Non-Ovidian “Immigrants” in Printed Illustration Cycles of the Metamorphoses

Chapter 2 Non-Ovidian “Immigrants” in Printed Illustration Cycles of the Metamorphoses

Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich and Sabine Lütkemeyer

In this article we will examine the extent to which non-Ovidian elements have infiltrated illustration cycles of the Metamorphoses, thereby influencing the perception of its narratives of transformation.* We examine only printed editions since these had a higher degree of circulation than manuscripts and could thus have a stronger impact on visual memory. Within the period of in- vestigation of this volume we therefore consider the period from 1484 – the date of the first printed cycle of the Metamorphoses – to the year 1700. First, however, we must clarify which Ovid and which Metamorphoses we are talking about – the carmen perpetuum from the Augustan period or one of the numerous adaptations in Latin or the vernaculars, which originated in the late Middle Ages and certainly represented ‘Ovid’ for the majority of their read- ers – from the Ovide moralisé1 and the Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare2 to adaptations based on emblematic models such as the Metamorphose figurée3 and the Métamorphoses en rondeaux.4 The content and form of these works often

* We are very grateful to Anthony Ellis for his help with the English translation of this paper. 1 “Ovide Moralisé”. Poème du commencement du quatorzième siècle, ed. C. de Boer, 5 vols. (Amsterdam: 1915–1938). 2 [Giovanni dei Bonsignori], Ovidio methamorphoseos vulgare (Venice, Giovanni Rosso for Lucantonio Giunta: 1497); Giovanni Bonsignori da Città di Castello, Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare, ed. E. Ardissino, Collezione di opere inedite o rare 157 (Bologna: 2001). 3 La Metamorphose d’Ovide figurée (Lyon, Jean de Tournes: 1557). See Henkel M. D., “Illustrierte Ausgaben von Ovids Metamorphosen im XV., XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert”, Vorträge der Bibliothek Warburg 1926–1927 (Leipzig – Berlin: 1930) 58–144, here esp. 75–81, and Sharratt P., Bernard Salomon. Illustrateur Lyonnais (Geneva: 2005), esp. 150–165. On similarities with and deviations from the emblematic form see Guthmüller B., “Picta Poesis Ovidiana”, in Heitmann K. – Schröder E. (eds.), Renatae Litterae. Studien zum Nachleben der Antike und zur europäischen Renaissance. August Buck zum 60. Geburtstag (Frankfurt: 1973) 171–192 (also in: Guthmüller B., Studien zur Mythologie in der italienischen Renaissance (Weinheim: 1986) 102–115, here esp. 102–104). Reproduction of the picture cycle in Editions des Bibliothèques nationales de France. Collection d’unica et de livres rares III, ed. R. Brun ([Paris]: 1933); see also https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b2200047r (accessed on 13 August 2019). 4 Isaac de Benserade, Metamorphoses d’Ovide en rondeaux (Paris, Imprimerie Royale: 1676); see also https://archive.org/details/metamorphosesdov00ovid (accessed on 13 August 2019).

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2021 | doi:10.1163/9789004437890_003 10 Huber-Rebenich and Lütkemeyer differ considerably from the Ovidian versions in the handling of the individual myths, or they add additional mythographic material to the Metamorphoses. Altogether these arrangements probably found a larger audience than the original, the reading of which was largely restricted to scholarly circles. Of the nearly 300 illustrated ‘Ovid’ prints that we were able to examine within this period, only a quarter contain the original. Thus, as a rule, it was not the scholarly Latin text that was illustrated, but rather its vernacular adaptations – starting with the Bible des poetes of 1484.5 Particularly in early illustrations of the Metamorphoses (until about the middle of the 16th century), the iconography of the images was closely based on the text in which they were first to be printed. Earlier studies have shown the im- portance of Giovanni dei Bonsignori’s Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare for the woodcuts, which accompanied the editio princeps in 14976 and which – via reprints and copies – dominated the illustration of the Metamorphoses in Italy and France for decades.7 Bonsignori’s volgarizzamento contains a number of

For the emblematic character of the work see Moog-Grünewald M., Metamorphosen der Metamorphosen. Rezeptionsarten der ovidischen Verwandlungsgeschichten in Italien und Frankreich im XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert (Heidelberg: 1979) 156–199, esp. 158–184; Moog-Grünewald M., “Benserades Metamorphoses en rondeaux. Eine emblematische Bearbeitung der ovidischen Verwandlungsgeschichten”, in Walter H. ‒ Horn H.-J. (eds.), Die Rezeption der Metamorphosen des Ovid in der Neuzeit: Der antike Mythos in Text und Bild. Internationales Symposion der Werner Reimers-Stiftung Bad Homburg v. d. H. (22. bis 25. April 1991), Ikonographische Repertorien zur Rezeption des antiken Mythos in Europa, Beih. 1 (Berlin: 1995) 225–238; for the illustrations: Meyer V., “Les illustrations de Chauveau, Lepautre et Leclerc pour Les Métamorphoses d’Ovide (1676) de Benserade”, Irish Journal of French Studies 16 (2016) 133–156. 5 This is a French prose adaptation of the Ovide moralisé (en vers) with ingredients from the Ovidius moralizatus and other sources. Editio princeps: Bruges, Colard Mansion: 1484 (under the title: Cy commence Ovide de Salmonen son livre intitule Metamorphose […]); later several prints in Paris under the title Bible des poetes (first 1493 with Antoine Vérard, who also com- missioned copies of the Bruges illustration cycle, reprints and copies of which were also used in all later editions of the work); see Henkel M. D., De Houtsneden van Mansion’s Ovide moralisé (Amsterdam: 1922); idem, “Illustrierte Ausgaben” 61–64; Moisan J.-C. – Vervacke S., “La naissance du monde dans la Bible des poëtes”, in Ternaux J.-C. (ed.), La naissance du monde et l’invention du poème. Mélanges de poétique et d’histoire littéraire du XVIe siècle offerts à Yvonne Bellenger, Etudes et Essais sur la Renaissance 21 (Paris: 1998) 121–145; Moisan J.-C. – Vervacke S., “Les Métamorphoses d’Ovide et le monde de l’imprimé: la Bible des poëtes, Bruges, Colard Mansion, 1484”, in Bury E., Lectures d’Ovide, publiées à la mé- moire de Jean-Pierre Néraudau (Paris: 2003) 217–237; Huber-Rebenich G. – Lütkemeyer S. – Walter H., Ikonographisches Repertorium zu den Metamorphosen des Ovid. Die textbegleitende Druckgraphik, vol. I.1: Narrative Darstellungen, 2 parts (Berlin: 2014), here Textteil 17–31. 6 See above n. 2. 7 Huber-Rebenich – Lütkemeyer – Walter, Ikonographisches Repertorium, vol. I.1, Textteil 32–94 (with further references).