Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

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Now I am ready to continue with my attempt to translate the relevant bits from Dorez. I used the digitalized text at http://archive.org/stream/lacanzonedell ... g_djvu.txt, which I compared to the original hardcover book, ran through GoogleTranslate and then fixed as best I could.
IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE CHANTILLY CODEX .

It is now time to describe the precious codex of the Museo Condé.

The format is in folio (0.333x0.226), written on parchment, and tied in red velvet; it consists of 20 pages, adorned with 20 large watercolors and painted initials. The rubrics are in Latin, the text Italian. Here's the title: Incipit cantica ad gloriam et honorem magnifici militis domini Brutii nati incliti ac illustris domini principis Luchini (this name was deliberately canceled) Vicecomitis de Mediolano, in qua tractatur de Viriutibus et Scientus vulgarizatis. Amen.
I must interrupt this translation briefly, to address the riddle about the manuscript's reference to Luchino Visconti as a key to the dating of the work. This first bit was written before Luchino's death in 1349, but then his name was scratched out; so it wasn't turned over to any Visconti until after 1349. Given that Bruzio is the consistently named dedicatee, and that he was nowhere near Bologna, after his father's death, until 1355, this deliberate cancelation must have happened after 1349. When the codex was completed is another matter. I don't know whether the mention of Luchino means that it was started while Luchino was alive but completed later, or that it was completed before Luchino died. Scholars since Dorez have decided that it was completed before Luchino's death, i.e. 1339-1349; see Julia Haig Gaesser, The Fortunes of Apuleius & the Golden Ass, p. 84, at http://books.google.com/books?id=fOq28a ... ti&f=false. She cites p. 560 of G. Orlandelli, "Bartolomeo de' Bartoli," in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 6 (1964), pp. 559-560. But I am not convinced. Bruzio wasn't "miser Bruzio" until after 1349. Perhaps Dorez will have more information.

I continue. Here I translate the Italian word "stanza" as the English "stanza" rather than "room", since each "stanza" has 21 verses, which would not normally be true of rooms.
The Song is divided into two parts, each of which consists of nine stanzas, twenty-one verses each, and a coda (conogedo = discharge). The first part contains the description of Virtue, the second that of Science.

In the initial stanza the author declares his purpose, to describe in words of vulgar rhyme the daughters of Discretion, mother of the virtues, and those of Docility, mother of the Sciences. The second stanza contains an invocation to St. Augustine, from which will be derived the Latin rubric of each stanza of the song. The eight other stanzas are devoted to Theology, Prudence, Fortezza [i.e. Fortitude or Strength], Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity. The first part ends with the coda, before which, as a kind of summary of everything, is a family tree.

The second part describes the Sciences: Philosophy, Grammar, dialectic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy or Astrology. It ends, like the first, with a coda in which the author is named (Bartolomeo da Bologna di Bartoli), adding that he painted this volume for Messer Bruzio Visconti.

Each of the pages devoted to Virtue and Science is divided into three parts: on the top is transcribed the definition of the Virtue of Science, extracted from the works of St. Augustine; in the middle is seen expressed in color the representation of the Virtue or Science; the last, on the bottom, has the stanza dedicated to the Virtue or Science itself.

22 LEONE DOREZ

PART ONE - The Seven Virtues.

Folio 1r. - Under the title of the work, with marvelous art, is a scene, in which you see at left, three knights, the first called Vigor, the second Dominus Brutius Vicecomes; and third, with the doctor’s cap, Sensus.[Judgment, Good Sense]. Before the horse of Bruzio are two women, Circumspectio (mantle in red and green, edges blue, green wrap around her head), and Intelligentia [Intellect] (dressed as her neighbor, except the edges), the latter supplied with two large wings, guiding the bit of the horse of the young Visconti in front of whom a man is kneeling, the compositor operis, Bartolomeo di Bartoli. Next to him are found two other women: the first, with the crown on her head, is Discretio, mater or sal Virtutum (white veil, blue robe and green mantle), the second, older, who puts her left hand on the shoulder of the poet, is called Docilitas, mater Scientiarum (red dress with blue sleeves and green cloak, headpiece red and white).
I must interrupt here to give links to this illumination. The one in color I linked to before, with poor resolution, is at
http://www.allposters.it/-sp/Chansonne- ... 03658_.htm. My black and white photo--not very good but I can see the writing if I click again, on the photo--is at http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHMij6UPEjk/U ... _0501a.JPG

Notice that out of these three primary virtues--Intelligentia, Discretio, Docilitas--only one, Intelligentia, has wings. I resume.
The first knight, Vigor, on a dappled horse, has long hair, full beard, and above his coat of mail wears a robe half red and half green. One who compares this figure with those famous portraits that have come down of Bernabo Visconti (and particularly the famous equestrian statue admired under the portico of the Ducal Court in the Castle of Milan) will not hesitate to recognize here represented the future husband of Queen Della Scala. If, as we believe, this identification corresponds to the truth, it is very important, as we shall see below, to determine the exact date of execution of our codex.

Of a very gracious face and attitude is Bruzio Visconti, who, beardless, of almost feminine beauty, his body a little back, head bowed and covered with a red hood that goes over the bare neck and shoulders, puts his right hand quietly on the back of Bernabo’s and his left on the neck of his own white steed. Of this horse the right leg, the only one that I can see, is very poorly designed, excessively long and rigid, as are the rest, as the front legs of horses almost always are in the paintings of that century.

The third rider, who wears on his head a white and blue doctor’s cap, under his red cloak a green gown, with the hems of the sleeves red, raises both hands in the act of speaking. Who is this doctor of laws? Almost certainly we can identify him as Franceschino de' Cristiani, a Pavian judge, who in 1349 was sent by Luchino to assist the son in the siege of Genoa. In this expedition Rinaldo degli Assandri, a knight of Mantua, had acted as executor; the counselor was Christiani. So in the first we see the "Hand," and in the second, “Judgment.”

THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 23

I said that the doctor raises his hands as a man who speaks, and in fact, as is clear from the first room of the song, he speaks to Discretion and Docility, who for their part want Bartolomeo di Bartoli to describe their daughters, that is, the Virtues and Sciences, to Bruzio. The poet, far from rejecting the offer, gives them full satisfaction, helped by texts extracted from the works of St. Augustine, to do the job he then will offer to the two Visconti:

Text of the first stanza.

"De, chavalieri, ch'avi dongelle voscho,
Possa ch’a voi prima parlar ci piaque,
A noi ditice o' naque
Quello a chi guidan queste el chaval biancho.”
Respoxe Senno: "I’ mancho
Senza voi, donne, in chi ferme ho le ciglie;
Mo le nostre famiglie
Intelligentia et Acchorteza parme,
E che Vigore in arme
Ben cognoschai; per certo in voi il cognoscho;
El chavalier eh' è noscho.
Chiamato è miser Bruze “; e si i compiaque;
Discretion non taque.
Né han Docilità chi v' è dal fiancho,
Vegiendo el baron francho;
Ma dissenme ambe due per miraveglie:
“Descrivi a lui mie figlie
In rima per vulgare”. E satisfarme
Conuen loro et aitarme
Choi testi d'Agustino e farmen ponti;
Poi darle in man di dui magiur Veschonti.
Well, I wasn't about to try translating that medieval Italian. I don't think it matters much. It seems to be a dialog of some sort.

The interesting parts are yet to come. I think maybe I will get to one in my next post.
Last edited by mikeh on 11 Aug 2012, 00:23, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

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I managed to read the rest of Dorez, looking to see what was interesting. One thing was his characterization of Discretio, Bartolomeo's "mother of the virtues". Here is from pp. 59-60 of Dorez:
Alla dottrina agostiniana, già fin dal secolo XII nettamente espressa ne' libri di Ugone di San Vittore e largamente divulgata nel secolo seguente per mezzo dei florilegi, aveva di certo attinto anche Bartolomeo di Bartoli, e se l'era presa senza mutarne nulla, se non che all'Umiltà, radice delle Virtù, sostituì la Discrezione, madre o sale delle Virtù, cioè probabilmente la facoltà di discernere il bene dal male, la Virtù dal Vizio.

(The Augustinian doctrine, as early as the twelfth century was expressed clearly in the books of Hugh of St. Victor and widely disseminated in the following century by anthologies, had certainly been drawn on by Bartolomeo di Bartoli, who took it without changing anything, except that he replaced Humility, the root of Virtue, with Discretion, the mother or salt of Virtue, which is probably the ability to discern good from evil, Virtue from Vice.

