Add MS 8798

GIUSEPPE SIMONE ASSEMANI: Commentary on the Tavole Capponiane; circa 1743. Greek, and Latin. Copy. Commentary by the orientalist and later Prefect of the Vatican Library Giuseppe Simone Assemani (1687-1768) on the Calendar of the Greek Church or Menologium as represented in the so-called Tavole Capponiane, five 17th-century panel paintings now in the Vatican collections. The panels were then believed to be of great antiquity (according to Don Roberto Strano of the Acireale Cathedral, they had been in fact painted only in 1659 by Andrea and Sergio Niceta: see www.parrocchie.it/acireale/cattedrale/ Venera, 13 Nov. 2000), and they had been acquired around 1731 by Marquis Alessandro Gregorio Capponi. The acquisition was announced by a small pamphlet, possibly published by Assemani himself, entitled Ragguaglio di cinque tavole greco-mosche o sieno Fasti de' Santi, che si conservano in Roma nel Museo del signor marchese A.G. Capponi (Rome: Rocco Bernabò, 1731), in which the panels were highly praised; B.L. copy 1371.k.17. The text in the present MS., a simple listing and identification of the saints depicted in the panels, could be the commentary which was requested by Capponi to Assemani for publication at the Marquis' expenses, but remained unpublished because of Capponi's sudden death in 1746. The MS. is a copy of the work presented by Assemani to Capponi, as revealed by the note (f. 1v) 'A.G.C. [Alessandro Gregorio Capponi] Adi 19 d[...] 1743'. The panels were bequeathed to the Vatican Library together with Capponi's library and collection of antiquities, and the commentary eventually became the base of Assemani's later and more ambitious work on the Greek-Slavonic church published as Kalendaria Ecclesiae universae... (Rome, 1755), for Francesco Maria Cardelli, Capponi's nephew and heir: cf. Kalendaria..., op.cit., pp. xxx-xxxiii. Of this major work only the first six volumes were printed, while the MSS. containing vols. 7-12 were destroyed in 1768 by fire in Assemani's rooms after his death. The last two printed volumes, vols. v (pp. 208-522) -vi, with the subtitle Kalendaria ecclesiae Slavicae sive Graeco-Moschae, incorporate the early commentary in a much more detailed description of the Greek-Slavonic menologium. For Assemani see DBI, 4 (1962), pp. 437-440. For A. G. Capponi see DBI, 19 (1976), pp. 10-13; diaries of his purcheses in Vat. MSS. Capp. 293 and 313; for his library cf. Catalogo della Libreria Capponi o sia de' libri italiani del fu Marchese Alessandro Gregorio Capponi (Rome: appresso il Bernabò e Lazzarini, 1747), B.L. copies 821.k.3, 122.g.11; G. Salvo-Cozzo, I codici Capponiani della Biblioteca Vaticana (Vatican City, 1897), B.L. copy 4999.s.1; E. Pellegrin, Les manuscrits classiques latins da la Bibliothèque Vaticane, i (Paris, 1975), pp. 245-250; I codici latini datati della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. I. Nei fondi Archivio di S. Pietro ... Capponi .... (Vatican City, 1997), pp. 57-61, B.L. copy YA.2000.b.2400. The panels are published in A. Muñoz, I quadri bizantini della Pinacoteca Vaticana provenienti dalla Biblioteca Vaticana (Rome, 1928), no. 83, p. 17, pls. xl, xli, xlii; B.L. copy 74/L.R.269.d.1/7. Other works by Assemani in Add. 4432 (f. 392), 21416 (f. 25), and 39082. The present MS. is entitled (f. 1) 'Iosephi Simonis Assemani Bibliothecae Vaticanae Praefecti In Tabulas Graeco-Moschas Capponianas Commentarius', with a later note below 'Istae Tabulae exstant in Apostolica Bibliotheca Vaticana'. Inc. (f. 2) 'Ephemeridum Ruthenicarum Tabula Prima / Μēn Septémvrios / Mensis September / A. Toü osíou patrós ēmōn Simeōn', expl. (f. 92) 'Februarius ... 24. Inventio capitis S. Joannis Baptistae. Duo monachi cucullo e capite redacto Sacrum caput elevant'. The text is divided into five parts, corresponding to the five panel (ff. 2, 25, 45v, 66v, 86v). Table of contents (f. 92v) added later. Ownership note of Alessandro Gregorio Capponi on f. 1v. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '265' in pencil in top margin of f. 1. Purchased, together with Add. 8730, 8792, 8793, 8794, 8795, 8796, and 8797, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 265 (part).

Paper; ff. 92+ii. Old pagination in ink '1-181' (ff. 2-92). 292 x 210mm. One Italian hand. Guilford binding of quarter vellum with decorated paper covers on pasteboards.