Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

L’esperance ou consolation des trois vertus
France, Bourges, ca. 1525-1530
MS M.438 fol. 4r

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L’Esperance ou Consolation des Trois Vertus: Scene, Alain Chartier covered by Melancholy -- Alain Chartier, inscribed M(ONSIEU)R ALAIN, wearing hat, head inclined resting on left hand, is seated at far left. Melancholy, inscribed MELANCOLIE (Personification, Vice: Sadness? or Personification, Vice: Anger?), wearing knotted headdress and garment with jagged hem, covers Chartier, shown again, inscribed M(ONSIEU)R ALAIN, with her cloak as he falls onto canopy bed. Three women stand on other side of the bed: the first, Personification of Defiance, inscribed DESFIANCER, wearing knotted headdress, holds small casket in curled right arm; the second, Personification of Fury, inscribed INDIGNACION, wearing hat, holding Tables of Law with right hand and scourge with left hand; and the third, Personification of Despair, inscribed DESESPERANCE, with wild curling hair, holds knife with both hands. Interior scene with canopy bed. Initial L of foliate ornament on gold ground decorated with strawberries.