DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14714#0072
DESCRIPTION OF MS.
THE ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES
WRITTEN FOR ONE OF THE FARNESI FAMILY.
NOWLEDGE of illuminated manuscripts, and the experience derived from frequent examinations of them, enable a
student to assign the probable date to a work, at a single glance. This beautiful copy of the Orations of Demosthenes
is evidently a work of Italian art, executed towards the close of the fifteenth century: an era when the discovery of
many of the greatest works of ancient sculpture, that had remained buried for ages, was beginning to give a new direction
to artistic taste. This new feeling, which was destined so soon to sweep away the elaborate and graceful fancies of that
Gothic art which had produced those great European monuments, the Cathedrals—the pyramids of the middle ages,
was followed out in Italy, the scene of the great discoveries of ancient art, long before it crossed the Alps. In that
country, the cinq-cento taste, as it has been termed, had been in activity nearly half a century before the "gout de la
renaissance' began to establish itself in France, and nearly a century before a similar reaction took place in England ;
where our chisellers were busily engaged upon the gouls, goblins, monsters, heraldic intricacies, elaborate fretwork, and other inventions
of Northern art, about Henry VII.'s beautiful chapel at Westminster, at a time when, in Rome, the new and stupendous fabric of St. Peter's
had already reared its classical cornice above the Corinthian capitals of its gigantic columns, and was fast advancing towards completion. This
architectural comparison will not appear foreign to the subject, when we consider the close connection of apparently distinct branches of art, by
some connecting link; which may be illustrated by the singular chronological coincidence of architectural forms with those adopted in writing,
exhibited in the simultaneous adoption of an angular feeling, both in writing and architecture, towards the end of the 12th century, when the
pointed arch and the Gothic or German text, as it has been called, appeared together, As in architecture, so in the branch of art of which we are
treating, the Italians preceded us in the adoption of the new style of the 15 th century; and the angular characteristics of Gothic design were still
prevalent in the more Northern parts of Europe, while such works as our present specimen exhibit their total abandonment in Italy. Here we see
mythological subjects copied from, or suggested by, ancient bassi-rilievi; and the variously-coloured scrollings, evidently germinating from ideas
gleaned among the frescoes of the Baths of Titus, or other similar Roman remains, which excavations accidentally laid bare about this period; to
which we are also indebted for the elegant arabesques ol Raphael in the loggie of the Vatican, and may similar works in other Italian palaces
of that date.
In the instance, however, of the bordering of the elegant page we are describing, the artist has not been a servile copyist; for the spirit of
Gothic intricacy, not yet extinct, has evidently presided over his composition, producing a delightful combination of elaborate contrasts. In the
relievo medallions, we sometimes find figures of gold upon a silver ground; in others, the figures are of silver upon a gold ground, and some are
entirely gold, relieved with a rich brown shadow colour. In the scrollings, too, we find a variety and florid richness not to be met with in the
antique designs which suggested them, whilst the rich spangling of gold stars filling up the background is exclusively Gothic in its character.
The whole of the composition, though not striking, from its small dimension, is full of graceful fancy and design; indeed, the invention bestowed
upon the great number of infant figures, all in different positions, and the variety of colouring in the flowers and foliage, lavished upon a single page
of a little book, exhibits a love of art, both in its patronage and practice, which, in our manufacturing matter-of-fact times, appear almost incredible.
\lT_. ,£^0' ----
XQUISITE volumes, such as the present, could only be purchased by the rich, and this one was evidently executed for one
of the Farnesi, a name intimately connected with the history of Italian art in the 15th century, the arms of that family
being emblazoned in the lower part of the border. It was, at a later period, in the possession of the noble Neapolitan
family, Caraffa della Spina, whose printed arms are pasted inside the cover; eventually, it found its way to this country,
and was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum. It contains but this one illuminated page, and some rich
capitals at the commencement of the different orations, two of which, a K and an E, have been selected, as specimens of
its embellishments of this description. The book consists of some of the orations of Demosthenes, with the addition of the
prologues of Libanius, a Greek author of the 3d century, who appears to have written these commentaries, or introductions,
for the Roman proconsul Montios. The blue label, at the top of the page, contains the title, as follows : —
AIBANIOT rnO0E2I2 TP.N ACTftN AHMO20ENOT2.
(Libanius's Introduction to the Discourses of Demosthenes.)
