Nine illuminated leaves from a manuscript of Gratian’s Decretum with the Glossa ordinaria of Bartolomeo da Brescia

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• Illuminated manuscript. Leaf from a manuscript of Gratian’s Decretum with the Glossa ordinaria of Bartolomeo da Brescia. The Marlay Gratian atelier, artist. Gratian, author (Italian, d. by 1159). Brescia, Bartolomeo da, author. Parchment, columns and lines ruled in plummet, running headers. 454 x 281 mm (recto 427 x 245 mm, verso 419 x 243 mm), two text columns of 60 lines and two gloss columns of 99 lines on recto, two text columns of 60 lines and two gloss columns of 96 lines on reverse (original recto, which faced the current recto of Marlay cutting It. 8 in the manuscript). Production Place: Italy, Bologna. Circa 1320. CONTENTS: Gratian, Decretum, Part II. End of Causa XIX-Causa XX (One novice chooses the monastic life, another secular life; Melnikas 1975, II, 631-55). DECORATION: Marlay cutting It. 9r: One-column miniature: One child is led away from the monastery by his mother, while his father presents the other child to a group of monks and their abbot, who holds out a black habit. ORNAMENTATION: Main text: Inhabited initials with half-length portrait, letters painted in graded pink or grey on gold grounds and extending into acanthus sprays to form partial borders: Marlay cutting It. 9r [D, 6 ll.] Man seen from behind, [Q, 4 ll.] Tonsured head; Marlay cutting It. 9v [Q, 3 ll.] Hooded head, [I, 4 ll.] Letter formed of half-length figure, holding a jug which breaks into the margin, [C, 4 ll.] Hooded head in profile. Gloss: Foliate initials [3-8 ll.] in pink or grey on blue grounds with small acanthus extensions, for major divisions (corresponding to both large and small inhabited initials in the main text); alternate red and blue initials [2 ll.] embedded within column with blue or red pen flourishing for minor divisions (corresponding to pen-flourished initials in the main text); voided paraph marks with alternate red and blue display capitals [2-gloss ll.] with minor flourishing in blue or red (guide letters in upper margin) for quaestiones; alternate red and blue paraph marks; simple geometric line-fillers in brown ink to even up gloss columns at the end of Causae. Inter-column decoration: The space between text and gloss columns is decorated with foliate, acanthus and gold disc partial borders and zoomorphic motifs: Marlay cutting It. 9r Head enclosed in hood which extends in both directions to form a horizontal motif.
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