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Harley MS 3305
- Record Id:
- 040-002049136
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002049136
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0002cd
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3305
- Title:
- Aristotle, Ethica
- Scope & Content:
-
Aristotle, Ethica (Nicomachean Ethics), in the Latin translation of Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo (Leonardo Aretino), with a preface (ff. 2r-5v), rubric (preface): 'Leonardi Aretini in Ethicam Aristotelis incipit prologus', incipit (preface): 'Aristotelis ethicorum libros facere latinos'; rubric (text): 'Explicit prologus Leonardi Aretini. Incipit ethica per ipsum traducta. feliciter.'; incipit (text): 'Omnis ars: omnisque doctrina.'
ff. 120v-121r: Added note on Greek philosophers, incipit: 'Philosophi greca appellacione vocantur.'
Decoration:
11 historiated initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of the prologue and of each book (ff. 2r, 5v, 16v, 24v, 37v, 49v, 62r, 70v, 84r, 96r, 107v). Blue initials with red pen-flourishing and red initials with purple pen-flourishing. Rubrics in red.
The subject of the illuminations are:
f. 2r: Initial 'A'(ristotelis) of the arms of Iñigo Dávalos supported by an angel, under a blue canopy (Preface).
f. 5v: Initial 'O'(mnis) of a scholar (Aristotle?) reading a book (Book 1); the arms and initials of Iñigo Dávalos (lower margin).
f. 16v: Initial 'C'(um) of a scholar (Aristotle?) writing at a desk (Book 2).
f. 24v: Initial 'I'(gitur) of Temperance as woman pouring water from one jug to another (Book 3).
f. 37v: Initial 'D'(e liberalitate) of two men talking (Book 4).
f. 49v: Initial 'D'(e iusticia) of Justice holding a sword and scales (Book 5).
f. 62r: Initial 'Q'(uoniam) of Prudence holding a mirror (Book 6).
f. 70v: Initial 'P'(ost) of a king, decorated with the arms of Iñigo Dávalos (Book 7).
f. 84r: Initial 'P'(ost) of two man holding hands (Friendship?), decorated with the arms of Iñigo Dávalos (Book 8).
f. 96r: Initial 'I'(n cunctis) of a man holding a book and a man holding a money bag (Book 9).
f. 107v: Initial 'S'(equitur) of a man in red robe (Aristotle) (Book 10).
Illuminated in the style of the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, an artist active in Lombardy in the first half of the 15th century. On his career, see Bollati 2004, pp. 587-89.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002049136", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3305: Aristotle, Ethica" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002049136 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 3305 : Aristotle, Ethica - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3306]/040-002049136
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1430
- End Date:
- 1440
- Date Range:
- c 1435-1440
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 280 x 205 mm (text space: 180 x 115 mm).
Foliation: ff. 121 (+ 5 unfoliated flyleaves: 1 paper and 1 parchment at the beginning and 2 parchment and 1 paper at the end; f. 1 is a parchment flyleaf). Catchwords.
Script: Humanistic.
Binding: Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Italy (Milan).
Provenance:
Jacobus de Ardicijs [Iacopo d'Ardizzone, Iacopo son of Ardizzone], perhaps to be identified with Iacopo d'Abbiate, chamberlain to Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti (b. 1392, d. 1447) (see Zaggia 1993): inscription recording the gift of this manuscript by him to Iñigo Dávalos on 27 April 1440: 'Iste librer [sic] datus fuit mihi ynico de davalos per spectabilem iacobum de ardicijs ducalem camerarium die iouis xx vii aprilis Anno M cccc xxxx' (f. 121v).
Iñigo López Dávalos [d'Avalos] (d. 1484), from 1442 commander of the Spanish troops in Naples and Great Chamberlain of Naples in service of Alfonso V [Alfonso el Magnánimo] (b. 1396, d. 1458), King of Aragon and Naples (as Alfonso I, from 1442): his arms (ff. 2r, 5v (and the initials 'I' and 'N'), 70v, 84r) (see the inscription above); Dávalos probably received this manuscript when he accompanied Affonso V during his captivity at the court of Filippo Maria Visconti in Milan (1435-1440).
Ownership inscription made illegible by overwriting, beginning with 'A...', 17th century (f. [ii] verso).
Added verses 'Hinc fugetur mondo. Súc dimitte libellú (?). /Ni dabitur furca collo tenenda tua', 17th century (f. 1r).
John Gibson (fl. 1720-1726), dealer; sold to Edward Harley on 13 February 1723/4 (see Diary 1966; Wright 1972).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '13 die Februarij, A.D. 1723/4' (f. 1r).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), Duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Administrative Context:
- Italy (Milan).
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-1812), III (1808), no. 3305.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 273 n. 2.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 53, 125, 162.
Cyril Ernest Wright, 'Manuscripts of Italian Provenance in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum: Their Sources, Associations and Channels of Acquisition', in Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance. Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller, ed. by C. H. Clough (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976), pp. 462-84 (p. 467).
Massimo Zaggia ‘Appunti sulla cultura letteraria in volgare a Milano nell'età di Filippo Maria Visconti’, Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, 170 (1993), 161-219 (p. 181) and 321-82 (p. 338).
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum: Accedunt Alia Itinera: A Finding List of Uncatalogued or Incompletely Catalogued Humanistic Manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and other Libraries, 7 vols (London: Warburg Institute; Leiden: Brill, 1963-1997), IV (1989), p. 168.
Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: Secoli IX-XVI, ed. by Milvia Bollati (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004), pp. 587-89.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Aristotle, philosopher, 384 BC-322 BC
Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Portland, née Harley, collector of art and natural history specimens and patron of arts and sciences, 11 Feb 1715-17 Jul 1785,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000115857160,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/2356861
Bruni, Leonardo, Italian humanist, 1370-1444,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121442279
Dávalos, Iñigo López, Grand Chamberlain of Naples, 1414-1484
Gibson, John, book-dealer, fl 1720-1726
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Harley, Henrietta Cavendish, Countess of Oxford and Mortimer, née Holles, patron of architecture, 4 Feb 1694-9 Dec 1755,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000030125833,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/6045563
Harley, Robert, first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, 5 Dec 1661-21 May 1724,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083423906