The Livre De La Vigne Nostre Seigneur, 1450-1470

The Livre de la vigne nostre Seigneur (the title comes from the parable of the labourers in the vineyard) in MS. Douce 134 is an illustrated treatise on the Antichrist, Last Judgement, Hell, and Heaven. Bought by Douce at a Paris auction, 1823. Apparently the only surviving copy of its anonymous text. The text is in French prose, enriched with Latin biblical and patristic quotations: there are many corrections and insertions by the original scribe. The miniatures are by several hands. The table of contents specifies that this is book 2; Grenoble, Bibliotheque municipale, MS. 337, calls itself book 1 of the same text, and has a colophon stating that it was completed on 5 March 1463 and that book 2 was made before book 1. Book 1 is a treatise on the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ. The Grenoble manuscript is not by the same scribe or artist, and its illustrations are confined to the margins; the pair (if they are really the two halves of the same set) had been separated by the 16th century. The Grenoble manuscript reached its present home from the Grande Chartreuse only a few miles away, and the double-page miniature of the heavenly court in the Douce manuscript  (fols. 144v-145r) features Carthusian saints very prominently: perhaps produced by professional artists for a lay patron with Carthusian connections?     re-posted from http://thedevilresearch.blogspot.com/2012_11_01_archive.html 2012.

Full images here.

Thanks to Will Eade!