MANUSCRIT l ERASMUS L'Education d'un prince... Lot 38

MANUSCRIT l ERASMUS L'Education d'un prince chrétien French translation of the Institutio principis christiani Small folio (28,7x20 cm). Full olive morocco with triple fillet on the boards, stamped with the arms. Ornate bands, gilt edges. Spine decorated, title page and mention " Manus vers l'an 1490 ", wrong date as it is further demonstrated. Later binding. [1], 84, [1] leaves of 27 lines each. Inked bookplate stamp, engraved bookplate, manuscript bookplate. A copy bound with the arms of Louis-Joseph de Bourbon Condé, prince of Condé (1736-1818). Large illuminated frontispiece depicting two angels bearing a shield with the arms of the Dauphin. The artist placed them in a green garden surrounded by a renaissance colonnade architecture. 15 initials, as follows: An initials showing the Montmorency arms begins the Prologue, itself decorated with a large frame with a blue and gold grotesque. The first chapter is decorated with an initials formed by the arms of Guy de Baudreuil, who commissioned the translation of Erasmus' text. The following 13 chapters received a smaller ornate letter. Thereafter, paragraph lettering alternates between red and blue. This is also the case for the line ends. Cascading dedicators Having initiated and completed the translation of Erasmus' Education of a Christian Prince from Latin into French, Guy de Baudreuil, the abbot of the abbey of Saint-Martin-au-bois, ordered an illuminated copy. He took the liberty of submitting it to Guillaume de Montmorency. His intention, clearly stated in the Prologue, was to offer it to him so that he could transmit it to Louise of Savoy, mother of François I, of whom Montmorency was then the knight of honor. Guy de Baudreuil seems to have been certain of the success of his enterprise since he did not hesitate to make appear the Montmorency weapons and to place in frontispiece of the manuscript the weapons of the Dauphin of France. To choose Guillaume de Montmorency to reach Louise de Savoie fell under the sense. The accession to the throne of François I did not change the status of Baron Guillaume," recalls Cédric Michon in his Conseillers de François I. "On the contrary, he was given the collar of the Dauphin of France. On the contrary, he received the collar of the Order of St. Michael, was appointed captain of the castle of Vincennes and knight of honor of the king's mother, Louise of Savoy and regularly attended the Royal Council as general of finance. After the disaster of Pavia, he was still part, at nearly 75 years of age, of the core of faithful servants that Louise de Savoie, for the time being regent, mobilized around her in order to defend the kingdom and galvanize energies. To present this translation to Louise de Savoie (1476-1531), was also an obvious choice. She attached great importance to the education of her children and grandchildren. True to her motto Libris et liberis - For books and for children - she ordered numerous educational manuscripts. Baudreuil could not have been unaware of this, and it was therefore with full knowledge of the facts that he considered this translation work to be of interest to her. An illuminated manuscript between 1526 and 1531 Several clues allow us to determine the date of this precious illuminated manuscript. There can be no question of 1490, as the inscription on the back of the binding indicates. Indeed, this translation cannot be earlier than 1516, since it was in January 1516 that Erasmus composed this short political treatise at the request of the young Charles of Ghent, who was about to become king of Spain and who, three years later, would become emperor under the name of Charles V. But it is Baudreuil's Prologue that allows us to establish the exact date. Louise of Savoy is described as "mother of the king and twice regent in France". Louise was indeed twice regent during the Italian campaigns of her son François 1er: in 1515, when he left to defeat the Swiss at the battle of Marignan, then again from August 12, 1524 to March 21, 1526. Thus, it can be established that this manuscript was produced after 1524, most likely even after March 1526. Moreover, given that Louise of Savoy died on September 22, 1531, it is appropriate to affirm that the work was established before 1531. It is thus possible to think, without any doubt, that it is to François III, duke of Brittany (1518-1536), third child but eldest son of François I and Claude de France, that Baudreuil intended, in the last place, his work of erudition. Of illumination To attribute this work of illumination to the entourage of Etienne Colaud seems conceivable as much by the dating as by analogies of colors and details. Marie-Blanche Cousseau, in her study on Colaud and his workshop, insists on