A highly interesting manuscript from the Tyrol

11 Speculum humanae salvationis

Manuscript on vellum with pen-and-ink drawings by Magister Konrad.
Austria, before 1386.

301 x 230 mm. 49 leaves. A collation of the manuscript was impossible, the text is obviously complete. – Written space 240 x 172 mm, two columns of 48 lines to the page.Textualis in black ink, rubrics, lombards and chapter marks in red, beginnings of verses stroked in red. One blue and red initial, three red letters with brown pen-flourishing, two-line pen-work initials in red and green. 192 column-wide pen-and-ink drawings in the upper third of the page, in the beginning coloured with washes. – In very good condition, only slight traces of former use. – Brown morocco binding of the 19th century, on five raised bands, green spine with gilt stamps and red label.

PROVENANCE:1. fol. 1: “Istu(m) libr(um) dedit monast(er)io s(an)c(t)i Joh(ann)is in Stams. M(a)g(iste)r chu(o)nrad(us) pictor ducis Leupoldi p(ro) signo sp(eci)al(is) a(m)icicie”. (Master Konrad, painter to Duke Leopold dedicated this book to the monastery of St John at Stams as a token of his particular friendship).The Cistercian monastery of Stams had been founded in 1273 by Count Meinhard II of Tyrol-Görz and Elisabeth of Wittelsbach, the widow of the Stauffer Konrad IV. Stams became the burial place of the princes of Tyrol. In the right margin in a different hand and using a different ink the date: “anno d(omi)n…/m ccc lxxx…”, the last figure cut off. The death of Duke Leopold III in 1386 may serve as a ‘terminus ante quem’. 2. In 1774 Count Nikolaus Páffy of Erdöd gave the codex to Count Franz Koháry of Csábrag, cf. an entry and a note of ownership of count Franz dated 1789 on fol. 1. 3. Private collection, Europe.

TEXT:fol. 1: unfinished drawing of Adam working in the fields (cf. fol. 6) – fol. 1v: Preface – fol. 4: blank – fol. 4v: Speculum humanae salvationis – fol. 46v: Stations of Christ’s Passion – fol. 48v: Seven Sorrows of the Virgin – fol. 50v: Seven Joys of the Virgin – fol. 52v: Prayers to the Virgin; ending of text on fol. 53. The author of the Speculum humanae salvationis, or Mirror of Salvation, remains anonymous. The manuscripts whose texts come closest to the original variant were written in Bologna and the earliest surviving textual evidence dates around 1320. The Speculum, which deals with Man’s Salvation through Christ and the Virgin, probably had its sources in the spirituality of the mendicant orders. The illustrations are deployed across openings, the verso showing an episode from the New Testament (the so-called anti-type) and the facing recto presenting three scenes from the Old Testament (type). In the pictorial sense as well as in their content the episodes of the Old correspond to those of the New Testament, they ‘pre-figure’ it. The text comprises 45 chapters beginning with the Fall of Lucifer, continuing to the Creation of Man and the Flood, while the main portion of the text gives an account of the Salvation of Man through Christ and culminates in the Last Judgement. Chapters 43 to 45 comprise seven scenes of Christ’s Passion, the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of the Virgin.

ILLUMINATION:The illumination begins with the Fall of Lucifer, followed by six miniatures culminating in Noah’s Ark. Scenes from the life of the Virgin precede the Incarnation of Christ. The cycle from the Annunciation, through the Passion to Christ’s descent to the limbo is the most lavishly illustrated portion. Pictures from other sources praise the completion of Salvation in Christ and his mother. A wholly New Testament cycle of Christ’s Passion follows, while the Seven Sorrows and the Seven Joys of the Virgin are inspired by various other sources. The complete cycle of illustrations amounts to 192 images. Edgar Breitenbach, whose ground-breaking study of the illustration of the Speculum appeared in 1930, divided the 350 manuscripts accessible to him into several groups. Our manuscript belonged to the so-called German group, which he saw headed by a codex from St Mang in Füssen (Augsburg, Universitätsbibliothek, cod. I.2.20 23), while Fingernagel 1997 preferred one of the manuscripts in Munich (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, clm 23433), of higher artistic quality. Among others, M140 of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York is one of the most important companion pieces. The German group shows a freer treatment of the original compositions that is particularly found in Italian Speculum manuscripts. It renounces symmetrical depictions, favouring a more conventional iconography instead. At the same time there are conspicuous inconsistencies within the group that seem to indicate alterations from a prototype. Magister Chuonradus, who is named in the dedication note, is likely to be identifiable with the court painter Konrad von Tiergarten from Merano, who is also seen as the author of the central panel of an altar piece from Stams which shows the Coronation of the Virgin, and reveals a strong Italian influence (Stiftsammlung Stams,Tyrol, cf.Trattner 1999, p. 298). Konrad is documented between 1379 and 1406, the Coronation panel is dated to the 1390’s. However, a stylistic comparison of this work is redundant, as our Speculum and the panel adhere to different prototypes. The fact that our codex is obviously closely related to a manuscript from the group around the codices in Munich and New York shows that Master Konrad must have had access to a work from this group. If Konrad donated his Speculum to the monastery, this investment would appear to have proved worthwhile, as it may have led to the important commission of the altarpiece. A closer examination of our codex may thus provide interesting new clues for the broader study of Speculum manuscripts as well as of painting in the Tyrol.

LITERATURE: Exh. cat., Vienna 1962, no. 192; Trattner 1999, p. 298. Breitenbach 1930, pp. 70f; Harrsen 1958, no. 38; Frankenberger/ Rupp (ed.) 1987, no. 14; exh. cat. Stams 1995; Fingernagel/Roland 1997, no. 123; Hernad 2000, no. 249.