Ars: časopis Ústavu Dejín Umenia Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (44.2011)

ŠTÚDIE / ARTICLES

ARS 44, 2011, 2

Images from the Production Line. Constructing Saints' Lives
in the d 7/^/7))'

Béla Zsolt SZAKÁCS

The is an extremely
rieh treasure house of medieval iconography. Even
in its fragmented state (its pages dtspersed to six
collections of four countries^), this luxurious manu-
script depicts in 549 miniatures 58 cycles of the life
of Christ, the Death of the Virgin, and the legends
of John the Baptist, the apostles, martyrs, confes-
sors, virgins and holy women in hierarchical order.
The narrative follows the of Jacobus
de Voragine and, in the cases of East Central Euro-
pean saints (Gerhard of Csanâd, Ladislas, Emeric,
Stanislas), other local legends. The sélection of saints
points to a commission from the Hungarian Angevin
court. Its style, typical of the second quarter of the
14* Century, is dosest to Bolognese manuscripts but

' The biggest part is preserved in the Vatican (Biblioteca
Apostolica, Vat. Lat. 8541, 106 fols.),while single pages are
kept in St. Petersburg (Hermitage, 16930-16954), Berkeley
(University of California, Bancroft Library, f2MSA2M21300-
37), New York (Metropolitan Museum, 1994.516) and Paris
(Louvre, RF 29940), and 85 miniatures are in the Pierpont
Morgan Library, New York (M.360.1-26).
' The literatuře on the VÎTZgwA is vast.
Recent articles in international languages include TÖRÖK,
Gy: Problems of the Hungarian Angevin Legendary. A New
Folio in the Louvre. In: Hr/g ChvAzTM, 89, 2001, pp. 417-426;
and SZAKACS, B. Zs.: Le culte des saints à la cour et le
Légendaire des Anjou-Hongrie. In: LTAnyv AiMy/iw. Paris
2001, pp. 195-201. For a füll bibliography, see SZAKÂCS, B.
Zs.: H fř/zAy^rA Budapest 2006,
pp. 297-301. The present article is based on my monography
which is to be published in English in the near future.
^ There are a relatively large number of early cycles that we
know of and a serious tradition exists especially for the hrst

with unique features, and as such Flungary has also
been proposed as the place of executionr
Evidendy, for such a large amount of images the
existing visual hagiographie repertory was hardly
enough. Even in the Bolognese workshops, pre-
pared for mass production of illuminated manu-
scripts, fabrication of such an enormous illustrated
encyclopedia of the saints' life was unusual. Some
of the legends could hâve been based on existing
prototypes, e.g. we can find rather close parallels to
the cycles of VincenE and Georged In many other
cases, and especially for the rarely depicted figures
(Fabian, Brice, Hilary, Remy etc.) or "exotic" East
Central European saints, no established tradition for
the depiction was available. Moreover, even some
three (arrest, torture with an iron claw and hery spikes) and
the last three images (a raven guarding the body, which is
then tossed m water, and hnally buried by Christians). Cf.
KAFTAL, G: q TAzA A /A PAzzzPzg V APrA
HVvPAy. Florence 1952, p. 660; KAFTAL, G: V
/A PAzzA A (AzzAtz/zzzzP VzzA WAz PAzzA'/zg- Florence 1965, p.
1132; L^xz'A/z Ar AvVPA^zz ÎAzzçgrzpAh Ed. W BRAUNFELS.
Rom — Freiburg i. B. — Basel — Wien 1968 — 1976, Vol. 8, pp.
568-572.
^ The closest analogy to the image sequence assembled in the
codex is the ca. 1410 — 1420 altar of St. George from Valencia,
usually attributed to Marzal de Sas, now in the Victoria &
Albert Museum, London. Ail eight of the surviving images
from the Hzzzzgďnh/zMzzgřAzz L^řzzzAry hâve an analogue among
the eighteen scenes from this altarpiece. The connection is
obviously not direct, but C. M. Kauffmann has suggested that
the Spanish altar may hâve had a similar codex as a prototype.
- KAUFFMANN, C. M.: The Altar-Piece of St. George from
Valencia. In: Uz'cAvlz gzzziXÍ/AztAízzjřzz/zz YArA<A, 2, 1970,
p. 90.

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