The prologue then commences. The portion on the page we have given may be thus nearly literally translated :—
" Since, O most excellent proconsul Montius, like the illustrious Homer, skilled in the powers of eloquence, you hold the first place in Roman
discourse, and have, beyond dispute, obtained the palm in their learning, may you not neglect Greek literature, for in this also you may excel, by
reason of the greatness of your genius; and, as you are learned in other authors, so also (may you be) in the works of Demosthenes, the most
excellent of Greek orators : and since you require me to write the introductions to this man's orations, I will willingly obey your commands, not
ignorant that there is more of honour than labour in the task."
The text, in modern Greek characters, is here given, as those of the manuscript are frequently rather obscure : —
" 'EireiS$j KpoTKTTC avBvn&Tuv MiJwie, KOTtk rbv 'Ojifipinbv aarpo-rraiov, irepifiefrog t& tig y6yaug tbv, irpantvtig p\\v iv Ty 'PtoJuafai' (pavg, Kal rijg nap' iictlvoig iratStiag
6fi.o\oyovntvmg rb ■nptaiiiov avyptfaar a/xt\t7g 8e oiSi rijg 'EAATjwKtjf, Sire ko! iv avry Sih t!> rrjg tpiatag, ptytBog {mtpexliV Svv&utvog. AAAct ntpt re toiq SAAuic, 5iaTpi'Cei£, Kal irtpl
Thy TtXtc&raTOv t&v ''EWrjviKutv prt)r6poiv rbv Ar}p.oa6tv})v Kal 5tj Kal rjuag T}£ov\f,8i}g Tag inrodtattg txv Tutirov \6yav avaypdtyaadai aot. Atx^f^a tivptvot rb irpdajayfia' tafitv yap oti
irKt'iw r^v TtjU^c % tt6vov fx€t*"
We have not entered into greater detail upon the contents of the volume, or the style of execution of the writing, i.s the object of the present
work is not so much with the literary or pateographical portions of the subject, as with the illuminations, in reference to their connection with the
history of decorative art; and we have studiously kept these descriptions within a small compass, as the subjects will necessarily be again alluded to
in the continuous sketch of the history of the art of illumination, which will be published with the last Number of this work.
THE ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES
WRITTEN FOR ONE OF THE FARNESI FAMILY.
NOWLEDGE of illuminated manuscripts, and the experience derived from frequent examinations of them, enable a
student to assign the probable date to a work, at a single glance. This beautiful copy of the Orations of Demosthenes
is evidently a work of Italian art, executed towards the close of the fifteenth century: an era when the discovery of
many of the greatest works of ancient sculpture, that had remained buried for ages, was beginning to give a new direction
to artistic taste. This new feeling, which was destined so soon to sweep away the elaborate and graceful fancies of that
Gothic art which had produced those great European monuments, the Cathedrals—the pyramids of the middle ages,
was followed out in Italy, the scene of the great discoveries of ancient art, long before it crossed the Alps. In that
country, the cinq-cento taste, as it has been termed, had been in activity nearly half a century before the "gout de la
renaissance' began to establish itself in France, and nearly a century before a similar reaction took place in England ;
where our chisellers were busily engaged upon the gouls, goblins, monsters, heraldic intricacies, elaborate fretwork, and other inventions
of Northern art, about Henry VII.'s beautiful chapel at Westminster, at a time when, in Rome, the new and stupendous fabric of St. Peter's
had already reared its classical cornice above the Corinthian capitals of its gigantic columns, and was fast advancing towards completion. This
architectural comparison will not appear foreign to the subject, when we consider the close connection of apparently distinct branches of art, by
some connecting link; which may be illustrated by the singular chronological coincidence of architectural forms with those adopted in writing,
exhibited in the simultaneous adoption of an angular feeling, both in writing and architecture, towards the end of the 12th century, when the
pointed arch and the Gothic or German text, as it has been called, appeared together, As in architecture, so in the branch of art of which we are
treating, the Italians preceded us in the adoption of the new style of the 15 th century; and the angular characteristics of Gothic design were still
prevalent in the more Northern parts of Europe, while such works as our present specimen exhibit their total abandonment in Italy. Here we see
mythological subjects copied from, or suggested by, ancient bassi-rilievi; and the variously-coloured scrollings, evidently germinating from ideas
gleaned among the frescoes of the Baths of Titus, or other similar Roman remains, which excavations accidentally laid bare about this period; to
which we are also indebted for the elegant arabesques ol Raphael in the loggie of the Vatican, and may similar works in other Italian palaces
of that date.
