medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I find this thread fascinating, even though I know zilch about manuscript
illumination. Perhaps it helps to imagine what a criminal would do and not
do. The first 'forgery' does seem more convincing than the second, partly
because it is more aesthetically pleasing- and forgers on the whole don't
bother forging unattractive stuff. Also, I wonder whether a forger would
bother adding real gold leaf to something like the second miniature- the
expense and bother may be a deterrent, given that the outcome is uncertain.
There's also the issue of style- would a forger vary their style as much as
the variation seen between these two miniatures? Presumably only if s/he
was highly sensitive to the different styles that might attend MSS of
different dates- but then, why have identical twiddly bits (forgive my
technical language) on both? The twiddly bits look more-or-less OK on the
second MS, but not quite in keeping with the first, though others will know.
In any case, many thanks to Erik for keeping an eye out for this sort of
thing.
all best
Laura
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erik Drigsdahl" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 20 April 2009 22:00
Subject: [SPAM][M-R] Recent forgeries part I.2
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Supplement to recent fakes:
Another fake by the same 'consortium' for sale today en Ebay:
A leaf from an Antiphoner claiming to be the feast 'In inventione Sci
Stephani prothomartiris'
Search Ebay item=200266810815
The large initial E has been almost entirely re-painted by a forger,
who made the serious mistake of 'refreshing' the text without
knowledge of the original.
The Introitus to the Mass should read:
"Et enim sederunt principes ..." (see Liber Usualis p.414)
The first line has been erased, and the lonely three letters
- e de - is a replacement for '(E)t enim sede-'
second line is correct with the continuation : -runt principes (etc.)
The miserable miniature of St. Stephen is ridiculous, especially
with a large S behind him in red fat paint, partly covering what
is left of the original capital E (which of course not had a miniature).
The gold in the corners is freshly painted, and our 'artist' does
not know that Stephen should have a stone in his hand and
not just hold a book.
See one of the pictures here:
http://www.neumann-walter.de/NW/November2007/27.11.07/35.jpg
Do I need to elaborate further?
Best
Eric
Direct url to German eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ANTIPHONAR-IMPERIALFOLIO-PERGAMENT-MINIATUR-1400-8_W0QQitemZ200266810815QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAntiquarische_B%C3%BCcher?hash=item200266810815&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
--
..................................................................................................................
Erik Drigsdahl CHD Center for Håndskriftstudier
Kapelvej 25B 3.tv. E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
DK-2200 Copenhagen N Phone: +45 + 3537 2047
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