaging and research on this manuscript were supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australia: Researching and Relating Australia’s Manuscript Holdings to New Technologies and New Readers. Substantial donations from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Catholic Church Insurance and the National Australia Bank are gratefully acknowledged. The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, The Network for Early European Research, and Newman College, The University of Melbourne, have also generously contributed to the project. These detailed entries draw on the information in earlier catalogues and updates it. In particular, they are based on the following: K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts in Australia, Sydney, 1969, M. M. Manion and V. F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, and B. Stocks and N. Morgan, eds, The Medieval Imagination: Illuminated Manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, 2008. Our debt to these pioneering publications and dependence on them are acknowledged here. ARC Team The ARC team comprised Chief Investigators (CIs) Professor emeritus Margaret Manion (The University of Melbourne), Professor Bernard Muir (The University of Melbourne), and Dr Toby Burrows (The University of Western Australia). Shane Carmody was the representative of the Chief Industry Partner (The State Library of Victoria). Graduate research assistants were Alexandra Ellem, Dr Hugh Hudson and Dr Elaine Shaw. Postgraduate scholar and conservator Elizabeth Melzer (The University of Melbourne) contributed expertise in medieval materials, and the following curators, conservators, photographers and computer specialists at The State Library of Victoria provided valuable specialist assistance: Katrina Ben, Des Cowley, Ian Cox, Adrian Flint, Ross Genat, Jean Holland, Shelley Jamieson, Afsana Khan, Coralie McInnes, Monika McIntyre, Helen McPherson, Peter Mappin and Sarah Mason. Other contributors, besides the ARC team, both in Australia and overseas, are acknowledged in the relevant endnotes. Margaret M. Manion, on behalf of the ARC team, October, 2013. | |
| Other descriptions | 1 The colophon gives the date as January 1478. Since the Florentine year began on March 25, this would be 1479 by today’s calendar. 4 For this artist, see Levi D’Ancona, 1962, pp.175-81; O’Brien 1984, pp. 90-1; O’Brien, 1981, pp. 43- 59. Galizzi, 2004, pp. 727-29; and Hudson, 2013, pp. 94-5. It is incorrect to say that O’Brien ‘did not take credit explicitly in her published writings ‘ for the attribution to Mariano del Buono. This is clearly discussed in her article in Manion and Vines (1984), p. 91. 5 Terence, Eunuchus, l. 276. 7 See Ullman (1960, pp. 122-3); de la Mare (1984, pp.262-4); Carmody (2008, p. 100); Hudson (2013, pp. 93-4). 9 Oral communication and notes made on her visit to view the manuscript at the State Library of Victoria in November, 1999. 12 Translation based on Hudson (2013, p. 93). | |
| Digital copies | http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/180358 |