Camels in Medieval and Renaissance Art

	Camels
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Camels appear in bestiaries and in scenes that are intended to evoke some manner of Eastern transport; several biblical characters, including the Three Kings in the Adoration of the Magi, are often depicted with camels, either riding camels or using the camels as beasts of burden. As with elephants and other exotic creatures, however, many Western European artists and illustrators had not actually seen camels for themselves, so the depictions ranged in accuracy somewhat. Sometimes they look like odd-looking horses with long necks; most illustrators remember to add bumps of some sort to the animal's back. See also The Medieval Bestiary: Camel. Fable: the camel that complained, Fabularum apologi (BNF NAL 1132, fol. 39v), 9th-10th century Wall painting of a camel from San Baudelio de Berlanga in Spain (Met 61.219), c. 1129-1134 The coronation mantle of Roger II of Sicily, c. 1133/1134 The Llangattock Plaques (V&A M.53B-1988), c. 1160 A female camel seeks its young, Marvels of the East (Bodl. 614, fol. 39v), middle of the 12th century A camel, bestiary (BNF Latin 6838 B, fol. 16), 13th century A camel, bestiary (Brit. Lib. Royal 12 C XIX, fol. 33), c. 1200-1210 A camel, Reiner Musterbuch (ÖNB 507, fol. 7v), c. 1200-1220 Jacob flees from Laban, book of hours (PML M.739, fol. 12v), c. 1204-1219 A camel, bestiary (British Library Harley 4751, fol. 24), 2nd quarter of the 13th century Fols. 4r, 7, 34v, and 38v, the Rochester Bestiary (Brit. Lib. Royal 12 F XIII, 2nd quarter of the 13th century A camel, bestiary (British Library Sloane 3544, fol. 17v), 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th century A camel, theological miscellany (British Library Harley 3244, fol. 47v), c. 1236-1275 Adam gives names to the camel and the stag, bestiary (Bodl. 533, fol. 10r), middle of the 13th century A camel, bestiary (BNF Latin 11207, fol. 14v), middle of the 13th century Godefroy de Bouillon kills a camel, History of Guillaume de Tyr (BNF Fr. 2630), middle of the 13th century A camel (Getty 100, fol. 30), c. 1250-1260 A camel, bestiary (BNF Latin 3630, fol. 83v), 3rd quarter of the 13th century The story of Eleazar, Isaac, and Rebecca on fols. 11v and 12r, the Psalter of St. Louis (BNF Latin 10525), c. 1270 Camels on fols. 16r and 78r, a bestiary (Douce 88), c. 1300 Adam names the beasts (fol. 5r) and a monkey sits backwards on a camel (fol. 26r), bestiary (Douce 151), c. 1300 Adoration of the Magi, a book of hours (Douce 48, fol. 211v), beginning of the 14th century A camel (fol. 42v) and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (fol. 161v), Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 160), 1st quarter of the 14th century A boar and a camel, the Smithfield Decretals (Brit. Lib. Royal 10 E IV, fol. 152v), c. 1300-1340 Detail from Adoration of the Magi by Giotto, c. 1304-1306 Adoration of the Magi by Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1308-1311 Jacob's return, Biblia pauperum (ÖSB III 207, fol. 3r), c. 1310-1320 A fable about a lion, a camel, a wolf, a raven, and a jackal on fols. 39, 39, 39, 39v, and 40, Kalila va Dimna (BNF Latin 8504), 1313 The return of Jacob, Biblia Pauperum (ÖNB 1198, fol. 3r), c. 1330-1340 Rebecca and Eleazar at the well, Speculum humanae salvationis (ÖNB 2612, fol. 10r), c. 1330-1340 Godefroy de Bouillon kills a camel, History of Guillaume de Tyr (BNF Fr. 22495), 1337 A camel, a treatise on astrology (British Library Sloane 3983, fol. 10v), 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 14th century Camels on fols. 132v, 136v, and 148v of Concordantiae caritatis (Lilienfeld 151, fol. 132v), c. 1349-1351 Joseph's brothers arrive in Egypt, Bible moralisée (NF Fr. 9561, fol. 31r), c. 1350 Rebecca sought in marriage (fol. 49r) and Adoration of the Magi (fol. 274r), Weltchronik (PML M.769), c. 1360 Procession of the Kings, fresco at Karskovo in Slovakia, c. 1370-1380 The animals enter Noah's ark, Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César (BNF Fr. 20125), 4th quarter of the 14th century Charlemagne and Ganelon, the Grandes Chroniques de France of Charles V (BNF Fr. 2813, fol. 121r), c. 1385-1380 The merchant of beef and camel-meat, Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF NAL 1673, fol. 63), c. 1390-1400 Adoration of the Magi in a gradual for San Michele a Murano - PML fol. 46? - c. 1395 Squirinus, Speculum Historiale (BNF Fr. 313, fol. 76r), 1396 Charlemagne and Ganelon, Grandes chroniques de France (BNF Fr. 2608, fol. 147v), 14th-15th century Noah's Ark, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 9, fol. 15), beginning of the 15th century Fols. 17v and 84r, Fleur des estoires de la terre d'Orient (BNF Fr. 12201), beginning of the 15th century The merchant of camel-meat, Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF Latin 9333, fol. 72), 15th century Brocaded silk lampas on a chasuble (V&A T.256 to B-1967), c. 