Lot 56
North, Stanley Kennedy (1887-1942)
Medieval-style illuminated manuscript of Aucassin and Nicolette, 1918
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
on vellum, 6 bifolia (27.5 x 18cm), unbound, the text written in black, red and blue inks in a calligraphic hand with elements of rotunda, in two columns, lavishly illustrated in watercolour (and possibly gouache), metallic pigments and pen and ink, with 5 large miniatures (4 approx. 13.5 x 11.5cm, the other 11.5 x 5cm), depicting knights in combat, Nicolette in her chamber, the Count of Beaucarn consoling Aucassin, a furious battle scene, and possibly Aucassin imprisoned, 7 historiated initials, 2 allegorical tailpieces, and a broad foliate border incorporating 8 vignettes of medieval life including hooded falcons, suckling dogs, boar-hunting, a spearman impaling a peasant, an allegorical depiction of heaven and hell, and similar, recto of the first leaf decorated with a large cruciform foliate design enclosing a heraldic roundel with motto ‘cultivons notre jardin’ and date of 1918
Provenance
By direct descent from Stanley Kennedy North.
Footnote
Stanley Kennedy North was a decorative artist, illustrator, art critic and, latterly, an innovative albeit unintentionally destructive paintings conservator. From humble London origins, he studied at the Royal College of Art under William Lethaby, an influential proponent of Arts and Crafts and the study of medieval art. A large collection of studies of medieval stained glass, made by North in the early 1910s, is now in the V&A. This manuscript contains just under half the complete text of the Aucassin and Nicolette story, and by family repute, North is believed never to have completed it.