Description: A bearded and hooded hermit sits at the entrance of a building and burns his finger upon a tall candlestick. To the right, a woman has collapsed and a demon hovers over her.
Interpretation: The image illustrates one of the most popular tales of the Vitae Patrum in which a hermit avoids the temptation of a woman by burning his fingers to remind himself of the fires of hell.
drawing
Flanders or Upper Rhineland
Illustrations of the Vitae Patrum, lives of the desert fathers, or ascetic lives of hermit saints. The illustrations are unaccompanied by text, but serve as reminders to readers of the arduous nature of the contemplative ascent. There are 23 drawings scattered on the reverse folios left blank during the construction of the manuscript.
Rothschild Canticles (f.1v): Macarius and the angel on earthRothschild Canticles( f.2r): The hermit, a young man, and a donkeyRothschild Canticles (f. 2v): John Colobos watering the dry stockRothschild Canticles (f. 3r): A hermit sustained by an angelRothschild Canticles (f. 3v): Silvanus watering the gardenRothschild Canticles (f. 4r): Paul, the first hermit, John, and the lionRothschild Canticles (f. 8r): Hermit playing the foolRothschild Canticles (f. 9r): The seven crowns of obedienceRothschild Canticles (f. 10r): The hermit as the suffering assRothschild Canticles (f. 11r): The hermit who counted his footstepsRothschild Canticles (f. 27r): "Good works are like leaves" (?)Rothschild Canticles (f. 28r): Hermit in tree hermitage attacked by a bird (?)Rothschild Canticles (f. 31r): Anthony buries Paul, the first hermitRothschild Canticles (f. 52r): Simeon Stylites and the king of the SaracensRothschild Canticles (f. 53r): Hermits ringing the monastery bellRothschild Canticles (f. 122r): Hermit building on the foundation of meditation, work, and prayerRothschild Canticles (f. 123r): Macarius and the thiefRothschild Canticles (f. 150r): Hermit with the couple who sinned in his cell (?)
Collection of William Alexander Douglas, Duke of Hamilton and Brandon.
Reverend Walter Sneyd, gift from Douglas in 1856.
Sotheby, sold 16 December 1903, no.513 Bernard Quaritch, London.
Collection of Edmond de Rothschild, MS 98, sold 24 June 1968 no.1 in Paris, Palais Galliéra.
Acquired from H.P. Kraus in 1968 as the gift of Edwin J. Beinecke.
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University