1400-1430 The Tower of Babel, the Bedford Hours (Brit. Lib. Add. 18850, fol. 17v), c. 1410 Fols. 14v, 21v, 113r, 255r, 265r, and 275r, the Book of Marvels (BNF Fr. 2810), c. 1410-1412 St. Thomas preaches to the Abyssinians, Le livre des merveilles d'Asie (PML M.723, fol. 250r), c. 1410-1412 Fols. 25r, 49r, and 194r, Antiquités Judaïques (BNF Fr. 247), c. 1410-1420 Jacob and his family flee from Laban, Bible historiale (PML M.394, fol. 27r), c. 1415 A monkey astride a camel, the Hours of Charlotte of Savoy (PML M.1004, fol. 160r), c. 1420-1425 Rebecca and Eleazar at the well, Speculum humanae salvationis (BNE B. 19, fol. 9r), c. 1420-1440 Afghanistan, Secrets de l'histoire naturelle (BNF Fr. 1377, fol. 10v), c. 1428 Job, blessed by God, receives a camel, a horse, and a sheep from an angel, book of hours (PML M.359, fol. 172r), c. 1430-1435 A camel, herbal (British Library Sloane 4016, fol. 24), c. 1440 Camel in bas-de-page under Adoration of the Magi, book of hours (PML M.357, fol. 16r), c. 1440 Camel, Tacuinum sanitatis (Granada C-67, fol. 7r), c. 1440-1445 A boar in a bishop's mitre rides a camel (fol. 13r) and a monkey rides a camel (fol. 40v), book of hours (PML M.358), c. 1440-1450 Jerome, Golden legend (PML M.675, fol. 118r), c. 1445-1465 Animals at a stream, Vita S. Benedicti (PML M.184, fol. 14r), c. 1450 The Macedonians attacked by animals, Histoire d'Alexandre (BNF Fr. 9342, fol. 142r), middle of the 15th century Jerusalem, Directorium ad passagium faciendum (BNF Fr. 9087, fol. 85v), 3rd quarter of the 15th century India, Historiae Alexandri Magni (BNF Fr. 20311, fol. 235), 3rd quarter of the 15th century Adoration of the Magi from a fresco cycle at Teodone, 2nd half of the 15th century Adam, Eve, and God, Fleur des Histoires (BNF Fr. 296, fol. 1), 3rd-4th quarter of the 15th century Bactria, Livre des merveilles du monde (PML M.461, fol. 12r), c. 1460 The return of Tobias, Weltchronik (ÖNB 2823, fol. 298v), 1463 Rebecca and Eleazar at the well (fol. 28v) and Joseph sold to Potiphar (fol. 37r), Weltchronik (ÖNB 2766), c. 1465-1475 Fols. 37v and 46v, Apollonius of Tyre (ÖNB 2886), 1467 Battle between the Macedonians and the Massagetes, Historiae Alexandri Magni (BNF Fr. 257, fol. 146v), c. 1470-1480 Envy rides a camel, a book of hours (PML M.1001, fol. 86r), c. 1475 Monkeys on camels on fols. 106r and 106v, book of hours (PML G.4), last quarter of the 15th century A camel, a book of hours (PML M.136, fol. 78v), c. 1480 Africa (fol. 1) and Afghanistan (fol. 8), Secrets de l'histoire naturelle (BNF Fr. 22971), c.1480-1485 Adoration of the Magi, Legenda aurea (BNF Fr. 244, fol. 39v), c. 1480-1490 Animals, Livre des proprietez des choses (British Library Royal 15 E III, fol. 200), 1482 The battle of Manisa, Romuleon (BNF Fr. 364, fol. 232r), c. 1485-1490 Adoration of the Magi from an altarpiece, c. 1485-1495 The Magi, book of hours (PML M.7, fol. 21r), c. 1490-1500 Adoration of the Magi, a missal (Bibl. Mazarine 412, fol. 22), c. 1492 Adoration of the Magi by Gerard David, c. 1500 The Adoration of the Magi (PML M.725r), c. 1500 David pacified by Abigail, Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal (PML M.52, fol. 276v), c. 1500-1510 Detail from the Legend of St. Anthony at an altarpiece at Sasova in Slovakia, c. 1500-1510 Allegory: Reason and man (fol. 55r) and a monkey riding a camel (fol. 55v), De remediis utriusque fortunae (BNF Fr. 225), c. 1503 Detail from St. Anthony teaching monks at the altarpiece of St. Anthony at the church of St. George in Spisska Sobota, Slovakia, c. 1503-1505 A camel in a bas-de-page under the Adoration of the Magi, book of hours (PML M.646, fol. 45v), c. 1510 A camel, Praeparatio ad missam pontificalem (PML H.6, fol. 17r), 1520 A goat and a camel, the Tudor Pattern Book (Ashmole 1504, fol. 32r), c. 1520-1530 Allegory of temperance, Fior di virtù (BNF Fr. 1877), 1530 Job's herds of sheep, camels, oxen, and asses, Job with Catena (Laud Gr. 86, p. 431), mid-16th century The pilgrim on a camel, Account of Arnolf Van Harff's travels in 1496-1499 (Bodl. 972, fol. 80r), 1554 A stained glass panel (V&A 2211-1855) probably displayed in the hall of the Guild of the Camel in Zurich, 1572 Detail from a tapestry of the Adoration of the Magi, 1580 A camel aquamanile made by Christoph Erhardt, c. 1595-1600

Camels

The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts

Camels appear in bestiaries and in scenes that are intended to evoke some manner of Eastern transport; several biblical characters, including the Three Kings in the Adoration of the Magi, are often depicted with camels, either riding camels or using the camels as beasts of burden.

As with elephants and other exotic creatures, however, many Western European artists and illustrators had not actually seen camels for themselves, so the depictions ranged in accuracy somewhat. Sometimes they look like odd-looking horses with long necks; most illustrators remember to add bumps of some sort to the animal's back.