Bible Fécamp, c. 1025-1050 350 f. 495 x 350 mm. Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen, ms. 1 ( A 4 )

 

Despite the damage to it, this bible remains the most imposing work to have survived to this day from the scriptorium of Fécamp of the 11^th century. It opens with two full-page frames, which harmoniously combine decorative elements of Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon origins. The titles of each book are luxuriously traced in gold letters on purple bands.
In folio 31: a composition combining the letters V and O is reminiscent of the second bible of Charles the Bald, where an identical monogram opens Leviticus.
For the rest of the manuscript, the ornamented letters placed at the start of each book are traced in brown ink without the application of colour, reminiscent of the Franco-Saxon models. Some, which are more elaborate (folio 53 v°), consist of foliage patterns interspersed with animals, which were to be used universally in the Romanesque illuminations of the 12^th century.