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New manuscript catalogue out now: The illuminated manuscripts of French provenance at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

The newly available volume of scholarly catalogues of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek comprises not only the French illuminated manuscripts from the 10th to the end of the 14th century, but Ulrike Bauer-Eberhardt also describes all English and Spanish manuscripts with adornments.

Arbor consanguinitatis, Paris, 13th century. From: Henricus de Segusia, Summa aurea | © BSB/ Clm 28160, sheet 320r

Arbor consanguinitatis, Paris, 13th century. From: Henricus de Segusia, Summa aurea | © BSB/ Clm 28160, sheet 320r

Bauer-Eberhardt, Ulrike: Die illuminierten Handschriften französischer Herkunft in der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek. Part 1: Vom 10. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert. Appendix: Die illuminierten Handschriften englischer und spanischer Herkunft. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2019. Katalog der illuminierten Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in München. 7,1.

Further information available on the website of the publishing house

As is usual for art-historical consideration, all 294 manuscripts were allocated to various landscapes or cities in accordance with style criteria, and again sorted chronologically after this distinction. Thus, for certain regions – such as northern France or in particular Paris – a representative overview of book illuminators’ workshops or even individual artists resulted, whose works are also preserved in other libraries worldwide.

Among them, there are the so-called Channel style of around 1200, anonymously mentioned workshops (such as the Atelier du Prat or the workshop Aurifaber) or even individual, famous book illuminators, such as Richard de Montbaston and Maître Fauvel.

One example of English book art worth mentioning is the famous Golden Munich Psalter, which was crafted in Oxford during the first third of the 13th century.

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