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This manuscript contains an old French allegorical romance in verses on love, written in two parts by two different authors active independently of each other and at different periods. The authors are Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200-c. 1240) and Jean de Meung (c. 1240-1305). From the end of the 13th century the Romance of the Rose had remained one of the most popular themes of miniature painting for over two hundred years. Approximately 500 illustrated manuscripts survive. One of the finest is the copy in the British Library whose miniatures have recently been ascribed to the Master of Engelbert of Nassau who is identified by some scholars with the Master of Mary of Burgundy.
The courtly scenes, such as on folio 14v shown here, populated with gracious youthful figures in highly fashionable clothing and carefully curled hairstyles, recall similar motifs in paintings of Hans Memling.
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