Frontispiece with Virgil in a basket and Virgil's vengeance (Johannes Major, Quaestiones logicales, Jehan Petit, 1528).
Date :
1528
Type of image :
Gravure sur bois
Storage Location :
2 Ph.sp. 23 s#Beibd.1
Description
In the upper left-hand corner, a woman hoists Virgil into a basket, making him believe that he will gain access to his room. She will in fact expose him to Roman ridicule. On the right, Virgil takes his revenge by having the lady's ass burned, by the same Romans who had mocked him.
Below right Poseidon builds the city of Troy (?) for King Laomedon.
Lower right corner: Judgment of Paris. Cupid behind a tree bends his bow in the direction of the shepherd.
Lower left corner: Pyrame and Thisbé. Thisbé discovers Pyrame dead at the foot of a fountain and commits suicide.
History :
- Qvaestiones Logicales Magistri Ioannis Maioeris Hadyngthonani Theologi, ac Philosophi Parisiensis
- This frontispiece originally intended for the 2-vol. of Virgil's works was also used for various works of philosophy and scholarship, including Aristotle's Logica (Logica Aristotelis ex tertia recognitione, Paris, 1531), Asconius Pedianus' commentary on Cicero's speeches (In orationes M. Tullii Ciceronis enarrationes, Paris, P. Vidoue pour C. Resch, 1520) or Ambrogio Calepino's Lexicon (F. Ambrosii Calepini ergomatis eremitae professionis uiri vndecunque doctissimi Lexicon, Paris, Pierre Gaudoul, 1526).
- In some copies, such as the Virgil at the BM in Lyon (call number SJ X 360/17), the right-hand part of the frame, deemed obscene, has been removed.
Technical Data
Notice #024998
Image editing :
Image web
