OVA - ORIGIN(S) • MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE WORKS

The series of sales will begin with “Origin(s)” • Medieval and Renaissance Works offered by Aguttes. Forty-five charters, manuscripts, incunabula and printed works from medieval times to great Renaissance discoveries are grouped together in a sale with a total estimate of €4.5 million. The charters and documents cover part of France’s history, from the charter in favour of the Abbey of Corbie dated August 825 to a letter from Marie de’ MEDICI (1575-1642) to her aunt in 1622. Also included is a letter from Jean II LE BON (1319-1364) to his son while he was a captive in England, letters from Louis XII (1462-1515), François I (1494-1547) and his sister Marguerite D’ANGOULÊME, Queen of Navarre (1492-1549), Henri II (1519-1559), one from Henri IV (1553-1610) to Pope Paul V, and a letter written by Charles IX (1550-1574).[LUCE DE GAT; HELIE DE BORON (ATTRIBUTED TO)]. [TRISTAN ET ISEULT (TRISTAN IN PROSE)].
 
GREAT HOURS OF GALEAZZO MARIA SFORZA: BOOK OF HOURS, ACCORDING TO THE ROMAN RITE

 

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The manuscript of the Great Hours of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, in Latin and Italian, illuminated on parchment in Milan in around 1471-1476, is another masterpiece of the sale (estimate: €600,000-800,000). It was copied and illuminated for Galeazzo Maria Sforza. First Count of Pavia, then Duke of Milan, he was born in Fermo (Marches region) on 24 January 1444 and died in Milan on 26 December 1476. He was the son of Cosimo de’ Medici’s ally François Sforza (d. 1466) and Bianca Maria Visconti. He first married the daughter of Ludovico III of Mantua, Dorotea Gonzaga (1449-1467), who died in Pavia the following year on 24 April 1467. The following year, he married his second wife, Bona of Savoy (1449-1485), daughter of Louis I, Duke of Savoy, and Anne of Lusignan. After a chequered rule marked by his love of the arts and his cruel, tyrannical and lecherous behaviour, Galeazzo was assassinated on 26 December 1476 in the church of Santo Stefano, Milan. This Book of Hours is a monument to the glory of the Duke of Milan: the prince’s emblems are almost as prominent as the those of the religious subjects in the dropped initials. Of an exceptional size, almost as large as the Grandes Heures du Duc de Berry (each bi-folio required an entire goatskin), the manuscript could have been used with a lectern in a princely chapel. The historiated initials are by the hand of a very subtle Milanese artist, known as the Master of Ippolita Sforza, active in Lombardy from 1450 to 1475. His name comes from the manuscripts he illuminated for Galeazzo Maria’s sister, Ippolita Sforza, notably for her marriage to Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Calabria, in 1465.


THE “PETAU” HOURS: BOOK OF HOURS ACCORDING TO THE ROMAN RITE

 

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Leading the auction is the so-called “Petau” Book of Hours, estimated between €700,000 and €900,000. It is named after the Petau family [Paul Petau (1568-1614) or Alexandre Petau (1610-1672)], an owner identified by the painted coat of arms, added in the 17th century. The Petaus were major books and archives collectors, who opened the doors of their library to 17th-century scholars. Some, like Jacques Sirmond and André Duchesne, even published some texts they found there. The manuscripts of this library (known as the Petaviani) were acquired between 1590 and 1659 (when the acquisition date is known). Alexandre Petau possessed more than 1,800 works in 1650. The same year, he sold nearly 1,500 of them to Queen Christina of Sweden. On her death, her collection was transmitted to the Vatican library, which now contains a large number of the volumes once belonging to the Petaus. At the end of his life, Alexandre Petau owned a small collection of approximately 300 manuscripts and incunabula, which were gradually sold. In the 18th century, it seems that the Petau Book of Hours belonged to the Van Vooghts of Bruges before joining the collection of Baron James de Rothschild, who had it bound with his arms.Decorated and written in Latin on parchment, the book evinces extraordinary skill in the page layout. The 16 medallions in gold monochrome are the work of Jean POYER, a Touraine artist active between 1490 and 1520, whose patrons included Anne of Brittany and her two royal husbands, Charles VIII and Louis XII. The presentation of these medallions with biblical scenes or figures is exceptional. Jean Poyer designed them in pairs (on both sides) at the beginning and end of each section in the various liturgical divisions. The inserted pages are hollowed out in the centre, so that viewers can admire the gold monochromes while reading the text that goes with them.


 

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MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE), Essais de Messire Seigneur de Montaigne

 

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