An Early Illustrated Manuscript of the Passion of St. Agatha (Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS lat. 5594)

Abstract

Latin MS 5594 in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, a composite of several pieces varying in date and place of origin, includes a copy of the passion of St. Agatha accompanied by illustrations in the lower margins (fols. 67r-70r). These miniatures are an important addition to a relatively small group of manuscripts produced at the threshold of the Romanesque style in France. A tentative attribution is suggested by the neumes written in the margin of folio 71v, which point to Autun or the general region of Burgundy; in addition, the miniatures are comparable stylistically to the troper in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (MS 1169) made for Bishop Gautier of Autun (977-1024). The miniatures appear to constitute the earliest surviving narrative cycle of the passion of St. Agatha, and they enlarge our knowledge of the nature and sources of hagiographic narrative illustration. The pictorial conventions are similar to those found in some of the earliest surviving illustrated manuscripts of the lives of the saints (libelli), which date to the late 10th and the early 11th century. These cycles appear to be based on Carolingian or even Early Christian sources, and the suggestion that the St. Agatha cycle derives from an earlier model is supported by certain iconographic peculiarities in the miniatures. However, comparison with the accompanying text indicates that although they have clearly been constructed on the basis of established pictorial formulae, the miniatures are a new, albeit modest creation designed to accommodate the format of this specific manuscript.