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FRANCESCO PETRARCA, 1304-1374
Facsimile: autograph rough draft copies of poems from the Canzoniere
On paper and parchment
Italy, 14th century
Vatican Library, Cod. Vat. lat. 3196 (top), and Cod. Vat. lat. 3195
Petrarch’s youth was spent in the environs of the papal court in Avignon, where his exiled father had brought the family. His early schooling was in Carpentras and Montpellier, and he most likely learned to write in the minuscola cancelleresca script at this time. It is the script of some of his first writings, including the early copies of his poems in this manuscript from the Vatican library. The minuscola cancelleresca differs markedly from the formal round semi-gothic hand that Petrarch adopted later in his life for the final copies of his works, such as his own edition of the Canzoniere now in the Vatican Library (now Cod. Vat. lat. 3195). He also wrote in a hurried and barely legible cursive script in his personal notes and writings, as is evident in the example from Cod. Vat. lat. 3196.
Example of Petrarch’s minuscola cancelleresca script (Vatican Library, Vat. lat. 3196, f. 1r: “Mai non vedranno le mie luci asciutte”)
Example of Petrarch’s formal round semi-gothic (Vatican Library, Vat. lat. 3195, f. 71v: “Vergine bella, che di sol vestita.”
Example of Petrarch’s cursive script (Vatican Library, Vat. lat. 3196, f. 14v: “Amor ch’en cielo…”)
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