See the manuscript (.pdf) digitized by the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes 
Date: First quarter of the 16th century
Materials and technics: Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Binding in red and gold Morocco leather lined with blue Morocco leather
Dimensions: H. 32,5 x w. 25 x d. 4,5 cm
Inscriptions: On the back of the first page: the coat of arms of France with a gules border, with 8 silver disks and encircled with a Saint Michael ribbon (coat of arms of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon)
Inventory number: LDUT217
Acquisition details: Dutuit bequest, 1902
Room: This work is not currently on display
Date: First quarter of the 16th century
Materials and technics: Illuminated manuscript on vellum. Binding in red and gold Morocco leather lined with blue Morocco leather
Dimensions: H. 32,5 x w. 25 x d. 4,5 cm
Inscriptions: On the back of the first page: the coat of arms of France with a gules border, with 8 silver disks and encircled with a Saint Michael ribbon (coat of arms of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon)
Inventory number: LDUT217
Acquisition details: Dutuit bequest, 1902
Room: This work is not currently on display
The Nouvelin de Vénerie is an adaptation of several chapters of the Book of hunting, written between 1387 and 1389 by Gaston Fébus, Count of Foix (1331-1391). This adaptation is by Louis de Gouvys, a Norman gentleman and possibly a hunting officer to the Duke of Alençon.
Hunting had been one of the main activities of princes and the nobility since the Middle Ages, and its practice was very soon codified by treatises. The Book of hunting by Gaston Fébus in particular, of which more than 40 handwritten copies are known about, was a resounding success and the Nouvelin de Vénerie is inspired by it.
Organised into 19 chapters preceded by a large miniature, the Nouvelin de Vénerie covers the breeding and training of dogs for hunting and different techniques specific to deer hunting.
The coat of arms of the dedicatee of the work, Charles IV, Duke of Alençon (1489-1524), the first husband of Marguerite d’Angoulême, sister of François I, is painted on the reverse of the first page. During the 19th century this work of prestigious origin entered the collections of several of the greatest amateur collectors: Jean-Baptiste Huzard (1755-1838) and then Baron Jérôme Pichon (1812-1896) before being acquired by the Dutuit brothers and bequeathed to the City of Paris for the Petit Palais in 1902.
C. M.
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