The destruction of Troy per person
Date: 1498
Materials and technics: 31 illuminations, ruled pages, printed on vellum, with the back decorated with gold fillets. Binding in blue Morocco leather
Dimensions: H. 33 x w. 24,5 x d. 8,7 cm
Inventory number: LDUT397
Acquisition details: Dutuit bequest, 1902
Room: This work is not currently on display
The ancient works collected by medieval clerks combined history, legend and fiction. The city of Troy was an important city in mediaeval imagination, as demonstrated by the success of Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Novel of Troy.
This early printed work, made with movable type between 1450 and 1501, was printed in Paris by Jean Driart.
Written by Jacques Milet, this four-day Mystery play is a staging of the Novel of Troy by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and is based on the Historia destructionis Troiae by Guido da Colonna (1287).
The illuminations, which depict scenes from the history of the Trojan War, are thought to have been created after the production of the book, and to date from the end of the 17th century.
City of Paris municipal collection's website
The collections portal can be used to search the collections of Paris’s 14 municipal museums (approximately 336,000 works, including 43,000 belonging to the Petit Palais).
It is also possible to download around 12,000 images of the museum’s works free of charge.
Access the Museums of the City of Paris collections portal
Extern databases
Discover a selection of databases online presenting works from the Petit Palais or documents concerning the history of the museum.