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Detailed record for Harley 3305
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| Author |
Aristotle, translated by Leonardus Brunus Aretinus |
| Title |
Ethica |
| Origin |
Italy, N. (Milan) |
| Date |
2nd quarter of the 15th century (before 1440) |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Humanistic |
| Artists |
In the style of the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum |
| Decoration |
11 historiated initials in colours and gold, 1 at the beginning of the prologue and of each book (ff. 2, 5v, 16v, 24v, 37v, 49v, 62, 70v, 84, 96, 107v). Blue initials with red pen-flourishing and red initials with purple pen-flourishing. Rubrics in red. |
| Dimensions in mm |
280 x 205 ( 180 x 115) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 121 (+ 1 unfoliated paper and 1 parchment flyleaf at the beginning + 2 unfoliated parchement and 1 paper flyleaf at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers. |
| Provenance |
Jacobus de Ardicijs [Arditi] of Naples, ducal chamberlain: inscription recording the gift of this manuscript by him to Iñigo Dávalos on 27 April 1440: 'Iste librer [sic] datus fuit mihi ynico de davalos per spectabilem iacobum de ardicijs ducalem camerarium die iouis xx vii aprilis Anno M cccc xxxx' (f. 121v).
Iñigo Dávalos of Castile and Naples, commander of the Spanish troops in Naples (d. 1484): his arms (ff. 2, 5v (and the initials 'I' and 'N'), 70v, 84); mentioned in inscription on f. 121v (see above).
John Gibson (fl. 1720-1726), dealer; sold to Edward Harley on 13 February 1723/4 (see Diary 1966; Wright 1972).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '13 die Februarij, A.D. 1723/4' (f. 1).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
f. 1 is a parchment flyleaf.
Horizontal catchwords; ruled in hardpoint.
Iñigo Dávalos also owned Add. 15246, which has his arms on ff. 28v, 29 (Wright, 1976, 467, n. 21). For Add. 15246, see Albinia de la Mare article in A.S. Osley, Calligraphy and Palaeography. Essays presented to Alfred Fairbank on his 70th birthday (London: Faber and Faber, 1965), pp. 55-68, and, on Dávalos, p. 62 n. 34).
The Master of the 'Vitae Imperatorum' was active in Lombardy in the first half of the 15th century. On his career, see Bollati 2004, pp. 587-89. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 3305.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 273 n. 2.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 53, 125, 162.
Cyril Ernest Wright, 'Manuscripts of Italian Provenance in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum: Their Sources, Associations and Channels of Acquisition', in Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance. Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller, ed. by C. H. Clough (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976), pp. 462-84 (p. 467).
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum: Accedunt Alia Itinera: A Finding List of Uncatalogued or Incompletely Catalogued Humanistic Manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and other Libraries 7 vols (London: Warburg Institute; Leiden: Brill, 1963-1997), IV (1989), p. 168.
Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: Secoli IX-XVI , ed. by Milvia Bollati (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004), pp. 587-89. |
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f. 5v
Historiated initial |
f. 16v
Historiated initial |
f. 24v
Historiated initial |
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