The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Leaf from a Cocharelli Treatise on the Vices: Acedia and Her Court

c. 1330

Italy, Genoa

ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Sheet: 16.3 x 10.3 cm (6 7/16 x 4 1/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1953.152

Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This miniature is noteworthy for its depiction of richly adorned textiles and jeweled headdresses imitative of the Islamic world.

Description

This leaf comes from a treatise written before 1324 by a member of the Genoese Cocharelli family as a moral lesson for the following generation. The family’s dedication to education is seen in the use of Latin and the theme of the seven capital vices. We see Queen Accidia (or Sloth) lying in bed, bored despite all the distractions around her. The depiction of the precious fabrics shows an intimate knowledge of textiles from the Islamic world and is a testament to the flourishing trade contacts of Genoa.

?-1930
Edwin and Caroline Czeczkowiczka, Vienna, Austria
May 12, 1930
(Sale: Hermann Ball & Paul Graupe, Berlin, Germany, 12 May 1930, lot. no. 3)
?-1953
Heinrich Eisemann (1890-1972), London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1953-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Thieme, Ulrich, Felix Becker, Fred. C. Willis, and Hans Vollmer. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1907. Vol. VIII, p. 234
Herbert, J. A. Illuminated Manuscripts. London: Methuen and Co, 1911. pp. 263–264
Mély, F. de. Les Miniaturistes. 1913. p. 185
British Museum, J. A. Herbert, Eric George Millar, and D. H. Turner. Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts. London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1923. Series IV, p. 30-1
Hermann Ball & Paul Graupe (Berlin, Germany). Wiener Sammlung, zweiter Teil. 1930. lot no. 3, p. 4, plate II
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 160 archive.org
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Aspects of Late Mediaeval Art; The Mediaeval Conference, the Ohio State University. 1958. No. 20
The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962. Baltimore, MD: Walters Art Gallery, 1962. pp. 74–75, no. 72, pl. LXIV
"Gothic Art 1360-1440." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 7 (1963): 174–215. Mentioned: no. 60, p. 209; Reproduced: no. 60, p. 183 www.jstor.org
Wadsworth Atheneum. An Exhibition of Italian Panels & Manuscripts from the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Centuries, in Honor of Richard Offner: April 9 to June 6, 1965, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford. Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1965. Cat. No. 111
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org
Hutchinson, Evelyn G. "Aposematic Insects nad the Master of the Brussels Initials," American Scientist Vol. 62, No. 2 (March-April 1974). pp. 161–171
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 69 archive.org
Martin Nagy, Rebecca. Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 32, 43, 59, cat. no. 20; fig. 27; color plate IV
Fabbri, Francesca. "Vizi e Virtu in due Codici Realizzati a Genova nel Trecento Fra Seduzioni d'Oriente e Apporti Toscani." Rivista di Storia Della Miniatura 17 (2013). Mentioned: pp. 95–106; Reproduced: p. 100, fig. 5
BRIMO DE LAROUSSILHE. A Dominican Polyptych by the Master of the Piani D'Invrea Cross. Paris: BRIMO DE LAROUSSILHE, 2013. p. 9
Faunce, Roza. The Cocharelli Codex: Illuminating Virtue: a Fourteenth-Century Father's Counsel to His Son. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Melbourne, School of Culture and Communication, 2016.
Nicolini, Simonetta, "Una Notizia bibliografica per I Frammenti Cocharelli," Intrecci d'arte n. 5-2016. pp. 9–23 web.p.ebscohost.com
Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: pp. 80–83; Reproduced: p. 81
Figdor, Albert, and Max J. Friedländer. Eine Wiener Sammlung. Zweiter Teil, Zweiter Teil. Berlin: Bell-Graupe, 1930. p. 4, pl. 2, cat. no. 2
Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).
Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 22-March 17, 1985).
Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
An Exhibition of Italian Panels & Manuscripts from the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Centuries In Honor of Richard Offner. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (organizer) (April 9-June 6, 1965).
An Exhibition of Italian Panels and Manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries in Honor of Richard Offner, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (April 9-June 6, 1965).
Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).
The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 23-December 2, 1962).
The International Style, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD (October 23-December 2, 1962).
Late Medieval Art. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (October 31-November 26, 1958).
Aspects of Late Medieval Art, Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH (October 31 - November 22, 1958).
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Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.152