I wonder if that last doctrine, too, can be found in Augustine. I don't know, but I will keeping my eye out. There is a certain irony in that the ability to discern good and evil was what the serpent gave Eve in advising her to eat the fruit of the tree; now that same ability is the mother or root of good, as we will see when we get to the family tree.

The quote from Dorez was from Chapter V. In Chapter VI and following, he gives ample justification for thinking that Bartolomeo's codex was in fact used as a book of models for various other manuscripts as well as frescoes and other artworks in Italy, just as Lorredan was thinking (on the Temperance thread). I'll get to that later.

The next stanza (or room, if you like) is pretty boring. I include it because what comes after is interesting, and also because it shows Bartolomeo's Augustinian perspective, which he will apply to the virtues.
Folio 1L- This introductory page is devoted to the canonical Scriptures. It is divided into eight compartments, where they sit on simple wooden chairs, presenting their papers, six bearded characters: Moses, St. John the Evangelist, St. Ambrose with the bishop's miter, left; Ezekiel, St. Paul, and St. Gregory, with the papal tiara, right. In the center, the portrait’s proportions give the place of honor to the distinguished Doctor Augustine (white miter embroidered in gold, white robe and blue cloak lined with red), under which St. Jerome in his study sits with the usual cardinal's hat. All the doctors and prophets, Ezekiel and St. Jerome excepted, turn their eyes to the bishop of 'Hippo.
I interrupt so that you can click on my poor photo of the illumination in question (click on the image to make it still larger):
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C-qmiap28lU/U ... G_0506.JPG
I continue:
24 LEONE DOREZ

Moses (Sizzurra [Tonsure?}. And red cape) carries several books, of which here are the Titles: Deuteronomi (sic), Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numerorum.

In the hands of St. John (green robe, red cape), we find his scriptures, i.e.: Gospel, Epistles, Apochal[y]pse.

Ambrose, adorned in episcopal garments (white miter, white robe and blue cape), holds a scroll on which is written Hunc in Christo genui.

Ezekiel (green robe and blue cloak) also has before him a roll spread out, on which we read: Hic erat divisio discurrens, animalium splendor, ignis.

St. Paul (red robe and brown mantle) wields a naked sword with his left, while his right hand rests on the codex of his Epistles.

St. Gregory (papal tiara white embroidered with gold, red cloak lined with blue cloth) explains a large roll that bears this sentence: Si delicioso pabulo cupitis saciari, opuscula Augustini legite et ad comparationem illius nostrum furfurem non queratis: a very rare and truly pontifical example of literary modesty!

St. Augustine, covered with all the trappings of bishops (blue robe with folds of red cloth) holds in his left hand, pointing with his right, a roll on which are written these words: Non meo vel ingenio vel merito, sed Dei dono sum, si quid laudabiliter sum.

St. Jerome (brown robe and red cap) holds in his right hand and indicates with the left a roll where is recorded these words: Ecce quicquid didici potuit et sublimi ingenio de scriptarum scientiarum harum fontibus you positum atque dis[s]ertum (?).

The stanza contains its proper invocation to St. Augustine, whose works precisely on this page are starting to provide the above mentioned headings.

TEXT OF THE SECOND STANZA

Augustinus in epistola ad Jeronimum: Scripturus cunonicus solus ita ut sequor scriptores earum nichil in eis omnino errasse vel non fallaciter posuisse dubitem.

Oi, Agustin, cinto de la gran stola
Del Spirito Santo, a mi de la tua pace
Dame, doctor verace,
Sì che i tuoi testi a mi facian rubriche,
E le mie rime amiche
Siano a Moyses, Zechia (24) e Polo
Et agli altri che volo
Fanno a la rota et al bel san Ziovanni ;
Sì che di facti ossanni
Comprehenda alquanto qui chome un di schola,
Et al tuo fil mia spola

LA CANZONE DELLE VIRTÙ E DELLE SCIENZE 25

Sempre se tegna a far tela tenace.
E i tri doctur mi piace
Anchor preghare; a ciò che le mie spiche^
D'ogne mal far nemiche,
Meglio gharnischan; chi preghin ti solo
Che me condughi a volo,
Che possa le Vertù ponere in schanni
E le Scientie in panni,
Ch'el le cognoscha in vulgar chi n' à voglia,
E chi non pò de scriptura aver zoglia.

In this case GoogleTranslate didn't produce complete nonsense. So here is my attempt to get it in English:
Oi, Augustine, surrounded with the great stole
Of the Holy Spirit, give me peace
Give me, true doctor,
Yes your writing makes headings [rubrici] for me,
And my rhymes friends
Let Moses, Zechia and Polo
And others that fly
Make the rotation and beautiful St. John;
Make Hossanas to you
Understand somewhat of a choir here chome,
And to your thread my spool

THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 25

Always make my canvas tough.
And I like the three doctors
Again asking; how my spikes
On all sides make the wrong enemy
Better gharnischan, who will only want
To teach me to fly,
What the virtues can put in schanni
And the Sciences in cloth,
That knows in the vulgar what it wants,
And that does not have some scripture zoglia (on the doorstep?).

I have no clue what "chome" and "schanni" mean.

Now comes something visually more relevant, an illumination with the four evangelists around a circle, with a lady on top of the circle holding a disc. I speculate that this image could one inspiration, first, of the Charles VI World card, with a few changes (removing the evangelists and putting hills inside the circle instead of the book), and then the Sforza Castle World and the Marseille after that (putting one of the upper figures inside the circle and restoring the evangelists). Actually, there is not much original here. Putting Christ or Mary inside a circle or almond was already standard practice, and at least with Christ it was also standard to put the evangelists in the corners outside the circle or almond. Bartolomeo is giving a doctrinal context for the image, using both the female Theologia and the male Christ. I am not, to be sure, maintaining that the lady in the various "World" cards is Theologia.

First, here she is, in the Chantilly Codex:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-931vaIkZinU/U ... _0504a.jpg

And here is Dorez's explanation. I include my attempt to translate the stanza (except for the Latin, of course).
Folio 2 r. –

On the top of the sheet, from outside the fixed limits of the illustration, shines the majesty of the bust of Christ with a halo in a blue background, and surrounding the figure writings with these words: Omne Datum Optimum et omne donum perfectum desursum est des[c]endens a Patre.

Under the extract of St. Augustine, from the triple rim of a wheel, is Theology, crowned and covered with a white coat with a buckle on the neck; her eyes turn toward Christ, raising in her left a small mirror, whence burst red rays which are reflected in the semblance of the Redeemer: Sapientia. On her right, descending along her body, the woman has another mirror, blue and white: Scientia. The related stanza explains that Theology ascends on two mirrors, gold and silver (which light in their turn the whole circle), to the great light, that is, to the glory of Christ.

The four animals symbolizing the Evangelists surround the circle so as to lift up Theology (onde la Teologia si solleva); the miniaturist has with unhappy artifice wanted their wings to intersect each other's, and it is a representation which isn’t pleasing to the eye; the painter may have wished to touch the sublime and has succeeded in falling into awkwardness.

The first circle of the wheel reads: Testamentum vetus; in the third- Testamentum novum, in the intermediate: Sensus litteralis, sensus moralis, sensus naturalis, sensus anagogicus, sensus ystoriografus sensus allegoricus. In the open book that covers the hub of the wheel is written Ezechielis primo. Appararuit rota una super terram Habens quatuor et facies opera quasi rota in dimidio rote etc.

The two mirrors symbolize the two lights with which we can and must be interpreted the Bible and the Gospel, those of Wisdom and Science.

The six “senses” then are those that fulfill the hermeneutic interpretation of sacred scriptures. You may notice that the author adds two senses to the four already held up by his teacher St. Augustine in the first book of the Commentary on Genesis, that is, the way of nature and the way of the historiographer.

26 LEONE DOREZ

In these two sheets (1 t. And 2 r.) one will perhaps be allowed to recognize, beyond the knowledge of the poet himself, the inspiration given by Francesco da Prato, in the company of whom in the church of San Barbaziano, Bartolomeo corrected and revised the text of the Decree of Gratian transcribed by brother Ugolino Adighiero da Castagnolo.

Text of the third stanza.

Augustinus in epistoia ad Macedonium: Hunc amavi et quesivi et eam (sic) a iuventute mea amator factus sum forme illius. Ex ipsa Sapientia que vere est una, si quid a Deo Sumpsi, nom a mea presumpsi.

