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BOSTON UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Dissertation
THE TRIUMPH OF POVERTY OVER FORTUNE: ILLUMINATIONS FROM BOCCACCIO'S
DE CASIBUS VIRORUM ILLUSTRIUM
by
PHYLLIS ANINA NITZE THOMPSON
A. B., Wellesley College, 1969
M. A., Tufts University, 1986
Volume I of II
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
1994
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UMI Number: 9533139
Copyright 1994 by
Thompson, Phyllis Anina Nitze
All rights reserved.
UMI Microform 9533139
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© Copyright by
PHYLLIS ANINA NITZE THOMPSON
1994
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Approved by
I
First Reader
Naomi Miller, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History
Second Reader
Herbert Mason, Ph.D.
University Professor; Professor of History and Religion
\XVujl-
Third Reader
Hellmut Wohl, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My foremost acknowledgments are owed to Professors Naomi Miller,
Herbert Mason and Hellmut Wohl who read my dissertation with care and
guided me through the process of writing coherently. I am especially grateful
to Professor Miller for her rigorous editing and challenging questions, not all
of which I was able to answer. My dissertation is better for her scrutiny and
supervision. Professor Mason encouraged me to persevere even when I
despaired. He was always ready to suggest references and to recommend
scholars who could assist me on specific points of inquiry. I also profited from
Professor Wohl's thoughtful comments.
The custodians of the manuscripts were generous with their expertise. I
wish to express my gratitude to the libraries and museums that conserve
illuminated codices of Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium. In
particular, I thank the following individuals: Elizabeth Burin, The Walters Art
Gallery, Baltimore; Sue Reed, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Marguerite Debae,
Bibliotheque Royale Albert Ier, Brussels; Dr. Hans E. Braun, Fondation Martin
Bodmer, Cologny-Geneva; Anna Lenzuni, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,
Florence; jean Marc Meylan, Bibliotheque publique et universitaire, Geneva;
Albert Derolez, Centrale Bibliotheek, Rijksuniversiteit, Gent; Timothy D. Hobbs,
Glasgow University Library, Glasgow; A. Th. Bouwman, Bibliotheek der
Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden; Heather Drewett, British Library, London; Peter
McNiven, John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester;
Ernesto Milano, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, Modena; Richard Virr,
iv
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McLennan Library, McGill University, Montreal; Patricia Middleton, Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven; Maria
Francesca Saffiotti and Nancy A. Schmugge, Pierpont Morgan Library, New
York; Melissa Dalziel and Elizabeth Arkell, Bodleian Library, University of
Oxford; Stephanie Lang and Francois Lebertois, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris;
Mario Romussi, Civici Musei, Pavia; Leslie A. Morris, The Rosenbach Museum
and Library, Philadelphia; Brendan Cassidy, Index of Christian Art, Princeton
University, Princeton; Margarita Becedas Gonzalez, Biblioteca General y
Archivo Historico, Salamanca; Mary L Robertson and Thomas V. Lange, The
Huntington Library, San Marino; William G. Noel, The Getty Museum, Santa
Monica; Martha Steele, The Getty Center for the History of Art and the
Humanities, Santa Monica; Otto Mazal, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek,
Vienna; Guiseppe Zivelonghi, Biblioteca Capitolare, Verona; and Peter M.
VanWingen, The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
1 should also like to thank my friend John Gibb who explained the
intricacies of word processing and was always at the other end of a telephone
for technical and moral support. For their help with translations, I am
indebted to Herbert Mason for medieval French, Peter Fischoeder for German,
Barbara Lloyd for Italian, and Rachel Kitzinger and Heath Martin for Latin.
I am most grateful to my cousin Robert Morgan who procured the
photograph of the opening folio in the manuscript in the Biblioteca Nazionale
de San Marco in Venice for me. In Tokyo, Ann Nitze, Nicole Rousmamiere, and
Kay Toll located an article from the Bulletin of Kagoshima Prefectural junior
College. My appreciation also extends to Jonathan Miller and Julie Chen for
photographs and to Keith Larsen for his copy-editing of an earlier draft.
v
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I would like to thank people at Boston University whose patience and
friendly assistance with technical and logistical matters smoothed my way
towards completion; Cecilia Hanley, of the Art History Department; Rhoda
Bilansky and Ruth Thomas of the Interlibrary Loan and Reference
Departments of Mugar Library; and Martha Wellman of the Graduate School.
Fellow doctoral candidates, Evelyn Lane,w Rebecca More, Norma
Steinberg, and Michael Webber gave moral support and counsel. Special
thanks to other friends and to my family as well for their encouragement
throughout the whole endeavor, especially to Caroline Cabot, Betsy Cahill,
Louisa and Alex Hargrave, Barbara Ann McCahill, Florrie O'Riordan, Efrat
Porat, and Jill Tarlau. Heidi Nitze, my sister, was my most enthusiastic
champion. She listened to my musings, read the work in process and urged me
across the finish line. My three children, Phyllis, Nick, and Heidi supported
me and my research, even when it took me away from home. I reserve my
final thanks for Erica Richards, whose assistance over the last year and a half
saw the dissertation to completion.
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THE TRIUMPH OF POVERTY OVER FORTUNE: ILLUMINATIONS FROM
BOCCACCIO'S DECAS1BUS V1RORUMILLUSTRIUM
(Order No. )
PHYLLIS ANINA NITZE THOMPSON
Boston University Graduate School, 1994
Major Professor: Naomi Miller, Professor of Art History
Abstract
This study analyzes illuminations of the contest between Fortune and
Poverty in Giovanni Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium. c. 1355-1360.
These images combine religious and secular motifs to communicate the
Christian tenet that spiritual poverty is a virtue and Boccaccio's premise that
poverty can overcome misfortune. Most of the miniatures examined are found
in fifteenth-century manuscripts and incunabula of the translations of
Boccaccio's work by Laurent de Premierfait, Des cas des nobles hommes et
femmes, and a few in Lydgate's translation, The Fall of Princes. Among
Boccaccio's later didactic works, this compilation of cautionary tales narrates
the vicissitudes of fortune affecting illustrious people.
Patterns of illuminating Latin, English, and French codices of the text
are examined according to the number of miniatures and their function as
glosses. In addition to dedication or presentation scenes, some frontispiece
miniatures summarize the content of the text as the history of Fortune or the
tragic consequences of human sin. Narrative illuminations throughout the
text emphasize the dramatic climaxes of the biographies or their moral
exempla.
vii
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