Decameron Vaticano. Boccaccio

At the time of the plague epidemic of 1348 in Florence, seven women and three men betake themselves to a protective country house outside the gates of the Italian city. There, they pass the time by telling entertaining and cryptic stories: each of the ten present tells a tale each night concerning a given subject. Thus arose a work of 100 novellas, a “ten-day-work”, the famous Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), originating from the mid–14th century.

World Literature in the First French Translation

The Decameron is counted among the milestones of world literature, and it immediately enchanted its readers after its publication. The precious manuscript in the Vatican Library contains the text of the Decameron in the oldest French translation of the work. Laurent de Premierfait, an important 15th century humanist literati, translated Boccaccio’s masterpiece between 1411 and 1414 into French from a Latin version. Shortly after its completion, an initial manuscript, now known as Codex Pal. Lat 1989, emerged with the text and is simultaneously a milestone in the history of French illumination. Not only the text, but also the artistic adornment with 100 miniatures make the manuscript something special. Here for the first time, each of the 100 tales is illustrated with its own depiction.

The Creator of the Masterful Miniatures

The so-called Master of the Cité des Dames. This great French miniaturist had a Parisian workshop at the beginning of the 15th century and illustrated inter alia multiple manuscripts of the Cité des Dames by Christine Pizan – hence his name. The Master of the Cité des Dames worked inter alia with Jacquemart de Hesdin and predominantly illustrated literary and historical works. His gorgeous and haunting depictions of everyday life during his time made him one of the most outstanding representatives of his art.

A Colorful Round Dance of Pictures

The beholder finds an unbelievable narrative variety in the 100 half-page miniatures of the French Decameron manuscript. Noble ladies and a sultan’s daughter, famous scholars and pious churchmen, kings and robbers – they all people the illustrations and the stories of tragic accidents, heated discussions, and joyful weddings. The scenes – whether in interior spaces, on the water, in the forest, or in a city – are gorgeously colorful and spatially designed with detailed Gothic architectural elements and numerous details in gold. Even the decorative graceful fleuronnée ornamentation glimmers gold as lavish marginal decoration.

A Precious Gift?

This opulently designed manuscript originated ca. 1415 in Paris and can be accounted for in the collections of the Burgundian Dukes John the Fearless and Philip the Good in the years 1420 and 1467. It was probably a precious gift from Jean de Berry, the famous collector of manuscripts, to his uncle John the Fearless. After a stopover in the famous Heidelberger Bibliothek at the beginning of the 17th century, the manuscript came to the Vatican Library. There it is one of the rich collections’ greatest treasures and an impressive testimonial to the great art of illumination in Paris ca. 1415!