Contempia questa donna el fin cristallo
In chi M divino amor tutto respiende,
E del gran lume accende
Dui richi spicchi ch'in man ten la damma.
E l'uno e l'altro infiamma:
Prima quel d'oro e poi quel de l'arzento,
Sì eh' ogne Testamento
Ghiar ce dimostra per sensi in la rota.
E Ila minor dinota
Quei ch'alia grande fan de penne el ballo;
E ciò che nel metallo
De luce appare, in lo cerchio discende.
Theologia m'intende
Ben quel eh' io narro, e so eh' ella ce chiamma
A quel che ciaschun amma
Et o' dovemmo havere el nostro intento;
Ch'el solo è '1 compimento
De le Vertuti e dan l'eternai dota;
Onde Prudentia, mota
Da bon pensier discreto, piegha el chollo
In quel per triumphar chol sommo Apollo.

(Contemplate this lady and her fine crystal
In which divine love all respiende [breathe, return?],
And the great light illuminates
Two rich mirrors in the hand of the lady.
And the one and the other ignites:
The first of gold and then that of silver,
So that every Testament
calls this demonstration of the senses in the rotation.
And the lower denotes
Those big of feather and dance;
And what in the metal
Of light appears in the circle descends.
Theologia understands
Well what I relate, and I know that there she invokes
What each one loves
And has given us his meaning;
That he alone is carrying
The Virtues the eternal endows;
So that Prudentia, mire [mota, possibly for moto, cause]
Of good discreet thoughts, bends the neck
In order to triumph with supreme Apollo.)
Later in the book (p. 55) Dorez gives us another example of Theologia from a different Italian manuscript of this time, Bibliotheque Nationale Ital. 112. He doesn't talk about this image in particular, as far as I have noticed. He just gives a general caracterization of the manuscript, as one probably on the Augustinian side of a great competition between the Augustinians and the Dominicans at that time.
È infatti cosa assai curiosa a notare come le due serie di rappresentazioni delle Virtù e delle Scienze si presentino quasi un episodio caratteristico della rivalità fra gli antichi e i nuovi ordini monastici in Italia. La prima di queste due serie, più tradizionale dell'altra, è nata sotto l'ispirazione quasi esclusiva di sant'Agostino e de' suoi monaci ; la seconda, più nuova, più svariata, uscì dalla dottrina largamente interpretata di san Tommaso e de' successori del dotto Aquinate.

Nella prima l'ispirazione è più semplice, più conforme ai dati dei secoli precedenti. Esistono di essa in Francia almeno due monumenti ragguardevoli, il nostro codice cioè ed il manoscritto Italiano 1 12 della Biblioteca nazionale. In essi le Virtù e le Scienze sono separatamente rappresentate...

(It is very curious to see how the two series of representations, Virtues and Sciences, will present almost a typical episode of rivalry between the old and the new monastic orders in Italy. The first of these two series, more traditional than the other, was born under the almost exclusive inspiration of St. Augustine and his monks; and the other, newer, more varied, departed from the doctrine of St. Thomas, broadly interpreted, and the successors of Aquinas.

The first inspiration is simpler, more consistent with the data of earlier centuries. It exists in France at least two notable monuments, our codex and that of Italian manuscript 112 in National Library. In them the Virtues and Sciences are separately represented...
And even its Augustinian character is not sure. The only things to indicate that are first, the close affinity to the Chantilly codex (p. 56); second, the number of times Augustine is cited, and how he is cited (p. 56); and third, its citations of two authorities, Richard and Hugh, probably two Augustinian monks at St. Victor in Paris but possibly two Dominicans, one in Oxford and the other at St. Cher (p. 57). All had written on the virtues and vices.

In any case, here is the image from Ital. 112, which Dorez calls "Theologia and the Seven Virtues":
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ffW4nunBGY0/U ... G_0497.JPG

I see a comparison to the Cary-Yale World lady, there identified by her trumpet with Fama, in the sense of Gloria.

This manuscript, too, may have been a model book. I don't know how frequent this particular pose was. I only know it in one other work,a Lombard painting of the 15th century (Vogt-Leurssen says it's Bianca Maria Visconti and her children, an hypothesis that here is only relevant for the time and place of origin):

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5e7P4Y3Wo3w/S ... Bianca.jpg

I posted this image at http://forum.tarothistory.com/search.php?t=365, comparing it to the CY Fama lady. I didn't know then about the earlier manuscript image. Christ, as Sapientia, the German Weisheit, was portrayed similarly, as you can see at that post; he is also on some World cards.
Last edited by mikeh on 23 Aug 2023, 09:19, edited 3 times in total.

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

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I see that the beaches of Köln, a city better known on this website as the hometown of Huck, have produced an Olympic gold medalist in the noble sport of beach volleyball (http://www.bvbinfo.com/player.asp?ID=2134). Who would have thought--Europeans?

Now back to business. I am at long last at the point where Dorez talks about the cardinal virtues.
Folio 2l. - Here begins the description of the Cardinal Virtues, and the first daughter of Discretion, Prudence, appears before us. This Virtue (slightly red robe and blue to green tie) sits crowned, soberly on a carved wooden throne [trono]. In her right hand she has a candle, in her left a great record, on the outside of which are inscribed the names of the various phases of human life and time: Infantia; tempus presens, pueritia and adolos[c]entia; preteritum, iuventus et senectus; futurum, mors. In the center of the disc is an open book, which reads: Memoria Intelligentia Prudentia Circumspectio Docilitas Ratio et Cautio, followed by some indecipherable signs, -

THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 27
traced with the sole intention not to leave blank the rest of the page. Between the circle and the book the miniaturist superiorly portrayed with one black ball Nox, Night; lower down with the other ball, half white and half blue, Dies, the Day.

Beneath her feet Prudence tramples Sardanapalus (red robe with green collar), crowned, from whose hands have fallen a distaff and spindle.

Here is the illustration:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ar485JS0q4c/U ... G_0461.JPG

I had no idea a candle, much less a distaff and spindle, were associated with Prudence. I see no relation to the early tarot, unless you count the Bagatella's wand or the lady with the distaff on the Charles VI Sun card.

Here is the stanza, which I can't translate:
Text of the fourth stanza.

De prudentia edidit Augustinus librum unum qui intituiaiur de salutaribus documentis, quam sic difinit libro 19 de Civitate Dei: Prudentia est virtus cuius totu vigilantia bona discernit a malis, ut illìs appetendis istisque vitandis nullus subripiat error.

Quest’è la donna che la nocte e ‘l zorno
Pensa chel (chol?) tempo passato el presente
E ten volta la mente
Ver quel che de’ vegnir, per provederse
Sì che le chose averse
Schivar e' insegna e temperare el bene.
Onde a noi ce convene,
Vogliendo el modo suo nobel seguire,
Inanci el dìffinire
Di dubii in le sententie far sezorno;
E poi senza ritorno
Ce guida al punto che Raxon consente.
Eccho vertù excellente,
Ch' examina i consegli in vie diverse,
Per le iuste roverse
Che l’incredibel dà, eh' al ver se tene!
Donqua ferma la spene
Doven de l’intellecto in lei tegnire,
Ch'Amor, ch'è 'l nostro sire,
L'à per suo spicchio, e qui ce la pon prima;
E ten choi pei Sardanaphano ad ima.
We move on to Fortezza, which Dorez translates as Fortitudo, Fortitude.
Folio 3r. – There follows Fortezza (Fortitudo). On a mountain, of which the left side is adorned with flowers (wild poppies and daisies), rises a two-story tower. Of these the second, narrower than the other and no windows, bears these words: Magnanimitas Magnificentia Fiducia Pacientia Perseverantia Constantia Securitas Tollerantia (sic). At the foot of the mountain you see on the left, a crowned young man, armed from head to foot, with a vest of green and red covering a coat of mail; it is Samson who with both hands spread apart the jaws of a fallen lion. On the right, under a pavilion, on a

28 LEONE DOREZ
bed covered with white and blue drapes lies the bearded Holofernes, of whom domina Iudith, kneeling, with a great slash, severs the head. At the head of the bed, the maid Peroina, a woman of rather advanced age, wrapped in a brown hood, waits for the fulfillment of the work to enclose in a sack, which she already holds with its mouth open, the skull of the enemy (Olloffernes)
Here of course we have the familiar hands on the lion's mouth, although those of a man:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UKG9oCix0kA/U ... _0463a.jpg

And the stanza, which again I do not translate:
Text of the fifth stanza.

De fortitudine edidit Augustinus librum unum qui intitulatur de bona perseverantie; quam sic diffinit libro 4 questionum, questione 63:

Fortitudo est firmitas animi adversus ea que temporaliter molesta sunt.

