Francesco PETRARCA (1304-1374) - photo 1
Francesco PETRARCA (1304-1374) - photo 2
Francesco PETRARCA (1304-1374) - photo 3
Francesco PETRARCA (1304-1374) - photo 4

Francesco PETRARCA (1304-1374)

Lot 28
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 25 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 794519
Lot 28 | Francesco PETRARCA (1304-1374)
Estimate value
£ 25 000 – 35 000
PETRARCA, Francesco (1304-1374)

Canzoniere, in Italian, decorated manuscript on paper [Italy, second half 15th century].

A rediscovered manuscript, with significant variations, of one of the most celebrated and influential works in western literature, Petrarch's Canzoniere, or – as he referred to it himself – Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, the cycle of poems that, immortalising the poet’s love for the unattainable Laura, established the sonnet form and became the basis for the development of lyric poetry throughout Renaissance Europe.



204 x 143mm. 132 leaves, collation: 19 (of 10, lacking i), 2-1310, 144, modern pagination in pencil 1-263 followed here, 31 lines of text, ruled space: 138 x 83mm, one 4-line penwork initial in red and blue, alternating blue and red initials throughout, contemporary annotations and maniculae, catchwords survive, rubrics in red (lacking opening leaf with nos 1-3 and part of 4, a few wormholes to opening leaves, some fading to text, occasional offsetting, small worm trace to lower inner gutters and lower margins, some minor staining or soiling). Modern limp vellum.



Provenance:

(1) A transcription of the last 10 verses of 366 on p.263 bears the date ‘1577’, with the addition of ‘Dominia cio ne nasera in questo di homo grasso e pieno di carne e ben membruto con adalcuno colore palido & die esser’, which seems to be a quote from an early Nostradamic prophecy – ‘L’uomo che nasce in Domenica sara bello, grasso, ben membruto, ma di color pallido […]’.

(2) Forum Auctions, 30 September 2021, lot 223.



Content: Petrarch, Il Canzoniere pp.1-262: nos, 4 (beginning ‘Onde si bella donna al mondo nacque’), 5-37, 39, 38, 40-79, 81-82, 80, 83-120, 122, ‘Donna mi viene’ (Disp. 1), 123, 121, 124-242, 121b (repeat), 243-327, 329, 328, 330-339, 342, 340, 350-355, 359, 341, 343, 356, 344-349, 357-358, 360-366.



The notion of gathering his lyric poetry into a well ordered book occurred to Petrarch at an early age, and periodically throughout his lifetime he appears to have released the book to the public or selected friends in the form of completed manuscript editions. In later arrangements of the collection, including the final version known from the partly autograph manuscript that Petrarch was modifying until the year of his death (Vatican City, BAV, Vat.Lat.3195), the verses were divided into two parts, those written during Laura's lifetime, 'in vita', and those after her death, 'in morte'. This is the arrangement followed in the present manuscript, with the division marked by the rubric: ‘Queste cancione & soneti seguenti furono facti dreto la morte di madona Laura per il predicto Miser Francesco Petrarcha’ opening no 264 (‘Io vo pensando, e nel penser m'assale’).



The arrangement of the 'in vita' poems largely conforms to the ordering known as the 'forma malatesta' from the manuscript sent by Petrarch to Pandolfo Malatesta in 1373 (E.H. Wilkins, The Making of the Canzoniere and other Petrarchan Studies, 1951), e.g in the insertion of the ballad ‘Donna mi viene spesso nella mente’ (Disp. 1) between nos 122 and 123; or the madrigal ‘Or vedi Amor, che giovanetta donna’ (121) placed between 242 and 243. However, this manuscript presents significant variations, and also shows contaminations from manuscripts belonging to other families. More specifically, the madrigal ‘Or vedi Amor, che giovanetta donna’ (121) appears not only between 242 and 243, but also between 123 and 124. Wilkins records eleven manuscripts in which this madrigal appears with or near ‘Donna mi viene spesso nella mente’, but only in two manuscripts is it repeated between 242 and 243: these are Hamilton 498 and Hamilton 500 of the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. The reversal of 38 and 39 seems to be a peculiarity of the present manuscript.





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