ARTES is delighted to share Daniela Castro Ruiz’s report of her work, funded by the ARTES-CEEH UK PhD Scholarship.

Thanks to the generous scholarship provided by ARTES-CEEH, I had the opportunity to explore various libraries and archives across the United Kingdom. This enabled the analysis of several natural history illuminations and illustrations, facilitating a deeper comprehension of the significance of images —specifically illuminations and woodcuts— in the bestiary tradition. Furthermore, this exploration shed light on the way natural history illustration was used in the development and production of art and scientific knowledge.

This preliminary archival research played a crucial role in understanding and finding the images and texts filiations associated with my doctoral subject: the Bestiario de Don Juan de Austria (c. 1570), the only extant bestiary composed in Castilian and the only one that is extensively illustrated, offering depictions of a range of creatures, from the mythical (the unicorn, the phoenix, etc) through to the exotic (the parrot, the hippopotamus, etc), and the everyday (the dog, the dolphin, etc) in a range of natural landscape settings completed by signifiers of society.

The originality of my research lies in its focus on the illustrations of the Bestiario and how they can be related both to the tradition and circulation of illuminated manuscripts in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain, as well as to the representation of living creatures more broadly. I seek in particular to understand the relationship between the animals depicted in the manuscript and the social milieu in which it was produced. My research interrogates the question of how visuality forms an essential part of communication. This work is predicated on an in-depth analysis of images and symbols, discussing questions of provenance and iconography, it will be supplemented by a palaeographic and codicological study of the manuscript that will shed light on the way in which it was produced and assembled. The Bestiario is an exemplary object of study because its symbolic mechanisms disclose the complexity of the transition between the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, evidencing the relevance of natural history illustration and illuminated manuscripts in art historical studies. 

Senate House Special Collections

Among the illustrated books that I examined, the Moffet Insectorum (1634 V2 [Moffet] fol. SR) was particularly valuable because of its textual and visual similarities. With regard to insects, medieval bestiaries from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries typically depict a limited number of species. However, with the beginning of the Renaissance and humanist education, there emerged an increased interest in representing and comprehending arthropods and invertebrates, leading to new observations and classifications. Notably, the Bestiario adopts an innovative approach to portraying nature, resembling encyclopaedic knowledge while simultaneously attempting to readapt the moral significance of creatures. The illuminated manuscript distinctly focuses on the relationship between humans and insects, setting itself apart from other encyclopaedic and natural history books.

Linnean Society 

Amidst the numerous marvels within the Linnean Society archive, I had the privilege of consulting several renowned herbals and bestiaries, namely the Ortus sanitates (1499), Brunfels Herbarium vivae eicones (1539, BL.795A: Linnaeus copy), Fuchs’ De historia stripium (1542, RF. 542, with contemporary hand colouring), and Mattioli’s Commentarii (1565, RF. 565). These four works captured my attention because of their chronological proximity to the Bestiario. Of particular note is the cynocephalus depicted in the Ortus sanitates, which stood out for its likeness to the creatures featured in the Bestiario, encompassing certain Plinian monstrous races.

Natural History Museum

The extensive archives of the Natural History Museum provided a lot of material, but my focus centered on Harley MS 4751, a Bestiary dating back to circa 1255 produced in Salisbury. In this Bestiary, my primary interest lay in shedding light on how the concealed alphabet of nature becomes perceptible through images and descriptions that show traces of Platonic-Christian thought, a characteristic prominently observed in manuscripts from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In contrast, the Bestiario adopts a more Aristotelian and empirical perspective in its understanding of the natural world. The examination of the Salisbury Bestiary and the subsequent comparison of how the world of animals and nature is depicted in both image and text proved crucial in revealing the intricacies of cultural appropriation and the evolution of the genre tradition.

Santa María de la Vid Monastery Library 

I am scheduled to examine the primary manuscript under study in May. My research trip to El Monasterio de Santa María de la Vid in Burgos, Spain—where the Bestiario is held—has been arranged in accordance with the preferred dates of the Librarian, and also because I have teaching commitments at Durham University. During this research trip, I will have the opportunity to analyse the original illuminated manuscript, conduct a thorough examination, and compare findings from various archives with those of the Bestiario. This comparative examination aims to shed light on the differences and similarities between cultures and regional identities, with particular emphasis on the distinctive Hispanic perspective on understanding nature. 

I express sincere gratitude for the generosity of the ARTES-CEEH scholarship. Without this support, I would not have been able to visit various magnificent archives, enriching my research with diverse materials and ideas derived from the analysis of illuminated natural history manuscripts and books.