This manuscript is the luxury version, in the form of an illuminated and bound quire, of the document with which, on 2 October 1714, Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, conferred the Titulo de Grandeza de España (Grandee of Spain, the highest aristocratic title in Spain) upon Louis Jean Charles de Talleyrand-Périgord (1677-1757), Prince of Chalais and Marquis d’Excideuil, who led the Spanish fleet and carried out numerous missions on behalf of Philip V at the court of Versailles. They included the diplomatic mission to obtain the approval of Louis XIV, granted grudgingly it seems, thanks also to the mediation of Marie Anne de La Trémoille, better known as the Princesse des Ursins and aunt of Jean Charles de Talleyrand,¹ for the marriage between the King of Spain and Elisabetta Farnese, Princess of Parma and Piacenza, which subsequently took place on 24 December 1714. The title was probably conferred in recognition of the diplomatic success achieved by the Prince of Chalais. 

Since the king signed the manuscript in December 1717 (fol. 9), it seems likely that the quire was written and illuminated slightly earlier, probably in Madrid, as also suggested by other decorated manuscripts for the attribution of noble titles granted by Philip V.² Nevertheless, the Titulo de Grandeza de España of Jean Charles de Talleyrand stands out from the rest, distancing itself from the more austere Baroque ornamental repertoire of the Spanish court. Perhaps guided by the tastes of the recipient, the frames in the manuscript feature the more delicate and symmetrical style of the ornamental motifs introduced to the court of Louis XIV by Jean Bérain, also known as the “Bérain style”, which was a precursor to Rococo. 

In addition to the solemn opening page (fol. 1), enclosed by a frame decorated with rocailles and plant motifs with small battle scenes inside ovals, and those with the heraldic insignia of Talleyrand-Périgord (fol. 3) and Philip V (fol. 4), the decoration includes a full-page illumination with St John the Baptist inside a large oval (fol. 2), presumably the patron saint of the recipient of the title. The text, dotted with initials that highlight the internal sections, continues enclosed within frames similar to those of the first page (fols. 4v-9), some of which contain ovals or panels with hunting or naval scenes (fols. 5v, 6, 7v, 8v, 9). 

Fabrizio Crivello 

¹ Sénemaud 1860, esp. pp. 22-23. 

² M. C. Espinosa Martín, “El documento pintado desde el reinado de Felipe V hasta Fernando VII”, in Madrid 2000, pp. 67-86.