Segue mo' l’altra magnanima e grande
Donna, doppo la prima el suo bel stile,
Valoroxo e zentile,
Si chome se convene a sua francheza.
Ch' el è torre e fermeza
D' ogne vertute, e sì d' inzegno althiera,
Che mette la gran fiera
Cum le sue mani arma quaxe a la morte.
Or si’ constante e forte,
Tu, che voi far di suoi bei fiur ghirlande,
E per dona o se pande
Che poi vendecta fare in atto humile;
E s'alchun pensier vile
In ti regnasse, i vedrai pur la treza.
Mo s' tu voi la chiareza
Di suoi begli occhi haver[ej per tua lumiera,
Vivi in chotal mainiera
Liber[o], sechuro, aliegro. e poi la corte
D*amor t'avran consorte,
Si chom fiducia [in] Judith Olloferne
Havé, che '1 vixo dal chorpo glie dicerne.
Next is Temperance:
Folio 3 t. - On a large chair [or throne: cattedra], from which rises an embattled two-story tower on the right, sits Temperance, crowned, facing left (green with red edges and red cape), who introduces a key with her right hand, of the door of the tower, to lock up the violent passions and disorderly appetites. From her left arm hanging by a thread is tied a bridle. From the window of the tower facing the spectator she reaches out to a kind of hanging garden, from which a palm tree stands out among other plants, of which the broad leaves carry these names: Clementia Abstinentia Castitas Coniugium Honestas Caritas Continentia Sobrietas Virginitas Moderatio Modestia Verecundia.

THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 29
Temperance presses under her feet Epicurus voluptuosus (blue robe and green sandals), who lies fallen on the dais of the platform.
And the illustration:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YiMM-45eXSE/U ... _0466a.jpg

The bridle we know. The key, the tower, and the palm tree I am not familiar with. Here is the stanza:
Text of the sixth stanza.

De temperanza edidit Temperantia est Augusinus librum unum qui intitulatur de continentia, quam sic diffinit Libro 1 de libero arbitrio.

Temperantia est cohercetis et cohibens appetitum ab hiis rebus que turpiter appetuntur.

La terza donna che ‘l nostro apetito,
Ch' à '1 soperchio dexio, domma e refrena,
Sempre è d' onestà piena
E volze al suo chastel discreta chiave:
Avre e serra soave,
Cum voi raxone a la cupiditate,
Et in sobrietate
S'aviva, con fa '1 corpo in nui per l’alma
E de vertù gran palma
Produce e fructo bon suo dolce lito;
E poi chi voi nel sito
Esser d' amore amante, chostei ‘l mena
A la sua real cena.
Ma d' ogne vanitate e parlar brave
Prima eh' i' va, se lave,
Ch' ivi è pur zente de benegnitate.
Sì ch'onne dignitate
A lor s'aven, però pun giù la salma
D' ogni viltà che scalma
In l’ inferno Epichurio, che non volse
Vivere modesto e mo sotto lei dolse.
And fourth, Justice:
Folio 4 r. - Above the usual wooden chair sits Justice, crowned (blue robe, red cape, lined with green cloth), with her naked sword in her right and her left on a book bound in red velvet, on which we read: Religio Pietas Gratia Vindicatio Observantia Veritas Obedientia Innocentia Concordia Amicitia affectus Humanitas Liberalitas Legalitas. To the left on the platform of the chair is placed a small table topped by a lectern, on which rest various books bound in different colors (red, green, blue) and titled Codices (sic), Infortiatum, F.F. vetus, F.F. novum. You will also see an open book with the words that form the principle of the Institutiones of Justinian: Imperatoriam maiestatem non solum decoratam armis, sed etiam legibus aportet esse armatam.

Under the feet of Justice lies the bitter Nero iniquus, with green robe and red shoes. The crown fallen from his head is on the ground.
Here is the illustration.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lqy-I9dlrrY/U ... _0467a.jpg
And the stanza:


30 LEONE DOREZ
Text of the seventh stanza.

De iusticia edidit Augustinus librum unum quiincipit: "Salomon sapientissimus„ et librum de perfectione iustitie
hominis; quam sic diffinit libro de moribus Ecclesie:

Iustitia est amor soli Deo serviens, et ob hoc bene imperans ceteris que homini subiecta sunt.

Ultima e quarta de le cardinali
È questa donna de vertù superna,
La qual reze e ghoverna
Per lege l’ universo e cum la spada;
Et écce da quel dada,
Che tutto pò che l’ umeltà nutrighi
E chi nostri chori lighi
Cum ledei compagnia d*amor luntani,
E gl’intellecti humani
Divida per pietà dagli animali.
E non pur solo i mali
Schiva chostei, ma chi i fesse gì' inferna,
Et à sua roccha eterna
Drittura per lieltà vera, e la strada
Che ce mena o desgrada
Li suoi statuti per nostri chastighi;
Li quai se ben destrighi,
In pace i trovi e d' ogne equità piani:
El chan crudel di chani,
Neron, fiiol de niquità protervo,
Trida[r]li questa ogne osso, polpa e nervo.
Virtues trampling on vices is not at all original with this manuscript. Later in the book Dorez shows us what he considers the immediate source for the ones of the Chantilly codes that I have been showing. SteveM has already shown it to us, in color, in the "Petrarch and Giotto" thread (at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic ... =20#p12161); it is by Niccolo da Bologna, whom Dorez considers slightly earlier than our artist. Just as in the Chantilly, all the virtues are shown trampling their enemies, in fact the same enemies that we have seen in the Chantilly. Even the attributes are the same, although more compressed than in the work by Bartolomeo's unknown artist, where the details are clearer. Others of a similar nature preceded Niccolo, although not with all the same attributes.

The virtues are in the top row, with their adversaries. For the cardinal virtues, in Italy the adversaries were invariably the ones indicated here and in the Chantilly. In France and elsewhere, Tarquin substituted for Epicurus as Temperance's adversary. In the Theologicals, there was one change over time: instead of, against Faith, the heretic Arius we find in 1502, the name Machomet, in 1535, Mahumetem. This is due to the fall of Constantinople, Dorez says (p. 52). That change is already in the Cary-Yale Faith card, although the letters next to the recumbant figure are not clear--whether then the actual Ottoman ruler of that day, or the originator of the "heresy", is not clear.

In Niccolo's illustration, the sciences are on the bottom, with their champions, which I will mention here as I do not intend to discuss them in detail: Grammatica, Prisianus; Dialectica, Zoroastes; Rhetorica, Tulius [Cicero]; Arithmetica, Pitagoras; Geometria, Euclides; Musica, Tubalcaim; Astrologia, Tolomeus res Egiti (sic). The Chantilly is the same, but with some different spellings, adding "Cicero" to Tulius, and not claiming that "Ptholemeus" was king of Egypt.



You will perhaps have noticed that one virtue has wings, Charity, as is true of the Chantilly as well. .

It occurs to me that perhaps I should be giving the Italian original text along with my translation. Well, here it is for this part, minus the stanzas. I have tried to correct the digitalized Italian (http://www.archive.org/stream/lacanzone ... g_djvu.txt) using the hardcover book.
Carta 2 1. - Incomincia qui la descrizione delle Virtù Cardinali ; e, prima
figlia della Discrezione, appare dinanzi a noi la Prudenza.

Siede questa Virtù (veste rossa ed azzurra lievemente tirante al verde),
incoronata, sovra un ligneo trono sobriamente scolpito. Nella destra ha un cero
acceso, nella sinistra un gran disco, sulla zona esterna del quale sono inscritti i
nomi delle varie fasi della vita umana e del tempo : Infantia ; tempus presens,
pueritia el adolos[c]entia ; preteritum, iuventus et senectus ; futurum, mors. Nel
centro del disco sta un libro aperto, in cui si legge: Memoria Intelligentia Pru-
dentia Circumspectio Docilitas Ratio et Cautio, cui seguono alquanti segni indeci-

LA CANZONE DELLE VIRTÙ E DELLE SCIENZE 27
frabili, tracciati al solo intento di non lasciar vuoto il rimanente della pagina. Tra
il circolo ed il libro il miniatore effigiò superiormente con una palla nera Nox^
la Notte ; inferiormente con altra palla, per metà bianca e per metà azzurra, Dies,
il Giorno.

