Formerly in the private collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), location now unknown. Sold by Sotheby's in 2007 to an undisclosed buyer (Sotheby's Lot 53).

This is the Bestiaire manuscript designated Ph.

This manuscript has the long version (71 chapters) of the Bestiaire of Pierre de Beauvais. It is fully illustrated with 72 miniatures of animals and birds, painted in full colors within panel frames without gold. Every chapter has an illustration. Some of the images are damaged (rubbed or faded), but most are still good.

The digital facsimile of the manuscript is hosted by the Walters Art Museum, where it has the identifier PC.1.

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[Adapted from the Sotheby's sale catalog]

The style belongs in the clearly defined group of manuscripts associated with the Master of the Livre de Madame Marie, painter of Paris, BNF, ms. n.a. fr.16251 ... and his collaborator "Henri l'enlumineur" ... Characteristic features of the workshop include the deep blue or pompeian red grounds and the very striking faces in profile, with big eyes, flat foreheads and tiny mouths, sometimes with jutting chins (as here, for example, on folios.25v, 29v, 30r, etc.); even many animals share these characteristics. The artists probably worked in Mons, possibly Cambrai, partly under the patronage of Gauthier d'Enghein and his well-read third wife, Marie de Rethel (d.1315). The workshop specialized in secular texts, romances of chivalry, wonders of the orient (BNF, ms. fr.15106), another Bestiary (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 14970), Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'Amour (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 412), and similar texts. The group even includes another French language Bestiary, Bibliothèque Municipale de Douai, MS 711, from Anchin Abbey...

Additional Descriptions

Additional description

Editions and Facsimiles

Printed editions

Mermier, 1977
Baker, 2004
Baker, 2010

Digital facsimiles

Digital Walters Art Museum