J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. Ludwig XV 7, fol. 59r, 1405 | MARGOT

Detailed manuscript information (based on Roman de la Rose: digital surrogates of medieval manuscripts and Anton von Euw and Joachim M. Plotzek, Die Handschriften der Sammlung Ludwig, Cologne: SchnÃ¼gen-Museum, 1979-85, vol. 4:228-239.)

Parchment, measure: 372x258mm, 138 folios, two columns, 44 lines.

Scene depicted

Jealous husband speaks to his wife about vanity.

Miniature description

Size:

Column picture.

Height: 13 lines

Material and colors:

Parchment

Blue, gray, gold leaf

Initial:

Decorated foliate initial “Q” on gilt background. Foliate in red with white ink detail. Stem in blue with white ink detail. Initial is red with white ink detail. Gold foliate extenders from the initial and from gilt background partially border the miniature and the bottom left side of the text.

Frame:

Gilt outer frame with blue/white and red/white bar inner frame.

Background:

Nature: sky and bench and grass ground

Place of production of miniature:

Paris (?), France

Date of production of miniature:

1405

Detailed description

Allegories:

Jealous husband on the left

Wife on the right

Clothing:

* semi-grisaille. Landscape, flesh and objects are rendered in color, whereas clothing is not.

1. Jealous husband:

Houppeland
Girdle with sword attached
Chaperon
Ducal mortier

2. Wife:

Houppeland

Red girdle decorated with gold accents
Butterfly headdress and wimple

Gestures:

The jealous husband's index finger is elevated signifying his role as instructor to his wife. The wife’s hands are crossed over her legs, and she looks to the ground as her husband accuses her.

Objects:

Sword attached to husband's girdle.

Stone bench

Landscape:

Blue sky

Small patch of grass at the bottom right of the miniature.

Ex-libris

On the recto of the first flyleaf: The owner is probably Jean du Rueil (1474-1537) according to an erased entry, read as J Duryeil.
On the verso of the same leaf: A medieval entry reading (La) mauie and F. Lorris (?).
Louis-Jean Gaignat (1697-1768).
Charles-Adrien Picard. Philippe l'Ain, Marseille (glued on the recto of the 2nd overleaf, the text from the auction catalog of his manuscripts).
Possible owners of the manuscript: Claude-Joseph Clos (1812); Probably Count MacCarthy-Reagh (1744-1811); William Beckford, Fonthill (1759-1844), bought Oct. 1814 from Auguste Chardin, Paris; in Beckford's inventory of the year 1844, it carried the no. 36; Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852); he inherited the manuscripts of his father-in-law, William Beckford (on the recto of the 1st overleaf in pencil HB no. 427); Berlin, Graphiksammlung of the Königlich-Preußisches Museum. Albert de Naurois (his ex libris with the motto "Tantum prodest quantum prosunt" in the inner front cover); Edouard Rahir, Paris (1862-1924); Adolphe Bordes; Jacques Guérin.

The manuscript belongs to the most beautiful of the approximately three hundred extant Roman de la Rose manuscripts. Furthermore it is, with its 101 column-wide miniature paintings, one of the most richly decorated copies of the text that was so popular from its emergence into the 16th century.