Aliotti (Girolamo) Gratulatio ad Pium II pro foelici, ac secundo ex Mantuana peregrinatione reditu. Dialogus de optimo vitae genere deligendo. De monachis erudiendis, illuminated manuscript on fine vellum, in Latin, Florence, 1460.

Aliotti (Girolamo) Gratulatio ad Pium II pro foelici, ac secundo ex Mantuana peregrinatione reditu. Dialogus de optimo vitae genere deligendo. De monachis erudiendis, illuminated manuscript on fine vellum, 143ff., (lacking the final blank leaf), in Latin, written by a single hand in brown ink in a formal humanist script, single column, headings and names of interlocutors in pale red ink, the first capital letter of each sub-chapter set out, with 2 illuminated coats-of-arms of Pope Pius II, numerous gold and white-vine initials, 5 one-line blue paragraph marks, catchwords written in the middle of the last page of each quire (except quires 2 and 4), first leaf slightly soiled, 4 marginal worm-holes at beginning, gradually disappearing before half-way through the ms. and not affecting text, a few marginal stains, repair to lower margin of one leaf in final gathering, but overall in excellent condition, early 20th century blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, spine with 5 raised bands, marbled endpapers, gilt and gauffered edges, a little rubbed, upper joint skilfully repaired, 4to (253 x 181mm.), Florence, 1460.

⁂ Text:

fols. 1/1r-2/7v: G. Aliotti, II. Pro felici ac secundo ex Mantuana peregrinatione reditu (G. Aliotti, Epistolae et opuscula, ii, pp. 323-345). Inc. Ego beatissime pater cum per hos superiores dies Roma rediens Expl. meae gratulationis cantus adoriar sic placet 78-verse poem follows on fols. 1/8r-2/9v (inc. Inclita signa uago lumen radiantia mundo)

fols. 2/10v-4/10r: G. Aliotti, Dialogus de optimo vite genere deligendo (C. Caby, Réseaux sociaux, pratiques culturelles et genres discursifs: à propos du dialogue De optimo vitae genere, pp. 461-482). Inc. Nuper apud foianum agri aretini opidum Expl. Hiero. Vale o cimber! Mar. valete & reliqui. Finis

fols. 4/10v-14/8r: G. Aliotti, De monachis erudiendis (G. Aliotti, Epistolae et opuscula, ii, pp. 176-292). Inc. Plerosque nostrorum temporum religiosos Expl. beatissimi martiris donati inscriptum nomini atque constructum. Finis

Illumination:

fol. 1/1r: papal coat-of-arms of Pius II Piccolomini (55 x 109mm.) in shield in the bas-de-page extensions in red, green, purple and gold;

fol. 2/8r: large miniature (112 x 78 mm.) bearing at the centre the coat-of-arms of Pius II in burnished silver, blue and gold surmounted by a white and gold mitre and surrounded by a laurel crown held by two winged putti; the background is coloured in red and patterned in white, while the white-vine border and the putti are in blue, red and green; attached to the miniature is a three-line gold and white-vine initial (18 x 19 mm.);

5 four- to six-line gold and white-vine initials (34 x 31 mm.) in blue, red and green;

14 smaller gold initials (18 x 13 mm.) variably mixing blue, red and green for the ground with patterns in white.