In the instance, however, of the bordering of the elegant page we are describing, the artist has not been a servile copyist; for the spirit of
Gothic intricacy, not yet extinct, has evidently presided over his composition, producing a delightful combination of elaborate contrasts. In the
relievo medallions, we sometimes find figures of gold upon a silver ground; in others, the figures are of silver upon a gold ground, and some are
entirely gold, relieved with a rich brown shadow colour. In the scrollings, too, we find a variety and florid richness not to be met with in the
antique designs which suggested them, whilst the rich spangling of gold stars filling up the background is exclusively Gothic in its character.
The whole of the composition, though not striking, from its small dimension, is full of graceful fancy and design; indeed, the invention bestowed
upon the great number of infant figures, all in different positions, and the variety of colouring in the flowers and foliage, lavished upon a single page
of a little book, exhibits a love of art, both in its patronage and practice, which, in our manufacturing matter-of-fact times, appear almost incredible.
\lT_. ,£^0' ----
XQUISITE volumes, such as the present, could only be purchased by the rich, and this one was evidently executed for one
of the Farnesi, a name intimately connected with the history of Italian art in the 15th century, the arms of that family
being emblazoned in the lower part of the border. It was, at a later period, in the possession of the noble Neapolitan
family, Caraffa della Spina, whose printed arms are pasted inside the cover; eventually, it found its way to this country,
and was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum. It contains but this one illuminated page, and some rich
capitals at the commencement of the different orations, two of which, a K and an E, have been selected, as specimens of
its embellishments of this description. The book consists of some of the orations of Demosthenes, with the addition of the
prologues of Libanius, a Greek author of the 3d century, who appears to have written these commentaries, or introductions,
for the Roman proconsul Montios. The blue label, at the top of the page, contains the title, as follows : —
AIBANIOT rnO0E2I2 TP.N ACTftN AHMO20ENOT2.
(Libanius's Introduction to the Discourses of Demosthenes.)
The prologue then commences. The portion on the page we have given may be thus nearly literally translated :—
" Since, O most excellent proconsul Montius, like the illustrious Homer, skilled in the powers of eloquence, you hold the first place in Roman
discourse, and have, beyond dispute, obtained the palm in their learning, may you not neglect Greek literature, for in this also you may excel, by
reason of the greatness of your genius; and, as you are learned in other authors, so also (may you be) in the works of Demosthenes, the most
excellent of Greek orators : and since you require me to write the introductions to this man's orations, I will willingly obey your commands, not
ignorant that there is more of honour than labour in the task."
The text, in modern Greek characters, is here given, as those of the manuscript are frequently rather obscure : —
" 'EireiS$j KpoTKTTC avBvn&Tuv MiJwie, KOTtk rbv 'Ojifipinbv aarpo-rraiov, irepifiefrog t& tig y6yaug tbv, irpantvtig p\\v iv Ty 'PtoJuafai' (pavg, Kal rijg nap' iictlvoig iratStiag
6fi.o\oyovntvmg rb ■nptaiiiov avyptfaar a/xt\t7g 8e oiSi rijg 'EAATjwKtjf, Sire ko! iv avry Sih t!> rrjg tpiatag, ptytBog {mtpexliV Svv&utvog. AAAct ntpt re toiq SAAuic, 5iaTpi'Cei£, Kal irtpl
Thy TtXtc&raTOv t&v ''EWrjviKutv prt)r6poiv rbv Ar}p.oa6tv})v Kal 5tj Kal rjuag T}£ov\f,8i}g Tag inrodtattg txv Tutirov \6yav avaypdtyaadai aot. Atx^f^a tivptvot rb irpdajayfia' tafitv yap oti
irKt'iw r^v TtjU^c % tt6vov fx€t*"
We have not entered into greater detail upon the contents of the volume, or the style of execution of the writing, i.s the object of the present
work is not so much with the literary or pateographical portions of the subject, as with the illuminations, in reference to their connection with the
history of decorative art; and we have studiously kept these descriptions within a small compass, as the subjects will necessarily be again alluded to
in the continuous sketch of the history of the art of illumination, which will be published with the last Number of this work.