ENLUMINURE. RIGHT. EXEGESIS. Folio from a treatise... Lot 13

[ENLUMINURE]. [RIGHT]. [EXEGESIS]. Folio from a treatise on canon and civil law with passages of exegetical commentary (unidentified treatise). In Latin, text on two columns, written in brown ink, expectation letters in place of initials not realized. Illustrated folio with three scenes from Genesis: Creation of Eve from Adam's rib; Original sin (Adam, Eve and the serpent in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden); Adam and Eve driven from Paradise by the angel. Italy, circa 1425-1450 (?) and neo-Gothic illumination (circa 1900?) Dimensions: 195 x 267 mm Some soiling, ink a little pale in places. Good condition of illuminations and illuminated border. This totally atypical and somewhat mysterious folio contains three columns of text in a tight, abbreviated script close to scholastic law and exegesis manuscripts from clerical and university circles. The folio was a priori used as a support for a composition on the recto of the left-hand column, composed of an illuminated border in imitation of Italian manuscripts, in a style of ornamentation reminiscent of northern manuscripts, notably Ferrara. The scenes depicted seem a priori disconnected from the text, but a closer reading reveals that the various blocks of text are introduced by biblical quotations from Genesis. The neo-Gothic painter seems to have understood this, and paints three scenes from Genesis. On the recto side is the scriptural extract: Genesis, 27:35, "Venit germanus tuus fraudulenter..."; and on the verso, left-hand column: Genesis, 37:6, "Audite somnium meum...". These biblical extracts are followed by a commentary that is partly exegetical, but also juridical, with references to the Digest of Justinian, for example, passages taken from Liber 50: "In fraudem civilium munerum per tacitam fidem praedia translata fisco vindicantur... In toto iure generi per speciem derogatur et illud potissimum habetur..." (leaflet, left-hand column, lines 15-16). Some jurist commentators are cited, such as Hostiensis (recto, right-hand col., line 49); Jean d'André (canonist and jurisconsult, glossator of the Decretals and Clementines) (recto, right-hand col., line 32). We are very grateful to Mr. Peter Kidd for the following information. The miniatures on this page are based on the illuminated composition preserved in a manuscript of the Postillae litterales, New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 535, fol. 4v.