3-041-859 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Initial P: Gillion Embracing the Sultan's Daughter Gracienne; Roman de Gillion de Trazegnies, 1464. Additional info: This manuscript follows the adventurous and romantic exploits of the medieval nobleman Gillion de Trazegnies, who journeys to Egypt on pilgrimage, mistakenly becomes a bigamist, and dies in battle as a glorious hero. Alongside detailed depictions of European architecture and contemporary dress, there are also imaginative references to exotic Eastern travel and customs, such as camels, flashing scimitars, and figures in turbans. The tale includes faithful love, nefarious villains, family loyalty, and violent combat. The artist, Lieven van Lathem, takes full advantage of the tale's dramatic possibilities in the book's eight miniatures and 44 historiated initials. Lively figures, light-filled landscapes, and complex visual narratives are distinctive traits of his style that reflect the greatest developments of Renaissance panel painting. This is one of only four known manuscripts in French of this romance. Designed to be read aloud, a reader would likely have shown images to the audience and broken off each evening at a cliffhanger moment to be continued the next evening.