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The Northumberland Bestiary is an illuminated manuscript
A Lynx; A Griffin - Google Art Project.jpg, Lynx and griffin, f.26
Northumberland-Bestiaryf49v.jpg, Crocodile eating a man, f.49v
Northumberlandbestiaryf46v.jpg, Flying fish, f.46v
Getty catalogue entry
The Northumberland Bestiary is an illuminated manuscript bestiary
A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history ...
, dating to around 1250-1260 and containing 112 miniature paintings. It may have been produced in northern England - its miniatures are directly inspired by a 1200-1210 bestiary now in the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
(Royal MS 12 C XIX).''Pen and Parchment'', p.144-145
Its first known owner was Robert Turges, a gentleman in Melcombe Regis
Melcombe Regis is an area of Weymouth in Dorset, England.
Situated on the north shore of Weymouth Harbour and originally part of the waste of Radipole, it seems only to have developed as a significant settlement and seaport in the 13th centu ...
, Dorset around 1508-1509, as shown on folio 73. It was later owned by Grace Fitzjames (died 1725), also in Dorset. It was inherited by the Dukes of Northumberland
Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke o ...
(hence its name) and held at Alnwick Castle
Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a G ...
until being sold at Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
in London on 29 November 1990 for £2.97 million to a private buyer. It was finally acquired by its present owner, the J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
, in June 2007.
See also
*List of most expensive books and manuscripts
This is a list of printed books, manuscripts, letters, music scores, comic books, maps and other documents which have sold for more than US$1 million. The dates of composition of the books range from the 7th-century Quran leaf palimpsest and the ...
Bibliography
* Eric G. Millar, ''A Thirteenth-Century Bestiary in the Library of Alnwick Castle'', Oxford, Roxburghe Club, 1958 * Cynthia White, ''From the Ark to the Pulpit. An Edition and Translation of the Transitional Northumberland Bestiary (13th century)'', Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2009 * Cynthia White, The Northumberland Bestiary and the Art of Preaching, ''Reinardus'', vol.18, numéro 1, 2005, p.167-192 * Melanie Holcomb (ed.), ''Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages'', New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009, 188 p. ({{ISBN, 9781588393180, lire en ligne rchive, p. 144-145External links
Getty catalogue entry
References