MINIATURIST, French
(active 1500-1510 in Rouen)

Petrarch: Triumphs

1503
Manuscript (Ms. français 594), 370 x 260 mm
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

This outstanding manuscript is dedicated to Petrarch's Triumphs in the form of an extensive French edition. The Triumphs is an allegorical didactic poem about the soul of the poet and the history of mankind. The manuscript is lavishly illustrated in the characteristic pictorial style of the French Renaissance. The codex is attributed to the Rouen school. It was probably produced for King Louis XII (reigned 1498-1515).

The miniature on folio 102r shows two unicorns drawing a triumphal carriage, surrounded mainly by women, while in the background a many-turreted townscape rises up before the horizon. On the carriage stands a young woman personifying Chastity, who obtains her power from Reason, symbolized by the female statue depicted to the right above.