A deluxe illuminated manuscript offered as a gift by the Aretine abbot and humanist Girolamo Aliotti to Pope Pius II Piccolomini, produced in the Florentine workshop run by the 'king of booksellers' Vespasiano da Bisticci and telling a fascinating tale of patronage. Girolamo Aliotti, a native of Arezzo and, from 1446, Prior of the Benedictine monastery of St. Flora and St. Lucilla, was a zealous self-promoter who regarded his literary production as a "monnaie d'échanges de faveurs" (C. Caby, Autoportrait d'un moine en humaniste, p. 298). He had become acquainted with the Sienese humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464) in their early years of training at the Gymnasium where they also composed love poetry and prose. In 1442 Piccolomini was crowned poet laureate by Emperor Frederick III and he was elected pope in 1458 taking the name of Pius II, a reference to 'pious Aeneas', the hero of Virgil's epic: in this context, his phrase Aeneam suscipite, Pium recipite, i.e., 'Reject Aeneas, accept Pius' is well known. At the beginning of 1460, Aliotti learned that the Pope intended to sojourn in his home town of Siena and promptly set to writing the Gratulatio ad Pium II pro foelici, ac secundo ex Mantuana peregrinatione reditu. He also decided to commission, as a gift for his old friend, a luxurious manuscript containing this laudatory text along with two other works, his Dialogus de optimo vitae genere deligendo and the well-known De monachis erudiendis. No expense was spared in preparing this manuscript for its illustrious recipient. From his maternal uncle, the wealthy wool merchant Paolo di Nanni Spadari, Aliotti had received a sum of money for a codex for a Pope. As attested by sources preserved at the Archivio Capitolare in Arezzo, and especially by Gabriele Maria Scarmagli's manuscript Synopsis Monumentorum SS. Florae et Lucillae, the transcription of texts and illumination were commissioned to none other than the Florentine cartolaio or bookseller Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421-1498), an established illuminator who counted among his clients kings, popes, cardinals, and bishops. The fee was paid on or before 2 January 1460 to Vespasiano "quando fece scrivere il Dialogo al papa, per la miniatura" (G. M. Scarmagli's Synopsis Monumentorum SS. Florae et Lucillae, p. 943), i.e. for the copying and illumination of the Dialogue commissioned as a gift to to Pope Pius II: this very manuscript, which scholars had for many years believed to be lost.

The manuscript is a complete work of art: the vellum used is of the highest quality; the script is extremely elegant and accurate; and the two papal crests, especially the larger one, held up by two winged putti (fol. 2/8r), were doubtless executed by one of the illuminators most closely associated with Vespasiano; they can possibly be attributed to Francesco di Antonio del Chierico (1433-1488) or his workshop, as suggested by the similar decorative elements and nuance in colour, handling and composition. Through Vespasiano da Bisticci, Francesco di Antonio del Chierico came to work for several princely patrons, including the Medici family, Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, Louis XI, King of France, and Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. The manuscript opens with the Gratulatio ad Pium II, a conversation concerning an especially pertinent topic of the time, and one of Pius II's highest priorities, the crusade against the Ottoman Turks, who had conquered Constantinople in 1453. Though the Pope's efforts ultimately failed, Aliotti's Gratulatio contains an unbounded defence of his old friend's intended crusade, and ends with a 78-verse poem in praise of Piccolomini and his plea for Christian unity. The Gratulatio thus offers some of the earliest documentation of Western/Christian interest in modern Turkey, written by Aliotti just seven years after the fall of Constantinople. Until the discovery of this 'original' version, the text of Aliotti's Gratulatio had been dated a year later to 1461 and preserved in the National Library of Florence (cod. Magl. xxi.151). The other two works in the present manuscript - the Dialogus de optimo vitae genere deligendo and the De monachis erudiendis - are likewise part of Aliotti's strategy to ingratiate himself with Pope Piccolomini. Both were composed in the 1430s and were addressed by Aliotti to other patrons in order to win their favour; in 1460, each work was re-introduced by four dedicatory verses to Pius II, written on the verso of the preceding leaves.

Provenance:

Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464), later Pope Pius II, gifted by the author; 'Dr. Adolph [...]horn', small round ink stamp on title, repeated on fol. 14/8r; Moritz Diesterweg (1834-1906), publisher and bookseller - a card from Diesterweg with some pencilled notes in pocket to front endpaper ('Pius II Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini in humanistischen Minuskel geschrieben, sehr gut erhalten') and a folded piece of thick paper bearing several pencilled notes on both sides (side A: 'Hieronymi Aretini monachis eruditis gehört Papst Pius II 1440. Dedicationexempl. Manuscript auf Pergament in humanistischen Minuskel 2 Teile nebst Einleitung u. Widmung am Papst Eugen IV (Aeneas Silvio Piccolomini) mit 19 blauen Initialen, 2 Bordüre auf 1 Blatt, 1 schönes Kopfstich mit Papstwappen in 4 Farben'; side B: Mk 900- Widmung an Papst in Hexameter in einen gepresste neueren Holzband. Vollständiges als das Exemplar in der Libreria Vaticana segnanto [sic] del num. 1063 139 Blatt. Aretino Girolamo Abate di Santa Flora Allen Maggs - Breslauer, R. - H. Rosenthal L. Bibl. Vatic. Hiesermann').