previous sub-section
3— Nicole Oresme as Master of the Texts
next sub-section

Tradition and Innovation in the Illustrations

Illustrations of the Latin versions of the Ethics and the Politics are limited to historiated initials, most frequently representations of Aristotle teaching. Therefore the


31

development of programs of illustrations for the French translations of these texts is a significant occurrence. The taste for illustrations in vernacular texts gradually developed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as a reflection of the preferences of their patrons.[55] As was discussed in Chapter 1, the Capetian and early Valois monarchs built up a tradition of commissioning French translations of Latin texts that had not been previously illustrated. As Ruth Morse points out, the commission of vernacular translations, presented in expensive illustrated copies, conferred prestige and power on the patrons.[56]

Charles V shared this predilection and took an active part in the production of manuscripts that were particularly important to him.[57] In her biography of Charles V, Christine de Pizan describes the king's "active supervisory role in the making of the volumes that entered his collection."[58] Several documents that specify payments for parchment indicate the king's personal involvement in book production.[59] Recent studies emphasize Charles V's role in the editing and rewriting of texts that had important political implications.[60] Two colophons in his Coronation Book and his copy of Bersuire's translation of Livy specify that the king had the books illustrated.[61] François Avril believes that Charles V may have requested, and had a hand in composing, an explication of an unusual frontispiece of a Bible historiale commissioned by him.[62] Charles V's taste for heavily illustrated manuscripts of French translations of Latin texts is analogous to his preference for the vernacular. Illustrations concretize and update concepts of the source language. Indeed, as detailed analysis of the Ethiques and Politiques cycles will reveal, the function of many images is that of a visual glossary or definition of neologisms or unfamiliar terms introduced into French by Oresme. Another dimension of this analogy is the appearance in the art of this time of a more naturalistic style manifest in portraiture and the representation of landscape.

In two respects the programs of the Ethiques and the Politiques differ from those of other vernacular translations commissioned by Charles V. First, these are the only illustrations that consistently employ inscriptions embedded in or surrounding the text. This inscribing of the verbal within the visual is essential to the didactic and mnemonic functions of the illustrations.[63] Second, except for frontispieces to various types of texts and the cycle of the Cité de Dieu illustrations, the Ethiques and the Politiques programs offer more than usually complex visual structures, characterized by departure from a column format and division of the picture field into two or three registers. These features show special care in linking image and text to order and direct the reader's understanding of the works.


previous sub-section
3— Nicole Oresme as Master of the Texts
next sub-section