Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Hieronymous Manuscript



"The work contains the commentaries of Saint Jerome (+420) on the epistles of Saint Paul. The illumination is the work of Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni. On the left side of the double title-page is a list of contents and on the right side - between Matthias' emblems - the royal arms can be seen at the bottom, the Hunyadi arms at the top, as well as portraits of Matthias and Beatrix. The di Giovanni brothers were popular miniaturists in the last years of the king's reign; six of the surviving manuscripts from the Corvinian library are their work. Many of the inside pages were also decorated using the favourite motifs of Renaissance illumination in the same abundance as on the title-page: putti, birds, vases, candelabra and weapons. After repeated requests by the Hungarian estates, Prince Francis of Modena donated the manuscript to the library in 1847. However, it was seized on the way in Vienna and did not reach the library until 1891. It was returned to Modena after the Treaty of Trianon and it was only in 1927 that it came permanently into our possession."

Hieronymus: Commentarii in epistolas S. Pauli 1488 körül. Firenze, Pergamen - at the Bibliotecha Corviniana Digitalis in Hungary, who have quite a few manuscripts online. Oh, that's a library stamp on the bottom right of the title page detail.

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