Experiment and Visual Transformation in Illuminated Manuscripts of the Roman de la rose, c. 1338 – c. 1405.

Abstract

The Roman de la rose, by far the most popular romance in medieval Europe, was also one of the most richly and imaginatively illuminated works in French vernacular literature. Illuminators began providing miniatures in the late thirteenth century, focusing first on narrative episodes contained in the portion of the text composed by Guillaume de Lorris c. 1225-40, but increasingly coming to terms with Jean de Meun’s continuation, written about forty years later. In the course of more than two centuries of illumination, no single set of images emerged to accompany the narrative: pictorial cycles varied greatly in number of images, placement, and iconographic content. Over time, artists distinguished their copies from the work of predecessors by changing their manner of rendering and clothing the large cast of characters according to the latest fashions. Toward the end of the fourteenth century, when intellectuals in court circles began to debate the morality of Jean’s continuation, patrons became eager to own deluxe versions of a text that had by now become a classic. In this dissertation, I trace the nature and extent of these visual transformations over time by focusing on the production of Rose manuscripts in four shops active in Paris from c. 1338–c.1405. Richard and Jeanne de Montbaston (active c. 1338–1353), a husband and wife team, developed image cycles for at least seventeen manuscripts that exhibit the range of variation found in later copies of the text. Artist L of the Bible moralisée of John the Good (active c. 1350–65), working at a moment of market saturation, responded with image cycles that highlighted new fashions and more fully articulated the romance’s narrative. Four copies of the Rose illuminated by the Maître du Policratique de Charles V (active c. 1366–1403), and a singleton volume illuminated by an artist participating in a style known as the “Bedford Trend” (c. 1405–15), provide evidence that their artists collaborated with planners to create image cycles that reflected contemporary interests in the ethical and philosophical aspects of the text.