Au sujet des architectures de l’Apollonius pictus. Autour de la transmission de modèles à travers le Haut Moyen Âge

Abstract

The almost unknown “Apollonius fragment” of the National Szechenyi Library is the earliest known illustrated copy of Historia Apollonii regis Tyri, a Late Antique romance on the adventures of king Apollonius and his daughter, Tarsia. The fragment’s uniquely rich secular narrative image cycle appears to be, with its thirty-eight pen-work drawings, a faithful rendering of its Late Antique model. The fragment is one of the most extensive secular narrative image cycles of Late Antique origin and is of primary importance in the history of secular narrative book illustrations both in the context of Late Antique art and that of the Ottonian period. In this article, the author focuses on the architectural representations of the scenes of the Picture-Cycle of the Apollonius fragment in order to try to clarify the narrative strategies, the representation of movement, effects of perspective and classical sources.