Sotto i suoi piedi la Prudenza conculca Sardanapalo (veste rossa con collare
verde), incoronato, dalle mani del quale sono caduti la conocchia ed il fuso.
...
Carta 3 r. - Segue la Fortezza (Forttiudo). Sopra un monte, che ha il
sinistro fianco adorno di fiorite pianticelle (papaveri selvatici e margherite), sorge
una torre a due piani. Di questi il secondo, più stretto dell'altro e senza finestre,
reca queste parole: Magnanimitas Magnificentia Fiducia Pacientia Perseve-
rantia Constantia Securitas Tollerantia (sic). A pie del monte si vede, a sini-
stra, un giovane incoronato, armato da capo a piede, di cui una vesta partita di
verde e di rosso ricopre il giaco di maglia ; è Sansone, che con ambo le mani
divarica le mascelle dell'atterrato leone. A destra, sotto un padiglione, sovra un

28 LEONE DOREZ
letto coperto di drappi bianchi ed azzurri giace il barbuto Oloferne, cui domina
ludith, inginocchiata, con una grande squarcina mozza il capo. Al capezzale del
letto, l'ancella delPeroina, donna d'età piuttosto avanzata, ravvolta in un cappuccio
bruno, aspetta il compimento dell'opera per serrare in un sacco, di cui già tien
aperta la bocca, il teschio del nemico (Olloffernes).
...
Carta 3 t. - Sopra una grande cattedra, donde sorge a destra una torre
merlata a due piani, siede la Temperanza, incoronata, rivolta a sinistra (veste
verde con orli rossi e mantello rosso), che colla destra introduce una chiave
nella porta della torre per rinchiudervi le passioni violente e gli appetiti disor-
dinati. Dal braccio sinistro le pende legato ad un filo un freno. Dalla finestra
della torre rivolta verso lo spettatore si protende all' infuori una specie di pensile
giardinetto, donde fra altre pianticelle spicca un palmizio, di cui le larghe foglie
portano questi nomi : Clementia Abstinentia Castltas Coniugium Honestas
Caritas Continentia Sobrietas Virginitas Moderatio Modestia Verecundia.

LA CANZONE DELLE VIRTÙ E DELLE SCIENZE 29
La Temperanza preme sotto i suoi piedi Epicurus voluptuosus (veste azzurra
e calzari verdi), che giace rovescioni sulla predella del trono.
...
Carta 4 r. - Sopra la solita cattedra di legno siede la Giustizia, incoronata
(veste azzurra, mantello rosso, foderato di stoffa verde), colla spada ignuda nella
destra, e nella sinistra un libro rilegato in velluto rosso sul quale si legge :
Religio Pietas Gratta Vindicatio Observantia Veritas Obedientia Inno-
centia Concordia Amicitia Affectus Humanitas Liberalitas Legalitas. A
sinistra, sulla predella della cattedra è posto un tavolino sormontato da un
leggìo, su cui poggiano varf libri rilegati a diversi colori (rosso, verde, azzurro)
ed intitolati Codes (sic), Infortiatum, F,F. vetus, F.F. novum. Vi si vede anche un
libro aperto colle parole che formano il principio delle Institutiones di Giusti-
niano : Imperatoriam maiestatem non solum armis decoratam, sed etiam legibus
oportet esse armatam.

Sotto i piedi della Giustizia giace boccone Nero iniqus, con veste verde e
calzari rossi. La corona cadutagli dal capo sta al suolo.
Last edited by mikeh on 23 Aug 2023, 07:56, edited 3 times in total.

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

14
GREAT WORK, MikeH
mikeh wrote: I must interrupt this translation briefly, to address the riddle about the manuscript's reference to Luchino Visconti as a key to the dating of the work. This first bit was written before Luchino's death in 1349, but then his name was scratched out; so it wasn't turned over to any Visconti until after 1349. Given that Bruzio is the consistently named dedicatee, and that he was nowhere near Bologna, after his father's death, until 1355, this deliberate cancelation must have happened after 1349. When the codex was completed is another matter. I don't know whether the mention of Luchino means that it was started while Luchino was alive but completed later, or that it was completed before Luchino died. Scholars since Dorez have decided that it was completed before Luchino's death, i.e. 1339-1349; see Julia Haig Gaesser, The Fortunes of Apuleius & the Golden Ass, p. 84, at http://books.google.com/books?id=fOq28a ... ti&f=false. She cites p. 560 of G. Orlandelli, "Bartolomeo de' Bartoli," in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 6 (1964), pp. 559-560. But I am not convinced. Bruzio wasn't "miser Bruzio" until after 1349. Perhaps Dorez will have more information.
Perhaps Bruzio "adapted" an earlier work made for his father Luchino for his own favor. Or the work had been only half finished.
I continue. Here I translate the Italian word "stanza" as the English "stanza" rather than "room", since each "stanza" has 21 verses, which would not normally be true of rooms.
The Song is divided into two parts, each of which consists of nine stanzas, twenty-one verses each, and a coda (conogedo = discharge). The first part contains the description of Virtue, the second that of Science.

In the initial stanza the author declares his purpose, to describe in words of vulgar rhyme the daughters of Discretion, mother of the virtues, and those of Docility, mother of the Sciences. The second stanza contains an invocation to St. Augustine, from which will be derived the Latin rubric of each stanza of the song. The eight other stanzas are devoted to Theology, Prudence, Fortezza [i.e. Fortitude or Strength], Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity. The first part ends with the coda, before which, as a kind of summary of everything, is a family tree.
I count 10 Stanza according your description, but you speak of 9? What family tree ends the presentation?
The second part describes the Sciences: Philosophy, Grammar, dialectic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy or Astrology. It ends, like the first, with a coda in which the author is named (Bartolomeo da Bologna di Bartoli), adding that he painted this volume for Messer Bruzio Visconti.

Each of the pages devoted to Virtue and Science is divided into three parts: on the top is transcribed the definition of the Virtue of Science, extracted from the works of St. Augustine; in the middle is seen expressed in color the representation of the Virtue or Science; the last, on the bottom, has the stanza dedicated to the Virtue or Science itself.
This looks like 8 Stanza?
I would see a 2-8-8 structure with a finishing family tree, so somehow a 2-8-1-8 scheme (family tree in the middle between 8 and 8, somehow including an 8+8 element ... as in CHESS. That's somehow Cessolis style. 8 officers, 8 pawns. The rest is just a personal FRAME.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

15
There are 20 Pages.
A Stanza is a room in Italian.
A verse is Versetto.
The whole thing is apparently built like a memory house but the italians call it a Museo delle memoria.
Instead of a chapter/page index there is an abstract tree like I posted on page one of this thread, called a discharge; each round picture of the virtue or science on the discharge (Tree)has a Latin title from I believe-Saint Augustine.
Each versetto in Early Italian has 21 lines.(was 21 lines of a versetto common practice?)
My start -out information came from a conference written in Italian of which this Folio was just a part.
The commentator about the conference- said this was a cultural Jewel that had been ignored. After the intial description of this folio- the presentor went on to talk about the artist who was Niccolo de Bartoli.
I might add my Italian is getting better and my Latin is getting worse.
I have not received the book on snail mail as yet- and all Mikeh's work has been of great value to me, although I believe Mike's book makes the Latin hard to read on the illustrations.
I would just love the Latin Quote on the discharge for the Virtue Fortezza.
~Lorrdan
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

16
Mikeh gave a Latin Sentence just before the Early Italian Verse on Fortitude
that means Courage is the strength of mind in those things which are troublesome in time.
from this....Fortitudo est firmitas animi adversus ea que temporaliter molesta sunt.
The writer calls this page or Room The Fortress- not Fortitudo.
The Tarot de Marseille- ish Tower shows coloured balls raining down, and figures falling.
I was wondering if there is some connection to Fortress/Tower/Strength of Mind as in having strength of mind to banish bad thoughts/worries(showing lack of trust in the Lord)...a whole different thing to courage in battle for example. Saint Augustine writes of 'Strength of mind".
Am I being Clear?? :-s
~Lorredan
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

18
The first page or room has letter of Petrarch and the plan to write verse in Italian- not Latin.
The second room includes an invocation of Saint Augustine with the latin Headings that are in charge of every room of the Song.
The eight other rooms or pages are devoted to -Theology, Prudence, The Fortress, (not written as Fortitude) Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity.
The first part ends with a discharge in the Code of the Museum, in an abstract form of a tree.(Like the page I posted) =11 PAGES?
The second part desribes the sciences- Philosophy, Grammer, Dialect, Rhetoric, Arithmatic, Geometry, Music and Astrology. This second part is also closed with a discharge.=9 PAGES?
=16 PAGES/ROOMS FOR EIGHT VIRTUES AND EIGHT SCIENCES )

The code of the Museum pages devoted to each of the Virtues and Sciences are devided into three parts; the upper is the definition of the Virtue or Science extracted from Saint Augustine; the middle is a representation of the Virtue or Science; The poem is then clearly placed to service the ornamentation of the Code.
~Lorredan
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

19
Thanks for translating the Latin quote from Augustine for Fortezza, Lorredan.

On translation issues,thanks for raising questions. Here is Dorez's Italian where "stanza" and "versi" first appear:
La Canzone è divisa in due parti, delle quali ciascuna consta di nove stanze
di ventun versi ciascuna, più un congedo. La prima parte contiene la descrizione
delle Virtù ; la seconda quella delle Scienze.
The first part indeed has 9 stanzas of 21 verses each, not counting the introduction on p. 1, or the Congedo (coda is the nearest English equivalent = "conclusion, summing up"; it has 11 lines plus 22 lines given to 10 personages in the illustration. (If these lines were 130 years later, Huck might find these numbers significant; as it is, I suspect he won't.)

