Description
Facsimile limited edition of the Gaston Phoebus – Master of Game by Faksimile Verlag (2007) featuring:
- Edition details: Gaston Phoebus – Das Buch der Jagd / Lucerne: Faksimile Verlag, 2007
- Commentary: German and French by Christe Yves, D’Escayrac-Lauture Antoine, Voelke William and Avril François
- Binding: modeled on a blue silk binding from the library of King Louis XII. The fine silk was especially woven for this purpose and embroidered with golden lilies, the emblem of the French royal dynasty. Fine parchment covering the spine
- Case: acrylic
About the original manuscript: The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.1044
This work not only represents the most famous record of medieval hunting, but also is an impressive documentation of natural history. The work was made around 1387 and is one of the finest manuscripts ever made in the Middle Ages. Shining gold and glowing colours testify to the high quality of work being produced in the Bedford Masters workshop.
Gaston III, count of Foix and Béarn in the south of France, wrote his “Livre de chasse”, or Master of Game, in the years 1387–1389. This work not only represents the most famous record of medieval hunting, but may also be considered as one of the most interesting testimonies to the cultural history of its time.
Gaston de Foix, because of his bright blond hair also called “Phoebus” after the Greek sun god, describes in his four-part hunting book not only the then common forms of hunting, but also presents an impressive natural history, which – long before the times of the empiric sciences – was based on the extensive observation of different species and used as a text book well into the 19th century.
A best seller, straight from the Middle Ages
Right from the beginning, the Master of Game was a great success. The courts of France and Burgundy saw in it more than a study of nature; instead it was rather considered a work of art that inspired painters and writers for many generations.
The most outstanding quality was reached by the Masters of the Bedford workshop, to whom we owe this painted manuscript. Scholars claim that it is among “the finest manuscripts ever made in the Middle Ages”.
Shining gold and glowing colours in 87 miniatures
This hitherto little known, but magnificently painted hand-written copy of the lost original text of the Master of Game was commissioned by Duke Philip the Bold, brother of the bibliophile Duc de Berry.
Its 128 folios in the impressive format of 38.5 x 28.6 cm contain 87 extraordinary miniatures. Their bright and fresh colours on the sumptuous, partly finely chiselled gold grounds present a surprising painting technique of a sensitive and subtle aesthetics.
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