• De vita Caesarum / Suetonius.

Extent:
  • 1 volume (ii, 170, ii leaves) : parchment, illustrations ; 25 cm
Date:
  • 1433
Language:
Author:
  • Suetonius, approximately 69-approximately 122
Description:
  • Script: Humanistica antiqua.
  • Decoration: Miniatures of the Twelve Caesars (Julius Caesar to Domitian). Each is dressed in 15th-century costume, usually with colored stockings; against a gold leaf or patterned background. They precede the beginning of each Vita. Full-page miniatures on fols. 3v, 27r, 59v, 113r, 139r, 143v; three-quarter page on fols. 80v, 98r, 131v, 149v, 157r, and 160v. Twelve 9-line initials, colored and patterned, on gold leaf ground, with gold triple leaves extending into margin, for beginning of each Vita. Initial A on fol. 4r includes blue Visconti knotted veil; initial E on fol. 113v includes blue Visconti knotted veil and also the motto “Pangre beau”; initial P on fol. 132r is composed of a blue upright long-sleeved hand holding a fish-like serpent terminating with a bird's head; initial V on fol. 144r composed of a deer head with antlers.
Binding note:
  • Italy (probably Venice), mid-16th century. Dark brown calf over pasteboard, gilt and blind decorations, framing central gilt stamp on front and back covers: four bands; edges gilt and gauffered (most visible on the top edge); beaded endbands with secondary sewing in blue and tan.
Provenance:
  • Kane MS. 44 was written in 1433 in Milan by the scribe Milanus Burrus. The miniatures are attributed to the “Master of the Vitae Imperatorum.” Given the prevalence of the Visconti blue-knotted veil, Kane Ms. 44 was probably also made for a member of the Visconti family of Milan or of their household. The manuscript was owned by Guiniforte della Croce, from Vigevano, west of Milan, later in the 15th century. The manuscript was in the collection of the Philadelphia collector Clarence S. Bement (1843-1923) when exhibited in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1893. The manuscript was later in the library of the New York collector Robert Hoe (1839-1909). It was sold at the Hoe sale in New York at the Anderson Auction Company in January 1912. Mrs. Phoebe A.D. Boyle of New York acquired the manuscript, but it was auctioned again by Anderson (sale no. 1772) in New York. Grenville Kane (1854-1943), of Tuxedo Park, N.Y., acquired the manuscript in 1923, probably at this sale. The manuscript was exhibited in Paris, Musée des arts decoratifs, May-June 1926, at the Exposition du livre italien. The Princeton University Library acquired the manuscript from Kane's heirs in 1946.
Former owner:
  • Kane, Grenville, 1854-1943
Contributor:
  • Princeton University. Library. Manuscript. Kane MS. 44.
References:
  • Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 2, page 99-102.
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