At http://www.wordreference.com/enit/stanza I see that the English "stanza" can be translated as either "strofe" or "stanza". And the Italian "stanza" can be translated as "1.room", 2. with di: "...based on...", or "3. (METR.) stanza". A little further down we have "stanza" as "(poesie) verse". Based on the context, I think "stanza" is the best translation, since "verse" in English is ambiguous between "stanza" and "verse" (in the Bible, a verse is a line).

The stanzas indeed have 21 lines each. At http://www.wordreference.com/iten/versi, for "verso" the first meaning is "line (of verse)". For the sake of removing ambiguity, I should have translated "versi" as "lines". I was thinking of "versi" as in the Bible, but that is an old meaning. I will change my translation for "versi" from "verses" to "lines".

The stanzas, with the titles of virtues given in the Augustine quote at the top each page, in Latin, are: 1. introduction, 2. doctors and prophets, 3. Theologia, 4. Prudentia, 5. Fortitudo. 6. Temperantia, 7. Iusticia, 8. Fides, 9. Spes, 10. Karitas, 11. Congedo della prima parte, 12. Phylosophy, 13. Gramatica, 14. Dialectica, 15. Rethorica, 16. Arsmetrica 17. Geometria, 18. Musica, 19. Astrologia, 20. Congedo della seconda parte.

I will get to the 22 + 11 lines of the tree page (#11) in due course. First I have to give the pages up to there. I have three virtues to go.

"Fortezza" at http://www.wordreference.com/iten/fortezza has two meanings "1. fortitude. 2. fortress, stronghold." In the context of a listing of virtues, "Fortezza" is better translated as "fortitude". Dorez explicitly identifies "fortezza" with "fortitudo", in a passage in my last post, where I gave the Italian of the digitalized text.
.
Carta 3 r. - Segue la Fortezza (Forttiudo)
.
This of course is a mistake in machine digitalization. The actual text is:
Carta 3r. - Segue la FORTEZZA (Fortitudo).
"Fortitudo" is the word that appears in the illustration on the page for that virtue. It is the virtue exhibited by Samson in defeating the lion and Judith when she cut off the head of "Olloferene", according to the stanza. I do not see anything like the word "fortezza" on that page (for which I have given the full text in my last post), although "forteza" does appear on the tree page, in the verse alongside the picture labeled "fortitudo" (that word appears on the fortress). The verse is
Per mia forteza i' porto tutto il carcho
D'ogne vertute, e done ai mei lo barcho.
I will try to give a translation when I get to it. I doubt if "fortress" fits very well there.

As far as the artist of the Song, there seems to be some differences of opinion, based on what Lorredan reports. I have not found a printed or online source saying Niccolò da Bologna did the illustrations. Dorez says the artist is likely one with Florentine influence. If you look at Niccolò's version of the 7 virtues and 7 sciences, he says, they are stylistically quite different from the Chantilly's. The most recent source I can find, Gaesser's Fortunes of Apuleius & the Golden Ass, (2008) merely refers to Dorez for this manuscript, although saying
Bartolomeo, brother of the artist Andrea de' Bartoli, collaborated on manuscripts with some of the most celebrated illuminators in Bologna
(pp. 82-83, in Google Books).

Incidentally, while Gaesser refers to Pellegrin, La bibliotheque des Visconti et des Sforza (1955)and its Supplement for other Bartolomeo manuscripts, she does not do so for the Chantilly. This leads me to think that it was not in the Visconti-Sforza library, at least not when it was appropriated by the French in 1499 and years following. I have Pellegrin on order via Interlibrary Loan.

And I notice that Gaesser translates the title as The Poem of the Virtues and the Arts (p. 83). Well, I don't think it hurts to be too literal, i.e. The Song of the Virtues and Sciences.

Lorredan, if you are getting the University of Michigan reprint of Dorez's book, which I just received from Amazon, you will be sorely disappointed. The reproductions of the manuscript pages are frequently so bad you can't even see the attributes (for example the bridle), and often not the labels on the figures either. And the print is so small--especially the small print in tables and footnotes--as to give anyone a headache.

I might as well give here Dorez's chapter VI, which deals with the issue of the artist. Unfortunately I have a great deal of trouble understanding the last paragraph, which sounds fairly interesting. You have to bear in mind that in his Chapter V, he has been investigating other places in the 14th century that exhibited the same style as the Chantilly illustrations. He uses his conclusions from that chapter here. For the frontispiece to which he refers, from da Luca by Niccolo da Bologna, I posted SteveM's colored version a post or two back.
VI. PLACE AND DATE OF EXECUTION OF THE CODEX.

NOW we know well our codex, for which it remains, however, to lay down precisely its homeland and date.

Where was this heirloom (cimilio) codex of the Condé Museum written and portrayed [dipinto, which also means "painted"]? It is fortunately not a very difficult question to resolve, because, as we have extensively demonstrated on the basis of his own words, the author was born in Bologna, and lived and worked in Bologna.

So it seems established that Bartolomeo, who in 1349 and again in 1374 he collaborated with his illustrious compatriot Niccolo, never left his native city. Hence it is fair to infer that the Chantilly codex was written and painted in Bologna.

Given this, it is easy to find the date of execution of the codex. As we have already said, Bruzio Visconti, to whom the work is dedicated, lived a long time in Bologna: he probably arrived in late 1354 or the beginning of 1355, and the following February he was driven out angrily by his cousin John Oleggio. Bartolomeo could then offer to Visconti his moral song in the course of 1355, i.e. at the same time in which the Dominican Luca de' Mannelli had Niccolò da Bologna paint for a similar purpose a similar moral treatise kept in Paris. It is therefore safe to assume Our Author’s codex was written and portrayed [dipinto] in 1355.

Unuseful with much success, on the other hand, are the investigations [Inutili pur troppo sono invece riuscite] in which we attempted to discover who the painter was to whom Bartolomeo confided the decoration of the codex. Certainly it is not Niccolò da Bologna: one who has examined, without special knowledge of the art of the fourteenth century, the frontispiece of the Treatise of Luca de' Mannelli, which almost certainly is the work of Niccolò, also attending to (Fermera l’attenzione sulla) the paintings of the Codex of Chantilly, will not take long to be convinced. The initial letters of each stanza of the song is undoubtedly the work of some painter of the Bologna school, perhaps a pupil of Niccolò, graceful in women, dressed in ample cloaks of noble elegance, of immediately recognizable Giottoesque inspiration - refined, I would say, by the influence of the Sienese school, of which however

72 LEONE DOREZ
it does not have its character, a bit soft and monotonous. Here, on the contrary, the figures have a vigorous grace, a robust pliancy, so that it goes with the most beautiful Italian art creations that the mid-fourteenth century produced. A Florentine painter, therefore, must be considered, or at least one that had studied the masterpieces of contemporary masters in Florence.

But even though the artist is unknown, the work is wonderful, and after have determined the place and date of its composition, we must look for the earlier monuments from which the painter could draw for his own work. Almost all were remembered by us when we noticed the variety of symbols of the Virtues and Sciences. They are, in chronological order, the major fountain of Perugia (1280), the pulpit of the Cathedral of Pisa (1310), perhaps the capitals of the Doges’ Palace in Venice (1344), and the bas-reliefs of the Florentine campanile.

