Petrarch’s Triumphs – 16th Century – Francesco Petrarca – Porcia and the Burning Coals
Reproduction in limited and numbered edition from sheet 33r of Codex 2581, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, front and back with gold decorations
A scene of love, fidelity and death. This card doesn't simply depict an episode: it dynamically narrates a tragedy. Porcia receives the news of Brutus's death. Above her, in the distance, the battle reveals the cause of the tragedy; beside her burns the fire that will become the instrument of her final act. The illuminator captures in a single image the great history of Rome and the silent drama of a woman. The featured card is a limited and numbered reproduction from folio 33r of Petrarch's Triumphs, Codex 2581, at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The scene depicts Porcia, Brutus's wife, at the tragic moment when, upon learning of her husband's death, she chooses to commit suicide by burning coals. The composition is constructed on two narrative levels: at the top, the battle that leads to Brutus's death; at the bottom, Porcia's private grief, captured in the moment before her final act. A limited and numbered edition reproduction, ideal for collectors and enthusiasts of illuminated manuscripts, Italian literature, Roman history, and European Renaissance art.Want more information about this product? Click here and fill out the form to be contacted by one of our curators.
149,00 €
- Description
Description
Description
This page tells a story of war, love, loyalty and death.
This map reproduces folio 33r of Francesco Petrarca’s Triumphs, Codex 2581, now held at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The scene belongs to the Triumph of Love cycle, in which Petrarch collects historical, mythological, and literary figures vanquished by the power of love, passion, and destiny.
The protagonist is Porcia, daughter of Cato of Utica and wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the conspirators against Julius Caesar. The miniature depicts the moment following Brutus’s death: Porcia receives the news and, overwhelmed by grief, decides to follow him into death by ingesting burning coals.
The image is constructed as a true narrative sequence. In the upper section, beyond the architecture, the battle scene unfolds: it is the historical event, the cause of the tragedy. In the lower section, within a domestic and theatrical space, the private drama unfolds: Porcia listens to the news, the fireplace burns beside her, the coal becomes the symbol of the final decision.
What makes this card particularly fascinating is its narrative dynamism. The illuminator doesn’t depict a single moment, but concentrates multiple moments of the story in a single image: the battle, the news, the pain, the final choice. It’s a small sixteenth-century narrative machine, capable of uniting the time of public history and that of internal tragedy.
The emotional center of the scene, however, is Porcia’s face. Even before the gesture of burning coals, the artist seems to want to capture the psychological moment of desperation: the grief over her husband’s death is already inscribed in the protagonist’s expression. The miniature not only recounts an ancient suicide, but the moment when love, mourning, and fidelity become destiny.
The history of the manuscript
The codex from which this card derives belongs to one of the most fascinating illuminated cycles dedicated to Petrarch’s Triumphs.
The work testifies to Petrarch’s great success in France: the text is in a French translation attributed to Simon Bougouyne, and the manuscript is divided into two volumes, today identified as Cod. 2581 and Cod. 2582 at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The decoration includes 86 large miniatures, framed by painted architecture, which transform the poetic text into a vast visual theater of history, myth, and memory.
The ownership history of the manuscript is particularly prestigious.
The codex initially belonged to René II of Lorraine, whose coat of arms appeared at the beginning and end of the volume. It then passed into the collection of Eugene of Savoy, a great military leader and refined collector. In 1738, it entered the collection of Emperor Charles VI and then the Vienna Library. During the Napoleonic era, it was taken to France by Napoleon in 1808, only to return to Vienna in 1814, during the Restoration.
These passages make the manuscript not only a masterpiece of European miniature painting, but also an object with an adventurous history: from the courts of Lorraine to the Savoy collection, from imperial Vienna to Napoleonic France, up to the return to the Austrian capital.
Product data sheet
- Feature: Detail
- Opera: Petrarch’s Triumphs
- Author: Francesco Petrarca
- Period of the original manuscript: 16th century / early 16th century
- Subject of the card: Porcia and the burning coals
- Reference sheet: 33r
- Original code: Cod. 2581
- Library of the original: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna
- Iconographic cycle: Triumph of Love
- Translation: French, attributed to Simon Bougouyne
- Type: Collectible illuminated card
- Edition: Limited and numbered edition of 199 copies
- Material: Special paper
- Print: fine art with gold decorations
- Attachments to the work: certificate, guarantee, instructions for conservation, brief description of the work
- Price: €149.00
- Warranty: 24 months
Why collect it?
This card is particularly significant because it unites three dimensions.
Literature: it originates from Petrarch’s Triumphs, one of the great allegorical works of the Italian and European tradition.
Story: tells an episode linked to the late Roman Republic, the figure of Brutus and the tragic fate of Porcia.
The art of storytelling: miniature painting is not static, but dynamic. In a single image, cause and consequence, battle and mourning, public event and private drama coexist.
It is a card designed for those who love objects that are not limited to the gaze, but invite reading, observation, and interpretation.
FAQ – Petrarch’s Triumphs – sheet 33r
The card depicts Porcia, Brutus’s wife, learning of her husband’s death and choosing to commit suicide by burning coals. The scene belongs to Petrarca’s “Triumph of Love” cycle of Triumphs and combines historical tragedy, marital love, and strong emotional intensity.
The card is taken from I Trionfi by Francesco Petrarca, one of the poet’s most famous allegorical works. The subject belongs to the figurative tradition of the Triumph of Love, which features historical and legendary figures dominated by the power of love and destiny.
Folio 33r belongs to Codex 2581, preserved at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The codex is part of Petrarch’s famous French version of Trionfi, along with Codex 2582.
No. The map offered is a limited and numbered reproduction from folio 33r of the original manuscript. It is therefore not a 16th-century manuscript, but a collector’s map inspired by a historic miniature preserved in Vienna.
The original manuscript of Petrarch’s Triumphs dates back to the 16th century, therefore to the early 16th century. It represents a refined example of the European success of Petrarch’s work and of the French illuminated culture associated with aristocratic courts.
Porcia was the daughter of Cato Utica and the wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the protagonists of the conspiracy against Julius Caesar. In ancient tradition, she is remembered as a figure of loyalty, steadfastness, and courage, especially for the tragic act she committed after her husband’s death.
The scene above depicts the battle that led to Brutus’s death. The illuminator constructs the narrative on two levels: the historical and military event appears above, and Porcia’s private drama below. In this way, the map recounts cause and consequence in a single image.
The miniature doesn’t show a single instant, but condenses multiple moments of the story: the battle, the news of Brutus’s death, Porcia’s grief, and the final act of burning coals. It’s a true visual sequence, constructed like a small theater of memory.
The manuscript belonged to René II of Lorraine, then passed to Eugene of Savoy. In 1738, it entered the collection of Emperor Charles VI and then the Vienna Library. It was taken to France by Napoleon in 1808 and returned to Vienna in 1814.
This map combines literature, history, and illuminated art. It is linked to Francesco Petrarca, Republican Rome, the tragic figure of Porcia, and a manuscript with a prestigious history. It is ideal for those who love illuminated manuscripts, the Renaissance, cultural collecting, and objects capable of telling a story.
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