J. Paul Getty Museum, MS. Ludwig XV 7, fol. 91v, 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: Schnügen-Museum, 1979-85, vol. 4:228-239.)

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

Scene depicted

The Duenna's story of the wife and her lover and the Jealous Husband.

Miniature description

Size:

372x258mm

Column miniature.

Height: 13 lines

Material and colors:

Parchment

Gold leaf, blue, red, white, brown, black, grey, green

Frame:

Simple gold leaf exterior frame with simple red, blue and white inner frame.

Background:

Rudimentary perspective. The background shows a blue sky, brown earth, and the interior of a room. There is a brownish canape bed in the room; brown arching beams are on the ceiling.

Initial:

Red, blue and white foliated initial "D" over a gold leaf background. There are gold leaf foliate extenders springing upwards and downwards from the inital, partially framing the miniature and the text on the left.

Place of production of miniature:

Paris, France

Date of production of miniature:

1405

Similarities with other images of the corpus:

This image seems to have no parallels in the other manuscripts of Le Roman de la Rose.

Secondary Sources:

Euw, Anton von et Joachim M. Plotzek. Die Handschriften der Sammlung Ludwig. Cologne: Schnügen-Museum, 1979-85, tome 4: 228-239.

Detailed description

Allegories:

The lover and the wife are on the left.

The jealous husband is on the right.

Clothing:

*Semi-grisaille

1. The lover

Houppeland with high collar

2. The wife

White cotehardie
Brown headdress

3. The jealous husband

Mostly covered under a sheet because he is in bed.
Sleeping cap visible on his head.

Architecture:

The scene is represented within a room whose interior can be seen through an open archway. The room seems to have a flat wooden roof with wooden beams across it. The wooden beams appear arched, but this is probably from the artist's attempt to convey perspective. On the left there is an arched window and on the exterior view there is a cornice.

Gestures:

The Duenna's lesson of a wife and her lover who become intimate while her jealous husband sleeps. The lover has his right hand up the wife's gown and his left hand around her waist, supporting her. He is leaning towards her. The wife is leaning on the bed with her left hand. The jealous husband is asleep beside them.

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.