[Eastern France, c.1480]

An engaging miniature once illustrating what would have been an imposing copy of the Romuléon, a work drawn from several classical and Christian authors that tells the story of Rome and the Romans from the time of Romulus and Remus to Constantine the Great.

The original compilation, in Latin, was made by Benvenuto da Imola between 1361 and 1364, but in the 1460s, in response to the courtly taste for histories and chronicles in the vernacular, two writers independently undertook to translate the work into French (see S. McKendrick, 'The Romuléon and the MSS of Edward IV', Proceedings of the 1992 Harlaxton Symposium, 1994, pp.149-69). The present miniature illustrated a chapter of the translation of Jean Miélot, resident of Lille between 1453 and 1472, who was in the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, from around 1448 until the duke's death in 1467. Only six complete manuscripts of Miélot's translation survive, all of them luxury volumes made in the southern Netherlands for members or friends of the Burgundian court.

The present miniature was part of a group of fourteen from the same manuscript, sold at Christie's, 21 June 1989, lots 6-11. They were attributed to an illuminator active in Langres between 1480 and 1493 serving clients in Champagne and Lorraine (N. Reynaud in Les Manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, p. 376). The artist was subsequently named as one Langres illuminator Pierre Garnier, who worked at the court of René d'Anjou between 1476-1480 (J. Lauga 'Les Manuscrits liturgiques dans le diocèse de Langres à la fin du Moyen âge : les commanditaires et leurs artistes', thesis, Paris 4, Sorbonne, 2007).

Provenance:
The fragmentary parent manuscript to which these and other dispersed miniatures once belonged has been identified in Niort (Médiathèque Pierre-Moinot, Cote RESG2F), given in 1884 by Edmond-Emmanuel Arnauldet. It is the only known copy of the Romuléon that is French in origin. For this manuscript and sister detached miniatures see S. McKendrick, 'Charles the Bold and the Romuléon: Reception, Loss and Influence’, in Kunst und Kultur-Transfer zür Zeit Karls des Kühnen, eds N. Gramaccini & M. C. Schurr, 2012, pp.59-84).

The volume from which it came is Niort, Bibliothèque Municipale, ms. Réserve G2F, formerly ms.25. The manuscript's frontispiece is in the Musée de Cluny in Paris, acquired by 1883; other pieces are in the Musée de Limoges. The present cutting was part of lot 9 from an album of 14 miniatures dispersed at Christie's, 21 June 1989, lots 6-11.

Physical description:
120 x 96mm (4¾ x 3¾ in.), miniature enclosing the rubric 'Le xvie chapitre suetonius’, verso with 20 lines of text in black ink in a formal hybrid bookhand with one decorated foliate initial.

Please note this lot is the property of a private consignor.