Images of authors presenting books to patrons occur in illuminated copies of Latin texts produced in France from the eleventh century forward. The earliest surviving book presentation image in a vernacular manuscript is found in the presentation copy of the Grandes Chroniques de France (Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève Ms 782, fol. 326v), dated to ca. 1274. The illustration shows the text's translator, the monk Primat, along with his abbot Matthew de Vendôme and other monks, kneeling to present his work to Philip III.

The Augustinian monk and archbishop of Bourges Giles of Rome dedicated his De regimine principum to “his special lord Lord Philip [the future Philip IV, or Philip the Fair], first-born son and heir of the most famous man Lord Philip [Philip III] by the grace of God most illustrious king of France” (suo domino speciali Domino Philippo primogenito & hæredi præclarissimi viri Domini Philippi dei gratia Illustrissimi Regis Francorum). As the future Philip the Fair would have been no more than thirteen years old at the time of the commission, it seems likely that the manuscript's actual patron was his father, Philip III.

This illumination depicts a prince consulting and receiving the advice of learned counselors, an apt subject to illustrate a text on the art of government. One of the scholars in the miniature points to the pages of a book that lies open on his lap, while the seated king raises his right hand in a gesture for attention.

The standing scholar’s raised right hand and index finger indicate that he is speaking. His gesture is answered by the prince, whose raised right hand and open palm indicate that he is listening.

In contrast to the miniature on fol. 10r, in which the scholar instructs the ruler, in this initial it is the ruler who raises his right hand and index finger in the gesture for speech, while the scholar’s raised, open-palmed right hand indicates his attention to the prince’s words.

Pictorial instructions to the illuminator (as on fols. 35v, 51v, 63v, and 82r) are evident in the form of highly abbreviated sketches of a scholar's cap (shown as an inverted half-moon) and a crown. Whether provided by the stationer, the scribe, or an artist, such schematic pictorial cues reminded the illuminator to execute a stock subject from memory, or they prompted him to consult verbal instructions or pictorial models or patterns. The schematic symbols of scholarly and royal headgear on this folio prompted the artist to execute the image of a scholar before a king in the initial above.

The standing scholar in the miniature appears to count on his fingers, the gesture for disputation, while the cross-legged ruler raises his right hand, palm open, in the gesture for attention.

Pictorial instructions to the illuminator (as on fols. 28v, 51v, 63v, and 82r) are evident in the form of highly abbreviated sketches of a scholar's cap (shown as an inverted half-moon with a faintly rendered brim) and a crown. Whether provided by the stationer, the scribe, or an artist, such schematic pictorial cues reminded the illuminator to execute a stock subject from memory, or they prompted him to consult verbal instructions or pictorial models or patterns. The schematic symbols of scholarly and royal headgear on this folio prompted the artist to execute the image of a scholar before a king in the miniature above.

For a similar image of a prince governing his family (in which no servant is represented), see Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Ff.3.3, fol. 67r, a manuscript of De regimine principum written and illuminated in early fourteenth-century France with an added index written in fifteenth-century England.

Pictorial instructions to the illuminator (as on fols. 28v, 35v, 63v, and 82r) are evident in the form of two ovals rendered at the lower left of a schematically executed crown. Whether provided by the stationer, the scribe, or an artist, such schematic pictorial cues reminded the illuminator to execute a stock subject from memory, or they prompted him to consult verbal instructions or pictorial models or patterns. The schematic symbols on this folio prompted the artist to execute the image of a king instructing his children in the initial above.

For a similar image of a prince governing his family, see Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Ff.3.3, fol. 67r, a manuscript of De regimine principum written and illuminated in early fourteenth-century France with an added index written in fifteenth-century England.

Pictorial instructions to the illuminator (as on fols. 28v, 35v, 51v, and 82r) remain as a faintly rendered crown. Whether provided by the stationer, the scribe, or an artist, such schematic pictorial cues reminded the illuminator to execute a stock subject from memory, or they prompted him to consult verbal instructions or pictorial models or patterns. The schematic symbols on this folio would have prompted the artist to execute the image of a king addressing his queen and sons in the adjacent miniature.

A verbal instruction for the artist appears in the lower margin on this folio in the form of a partially legible Latin phrase, “Rex et ___(?)” (King and ___(?)). Whether provided by the stationer, the scribe, or an artist, such abbreviated verbal cues served as reminders of the subjects to be depicted in the illustrations. If this instruction was intended for an artist, as is likely, then it may provide evidence that one or both of the illuminators could read Latin.

The standing scholar’s raised right hand and index finger indicate that he is speaking. His gesture is answered by the prince, whose raised hand and open palm indicate that he is listening.

A verbal instruction for the artist appears in the lower margin on fols. 81v-82r, in the form of the Latin phrase “Rex et filosoforus” (King and philosopher). Whether provided by the stationer, the scribe, or an artist, such abbreviated verbal cues served as reminders of the subjects to be depicted in the illustrations. If, as is likely, this instruction was intended for an artist, then it may provide evidence that one or both of the illuminators could read Latin. As on fols. 28v, 35v, 51v, and 63v, pictorial instructions for the illuminator occur on this page: in the right margin are abbreviated sketches of a scholar's cap (shown as an inverted half-moon) and a crown. The combination of verbal and pictorial instructions on this page suggests that the pictorial cues were intended to remind the artist to consult a specific pictorial model or pattern.