ID: 700008428 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008428	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Northumberland Bestiary (illuminated manuscript; Unknown English artists; about 1250 - 1260; J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los A...; 2007.16; ObjectID: 304109; MS 100)

Note: 75 folios, 3 flyleaves and 3 endleaves; 112 miniatures, of which one is full-page and many are half-page or larger. Manuscript containing 112 colored ink drawings, and 8 scenes of the creation. It is a collection of descriptions and images of real and imaginary animals intended to provide readers with moral lessons. The bestiary--a collection of descriptions and images of real and imaginary animals intended to provide readers with moral lessons--was one of the most important traditions to emerge from medieval England. Although bestiaries were a kind of medieval encyclopedia of animals, they explored the world of animals primarily in order to explain their significance within the Christian worldview. Male lions were seen as worthy reflections of the God the Father, for example, while the dragon was understood as a representative of Satan on earth. Each of the over one hundred animals featured in this manuscript (called the Northumberland Bestiary after a previous owner) has a unique and colorful story visualized in lively and animated terms. Tales of elephants carrying soldiers in far-away India must have seemed as incredible to the manuscript's owner as the images of the terrible six-headed hydra, who will grow three more heads for each head cut off. Executed in the colored drawing style that is part of England's distinctive contribution to history of art, the expressive naturalism seen in the images stands as a superb testament to the artistic heights achieved by English Gothic illumination.

Titles:

Northumberland Bestiary (preferred,C,U,English-P,U,U)

Ms. 100 (C,U,MD,undetermined,U,U)

Alnwick Bestiary (H,U,FO,undetermined,U,U)

Alnwick Castle MS. 447 (H,U,FO,undetermined,U,U)

Catalog Level: volume

Work Types:

illuminated manuscript [300265483] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), document genres, <documents by conditions of production>, manuscripts (documents))

bestiary [300201056]

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), document genres, <documents by function>, reference sources)

book [300028051]

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), information artifacts, <information artifacts by physical form>)

Classifications:

manuscripts (preferred)

Creation Date: about 1250 - 1260

Creator Display:

Unknown English artists [preferred,VP]

artists unknown English (English cultural designation) [500125227]

Locations:

Current: J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California, United States) [500329598] J. Paul Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty Trust, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2007.16; ObjectID: 304109; MS 100

Other: Creation: England [7002445] United Kingdom (nation), Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Other: Former: Alnwick [7009988] Northumberland (county), England (country), United Kingdom (nation), Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: Colored washes and ink on parchment, bound between pasteboard and covered with red morocco

	parchment (animal material) [300011851]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, animal material, processed animal material)

	wash (material) [300011051]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	pasteboard (paper) [300162474]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>, paper (fiber product), <paper by form>)

	morocco (leather) [300227857]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, animal material, processed animal material, leather, <leather by process>, vegetable-tanned leather, vegetable-tanned goatskin)

Dimensions: Closed: 21 x 15.7 cm (8 1/4 x 6 3/16 in.)

General Subject:

literary (preferred)

religion and mythology

animals

Specific Subjects:

	animals (kingdom) [300249395]
	.....(Agents Facet, Living Organisms (hierarchy name), living organisms (entities), Eukaryota (domain)) (AAT)

	fables [300055917]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), <concepts in the arts and humanities>, <genres in literature and performing arts>, <genres for literature>) (AAT)

	Latin (language) [300388693]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), language-related concepts, <languages and writing systems>, <languages and writing systems by specific type>, <temporary alphabetical list: languages and writing systems>) (AAT)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Northumberland Bestiary	........ [VP]
	........ Getty Museum, Authority file (2003-)
Ms. 100	........ [VP]
	........ Getty Museum, Authority file (2003-)
Alnwick Bestiary	........ [VP]
	........ British Museum [online] (1999-)
Alnwick Castle MS. 447	........ [VP]
	........ British Museum [online] (1999-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Getty Museum, Authority file (2003-)