The Exhibition of French Manuscripts of the XIII-XVI Centuries at the Bibliothèque Nationale

Abstract

Only a little more than a year after the memorable exhibition of early mediaeval French illumination, Jean Porcher, indefatigable keeper of manuscripts at the Bibliotheque Nationale, has put together a second. A little larger even than the first, the current show presents three hundred and sixty manuscripts of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, as well as a few from the early sixteenth—the first great exhibition of its kind ever to be held, and one not likely to be equaled for a long time. Indeed, such a splendid display of the major accomplishments of French illumination during this period could only be arranged in Paris, with the chefs-d'aeuvre of the Arsenal and the Mazarine and the Ste. Genevieve (and the Musee Jacquemart-Andre!) joined to those of the Nationale, Most of the great manuscripts of this time were painted for members of the royal family, and they became part of the royal collection now in the Nationale, or, as gifts from private collectors, they entered one of the smaller...