ANIMAL CODE A bestiary is a compendium of beasts originating in the 6th century, and were made popular in the Middle Ages through illustrated volumes that described various animals and elements of the natural world, often accompanied by moral lessons. Artist and historical sleuth Emma Carlow has been researching an unusual example in the Bodleian Library Oxford, dating from the 13th century by troubadour, poet and surgeon Richard de Fournival. Fournival’s Bestiary of Love is not a traditional bestiary. Instead of using animal characteristics to illustrate a moral or allegorical teaching, he uses the animals to plead his case to an unnamed lady who he claims to love, but who does not love him in return. Inspired by the mysterious and symbolic use of animals and plant motifs to express thoughts and emotions, Emma Carlow has created two collections; a series of textile cyanotype prints which form pictorial stories and a collection of ceramic candle holders inspired by the illustrations in the Bestiary of Love.
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