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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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