Manuscript from the 16th century comes to the Frick

The Frick Art and Historical Center is slated to add a 16th century manuscript, likely by… The Frick Art and Historical Center is slated to add a 16th century manuscript, likely by artist Jean Bellegambe, to its permanent collection.

The highly decorative piece, titled “The Nativity of Christ,” is believed to have been commissioned in 1507 by Abbess Jeanne de Boubais, who held office in a Cistercian convent in today’s northern France.

The manuscript holds her gradual, or hymns she used for mass. It’s enclosed by a gold border, ornamented by flowers and animals, and contains a “historiated” letter “P” – that is, an illustration inside the letter itself tells the story of the nativity.

The piece was purchased at auction and was specifically chosen for its relation to another work of art that the Frick Art and Historical Center has had in its possession since 1965.

“We needed to have that manuscript page because it was so closely connected to this,” Sarah Hall, curator of the Art and Historical Center, said in reference to a double-paneled work of art known as a diptych.

Like the manuscript, the diptych was commissioned by Abbess Boubais, its panels bearing the images of the Virgin Mary, St. Bernard, a Cistercian monk and even the Abbess herself on the artwork’s reverse.

Heavily adorned with naturalistic decorative figures and Christian iconography, these pieces “come from a culture that revels in decoration,” Hall said, adding that the style in which they were painted “is known for its incredible crispness and attention to detail.”

Hall said that the Frick Arts and Historical Center was fortunate to be able to acquire Bellegambe’s manuscript, and she looks forward to its display for the public.

“It’s going to be studied rather than being put into a private study where it might not be seen,” she said.