From the first two monuments and perhaps also in the last one, we infer with a certain latitude and independence our artist's figures of Science and Philosophy; of the third of their representatives, this provided us with a composition which closely agrees with the doctrines of Hugh of St. Victor. Where this conjecture will conclude, in the sign of the codex of Chantilly, we must recognize a work of art almost entirely Tuscan, and, one might even add, even Florentine, returning if possible to propose that the paintings themselves were originally devised with the intent of counterposing an artistic monument, inspired by Augustinian knowledge, which in Florence itself had already been known to marvelously stimulate Dominican activity.
And the original Italian:
VI. LUOGO E DATA DELL' ESECUZIONE DEL CODICE.

ORA conosciamo bene il nostro codice, del quale ci resta però a fissare in
modo preciso la patria e la data.

Dove fu scritto e dipinto codesto cimelio del museo Condé? Non è fortuna-
tamente questione molto ardua da risolvere, perchè, come abbiamo ampiamente
dimostrato colla scorta delle sue stesse parole, l'autore nacque a Bologna, ed in
Bologna visse ed operò.

Pare dunque cosa accertata che Bartolomeo, il quale nel 1349 e ancora nel
1374 collaborava col suo illustre compatriota Niccolò, non abbia mai lasciato la
sua città nativa. Donde si può giustamente dedurre che il codice di Chantilly sia
stato scritto e dipinto in Bologna.

Posto questo, è facile ritrovare la data deir esecuzione del codice. Come
abbiamo già detto, Bruzio Visconti, a cui Topera è dedicata, dimorò lungo tempo
in Bologna: vi arrivò probabilmente verso la fine del 1354 o sui primi del 1355,
e nel febbraio seguente ne fu cacciato dall' irato cugino Giovanni da Oleggio.
Non potè dunque Bartolomeo offrire al Visconti la sua canzone morale se non
nel corso del 1355, cioè nello stesso tempo in cui il domenicano fra Luca de'
Mannelli faceva anche lui da Niccolò da Bologna dipingere a simile scopo il
trattato parimente morale conservato a Parigi. Ci sarà quindi lecito ritenere il
nostro codice scritto e dipinto nel 1355.

Inutili pur troppo sono invece riuscite le indagini da noi tentate per scovrire
chi fosse il pittore a cui confidò Bartolomeo la decorazione del codice. Di certo
non è Niccolò da Bologna: chi dopo aver esaminato, anche senza conoscenze
speciali sull'arte del secolo XIV, il frontispizio del trattato di Luca de' Mannelli,
che quasi sicuramente è opera di Niccolò, fermerà l'attenzione sulle pitture del
codice di Chantilly, non tarderà ad esserne convinto. Le lettere iniziali di ciascuna
stanza della canzone indubbiamente sono lavoro di qualche pittore della scuola
bolognese, di uno forse degli allievi di Niccolò; ma nelle donne leggiadre, vestite
con nobile eleganza di ampt mantelli, si riconosce subito un'ispirazione giot-
tesca, affinata, starei per dire, dall'influenza della scuola senese, di cui tuttavia

72 LEONE DOREZ
non ha i caratteri un po' molli e monotoni. Qui al contrario le figure hanno una
grazia vigorosa, una pieghevolezza robusta, onde riescono fra le più belle
creazioni che Parte italiana abbia prodotto verso la metà del secolo XIV. Il
pittore dunque deve ritenersi fiorentino, o almeno tale che avea studiato in
Firenze i capolavori de' maestri contemporanei.

Ma checché ne sia dell'artista sconosciuto, l'opera è meravigliosa, e dopo
aver determinato il luogo e la data della sua composizione, dobbiamo ricercare
adesso i monumenti anteriori da cui il pittore poteva trarre ispirazione al proprio
lavoro. Quasi tutti furono da noi ricordati mentre notavamo le varietà dei simboli
delle Virtù e delle Scienze. Sono, in ordine cronologico, la fontana maggiore di
Perugia (1280), il pulpito del duomo di Pisa (1310), forse i capitelli del palazzo
ducale di Venezia (1344), ed i bassorilievi del campanile fiorentino.

Dai due primi monumenti e fors' anche in parte dall'ultimo, l'artista nostro
desunse con una certa larghezza ed indipendenza le figure delle Scienze e della
Filosofia; dal terzo quelle de' rappresentanti loro: offrendoci così una composi-
zione che concorda fedelmente colle dottrine d' Ugo da San Vittore. Ove queste
congetture colgano nel segno, nel codice di Chantilly noi dovremo riconoscere
un' opera d' arte quasi interamente toscana ; e, si potrebbe perfino aggiungere,
addirittura fiorentina, quando tornasse possibile mettere in sodo che le pitture
stesse vennero originariamente escogitate all' intento di contrapporre un monu-
mento artistico, ispirato dalla scienza agostiniana, a quello meraviglioso che in
Firenze stessa aveva già saputo innalzare l'attività domenicana.

Re: Panegyric of Bruzio Visconti by Bartolomeo da Bologn

20
OK, here are the final three virtues. This time I translated what I could of the Italian in all three stanzas. First, Fides, Faith, as illustrated here:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kIGXfDjqWGw/U ... _0470a.jpg
Folio 4 t. - With this sheet we turn to the description of Theological Virtues.

The first, Faith, Fides Chatholica, crowned, (dressed in green, with a veil that surrounds the face, covering her hair, ears, chin and neck, clasps in her arms a tree trunk with fourteen branches, seven to the right and seven to the left. Each of these branches is adorned with Arabian leaves, bearing fruit by way of disks, where is read a verse from the Symbol of the Apostles. Above Faith is painted a head with three faces, which shows as its inscription trinus et unus Deus, symbolizing the Trinity.

The tree hides its roots in a small temple, in the midst of which is an altar, on which the inscription reads: Petra autem erat Christus. Et super hanc petram he[dificabo] ec[clesiam] meam.

Behind the temple, under the feet of Faith, lies Hereticus Arias (violet [pavonazza] robe, red hood lined with white, red shoes).

THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 31

Text of the eighth stanza.

De fide edidit Augustinus librum unum de fides rerum invisibilium et libro (sic) de fide operibus, quam diffinit libro de oratione dominica:

fides est credere in unum Deum quod non vides, cuius est maximum offitium credere fide belief, quia ipse est ianua per quam introitar ad Dominum intelUgendum et amandum, ipsa est honorum omnium fundumentum et humane salutis initium.


Fé è la prima che se ferma in pietra,
Di quelle tre vertù che l'alma induxe
Sopra '1 celeste luxe,
Con ce dimostra in pomme el simbol santo;
Ch'in septe e septe è '1 canto
Distincto tutto e da quel sol procede,
Che de vergene herede,
Havè per spirito santo un figliol karo;
Ch'el fé nostro riparo
A trar l'umanità de la faretra
Infernale chava e tetra.
In qual punisse anchor le septe acchuxe.
Questo eh' è '1 sopran duxe
Unito e tripartito in un Dio tanto,
La sua possanza è quanto
Comprehender più si pò per nostra fede,
E che ven per mercede
In carne e sangue de nui su l'altaro.
Et Arrio el niegha, e chiaro
La Gliexia el dampna lui cum la sua sépta
A l'inferno, e la nostra in ciel confetta.

(Faith is the first that stops [?] in stone,
Of those three virtues that the soul induces
Above the Heavenly light,
Which shows us in the palm its heavenly symbol;
That in seven and seven its song is
Distinct from all that proceeds from the sun,
Which is inherited from the virgin,
Having a dear son by the Holy Spirit;
Who shelters our faith
To carry humanity from the quiver
Of chava [deep?] and gloomy hell.
Which would punish still the seven acchuxe [sins?}.
This is the supernatural lord
As much unity as tripart in one God,
This is because his power
Is so much more than our faith to understand,
Who comes to pay [?]
In flesh and blood from our altar.)
And Arius the denyer, and clearly
The Gliexia [Glory?} damns him to sépta [putrefaction?]
In hell, and our confession in heaven [?]. )
The Italian for Dorez's prose is at the end of this post.

Now the next one, Spes or Hope, illustrated thusly:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b-_vyV4H5DI/U ... G_0471.JPG
Folio 4r. - On a simple wooden chair sits a gracious young lady, crowned, with her head a bit tilted to the right and covered with the subtlest veil: Hope. She smiles and holds in her hands a small anchor with three branches. Her gown, lined with red, white sleeves hemmed with red. Hope tramples Iudas disperatus (blue robe, red cape, bare feet), who lies on his back, with the rope still attached to his neck.

