Quelques secrets d’un manuscrit de Pétrarque révélés en croisant littérature et chimie

Résumé 0

In 1366, Petrarch wrote an ambitious work, De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae, which is composed of 254 dialogues concerning the reactions to adopt in the face of life’s vagaries. This work was translated into ancient French in 1380 by Jean Daudin, under the title, Les Remèdes de l’Une et l’Autre Fortune (Remedies to Adverse and Prosperous Fortune). Seven manuscripts of this translation are currently known, including the manuscript in the Bibliothèque Méjanès in Aix en Provence that is dated from around 1460. This richly illuminated manuscript raises several questions. Who commissioned it? What did the second illumination that has since disappeared represent? What workshop made the miniature of folio 6? In order to shed some light on these questions, an interdisciplinary project was launched in June 2015. It was based on the complementary aspect of two very distinct disciplines: literature and chemistry. By correlating physio-chemical analyses and the history of the book, we have unveiled the identity of the benefactor. It is likely that Tanguy IV du Chatel and his wife acquired this manuscript from the studio of Master François. However the question of the attribution of this work to a workshop remains open. In order to pursue the deliberation on this subject, we have been concerned with carefully characterizing the illuminator’s palette and with revealing his manner of combining and superimposing colors.