Virgil in a basket. Palace of the Roman Provinces (La Fleur des histoires, Mazarine ms 1559, f286v)
Notice n°1 sur 1
Description
On the left is reproduced the anecdote according to which Virgil, having a tryst with the daughter of the emperor of Rome, was ridiculed by a nasty trick: she offered to take him up to her room via a basket that she hoisted up from her bedroom window. But the basket was stopped halfway up, so that in the morning, the gallant poet stuck in a pitiful position would have been exposed to the laughter of all the Romans.
The right-hand side of the image is more difficult to interpret. In the text below the image, Virgil is described as a magician-builder: he is said to have built a palace in which each Roman province was represented by a statue; in the center was the statue of Rome. If a province revolted, a bell would ring and the statue of Rome would point to the province in revolt. Rome could then immediately send troops to quell the revolt...
In the background, we see a palace that could be this magic palace. In front of it, the man in the red bonnet appears to be Virgil: he's wearing the same bonnet and orange collar as Virgil with the basket. The bell signalling the rebellious province is watermarked in front of him. But what is this roaring lion?
- Rubric under the image: "Cy parole des merveilleux fais de virgille le poète". Then: "Au tems que lempereur ottovien regnoit à romme vivoit virgille Le poete qui fist plusieurs merveilles en son temps. There was a brass mousche at one of the gates of Naples, which enchanted all the other mousches in the city. In the same city, he made a butcher's shop in which he could not rot or corempre. He made a stone bell tower that moved like the bells when they rang. He had a temple made in Romansh, with statues of all the world's provinces, each with the name of the province written on its chest and a bell on its neck. If any province rebelled against Romansh, the bell began to ring, and the statue of Romansh in the middle stretched out its doy towards the statue. And then the priests who guarded these images sent the name of the province in writing to the senate. And incontinent les rommains enuoioient leur ost en celle province et la remettoient en leur subiection."
Technical Data
Notice #024994