In the blue sky, above right, the sun and moon shining, two hands reach out, the one offering a crown to the Virtue, the other showing a scroll on which, spread over two columns, read the following words:

Beatitudines anima: Sapientia Amicitia Concordia Honor Potentia Securitas Visio Fruitio Tentio


32 LEONE DOREZ

Beatitudines corporis: Claritas Agilitas Voluptas Libertas Longevitas Sanitas Pulcritudo Fortitudo Impassibilitas

Et deinde oritur gaudium
beatitudinis eterni
amoris.


Text of the ninth stanza.

De spe edidit Augustinus librum unum de spe habenda in risto qui vocat[ur] contemplationis, incipiens: “Quoniam in medio Iaqueos (sic) positi sumus„; et ipsam spem diffìnit libro de Verbis Apostoli:

Spes est omnium honorum expectatio certa, secundum quam
per Dei gratiam creditur et operatur.


Fé è sta' quinta e Speranza seconda
Ad orden lei, sì eh' in lo cerchio è sexta;
De chi doven far festa,
Ch' amor la manda per nostra salude
A trarce del palude
Mondano e fuora del profundo fiume
Di rei pensier che sume
La mente nostra in adversa fortuna;
E con più mal ci aduna,
Chostei de l’ anchor suo lor ce fa sponda,
E d' ogni ben ioconda,
Expecta gratia dal ciel manifesta,
E la sua vita honesta
Divide nove da nove in due mude
Beatitudin ignude
D'ogni diffecto e falle suo costume;
E '1 suo perfecto lume
Infunde in nui chon fa '1 sole in la luna.
Per indurce a la cruna
Che perde Juda, disperà trahitore,
Ch' a sì de' morte e tradì '1 suo segniore.

(Faith stands fifth and Hope is second
In order to her, yes, in the circle is sixth;
Of those who would rejoice,
Who sends her love for our health
To trace out of the swamp
Of the world and out of the deep river
From the guilty thoughts that fill [?: sume]
Our minds in adverse fortune;
And we gather up with more pain,
Chostei de still them there is his side,
Everything is indeed jocund
Hoping for manifest grace from heaven,
And his honest life
Divides nine by nine in two modes[mude, anima and corporis?}]
Beatitudes naked
Of every defect and customary [?] flaw;
And his perfect light
Enfuses in us chon [?] as does the sun in the moon.
To induce to the eye
How Judas lost, traitor in despair,
Who ensured his death and betrayed his lord.
And now Karitas or Charity, illustrated as follows:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zopUyAiKUc0/U ... G_0473.JPG

And the text:
Folio 5t. - In the usual chair sits Charity, crowned and winged. She is covered with a richly decorated red robe and a cloak of pure red-lined green, fastened at the chest by a clasp. In the place of the heart she bears the words Amor Dei, Christi, amici [friends], inimici [enemies], "sign" of his fourfold

THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 33

piety towards God and men. She carries in her hand two rolls, in which are read five verses from God’s ten commandments:

Sit patris honor, sit tibi matris amor.
Non sis occisor, fur, mecus, testis iniquus,
Vicinique thorum resque caveto suas.
Sperno deos, fugito periuria sabbata colo,
Habens uni Deo amorem, timorem et honorem.


The Virtue tramples Herodes impius, crowned, supine, with a beard and long hair, green robe, blue cape and red boots.

Text of the Tenth stanza.

De karitate edidit Augustinus librum unum de laudibus karitatis et librum de subsiantia karitatis et librum de quatuor virtutibus karitatis; quam sic diffinit libro 3 de Doctrina christiana:

Karitas est motus animi ad fraendum Deo propter se ipsum
et se atqae proximo propter Deum.


Ogne vertù senza chostei si perde:
Karitate è, eh' è d' ogn' altra sostegno,
Come ce mostra in segno
Amor che i ven dai cor da quatro parti,
Et ha in man due carti:
A Dio va l’ una, e l’ altra a nui riverte,
E ten sue aile averte
Ciaschun chiamando; e s' alcuno hom la schiva,
Si stesso d'onor priva,
E sta com'albor seccho in zardin verde.
In la sua vita, e ver de'
Per tal diffecto ametter l’alto regno;
Che '1 suo zentile inzegno
È de condurce tutti in quelle parti
O i seraphyni én sparti
Del ciel choi sancti a veder chose certe.
Fé e Speranza experte
En di tal donna che da lor deriva;
Septima in ziro e viva
In Dio se trova eternai questa zemma.
Che lassò Herodes, onde è ben ch'el zemma.

(Everyone without virtue is lost:
Charity is, yes, the support of all the rest,
As we show in the sign
Love that comes from the heart in four parts,
And has in her hand two sheets:
To God is one, and the other to us reverts,
And holds its wings open
Each calling, and any man avoiding it,
Deprives himself of honor,
He is like a parched tree in a green garden.
In his life, and in truth
By this defect acknowledging to the higher realm;
Who gently teaches
And guides all in whatever parts
Or seraphyms in sharing
From the holy ones to see things [?} certain.
Faith and Hope are expert [?]
In that they derive from this woman;
The seventh, in turning [giro?] and living
In God, finds the eternal zemma [nothing?].
That left out Herod, so that indeed he is zemma.)
And now here is Dorez's commentary in the original Italian:
Carta 4 t. - Con questa carta passiamo alla descrizione delle Virtù
Teologali.

La prima, la Fede, Fides Chatholica, incoronata, vestita di verde, con un
velo, che, cìngendole il volto, le ricopre i capelli, gli orecchi, il mento e il collo,
stringe ira le sue braccia un albero, dal tronco del quale escono quattordici
rami, sette a destra e sette a sinistra. Ognuno di questi rami, adorno di fronde
arabescate, porta un frutto a mo' di disco dove si legge un versetto del Simbolo
degli Apostoli. Al disopra della Fede è dipinta una testina con tre visi, che,
come mostra l' iscrizione : trinus et unus Deus, simboleggia la Trinità.

L'albero nasconde le sue radici in un piccolo tempietto, in mezzo al quale
sta un altare, sul quale si legge la scritta: Petra autem erat Christus, Et super
hanc petram he[dificabo] ec[clesiam] meam.

Dietro al tempietto, sotto i piedi della Fede, giace Arias hereticus (veste
pavonazza, cappuccio rosso foderato di bianco, calzari rossi).
...

Carta 5r, - Sopra una semplice cattedra di legno siede una graziosis-
sima giovane, incoronata, colla testa un po' inclinata a destra e coperta di sot-
tilissimo velo : la Speranza. Essa sorride e tiene fra le mani una piccola
àncora a tre branche. La veste, foderata di rosso, è bianca cogli orli delle
maniche rossL La Speranza conculca ludas disperatus (veste azzurra, mantello
rosso, piedi ignudi), il quale giace sul dorso, colla fune ancora attaccata al collo.

Nel cielo azzurro, raffigurato a destra, splendono il Sole e la Luna, e due
mani si protendono, Tuna ad offrire alla Virtù una corona, l'altra a mostrare un
rotolo su cui si leggono distribuite in due colonne le parole seguenti:
In the blue sky, above right, the sun and moon shining, two hands reach out, the one offering a crown to the Virtue, the other showing a scroll on which, spread over two columns, read the following words:

Beatitudines anima: Sapientia Amicitia Concordia Honor Potentia Securitas Visio Fruitio Tentio


32 LEONE DOREZ

Beatitudines corporis: Claritas Agilitas Voluptas Libertas Longevitas Sanitas Pulcritudo Fortitudo Impassibilitas

Et deinde oritur gaudium
beatitudinis eterni
amoris.

...

Carta 5t. - Sulla solita cattedra siede la Carità, incoronata ed alata.
Essa è coperta d'abito rosso sontuosamente ornato e d'un ampio mantello pure
rosso foderato di verde, allacciato sul petto da un fermaglio. Al posto del cuore
porta le parole Amor Dei, Christi, amici, inimici, "segno„ della quadruplice

LA CANZONE DELLE VIRTÙ E DELLE SCIENZE 33

sua pietà verso Dio e gli uomini. Essa tiene nelle mani due rotoli, su cui si
leggono in cinque versi i dieci comandamenti di Dio :

Sit libi patrls honor^ sit Ubi matris amor.
Non sis occisor, fur, mecus, tesis iniquus,
Vicinique thorum resque cavato suas.

Sperno deos, fugito periuria sabbata colo,
Habens uni Deo amorem, timorem et honorem.

Dalla Virtù si calpesta Herodes impius, incoronato, supino, con barba e
chioma lunga, veste verde, mantello azzurro e calzari rossi.
cron