M.R. James was prompted to characterize the Egerton Genesis as 'the most puzzling, and also, in view of the wonderful qualities of its drawing and colouring, one of the most fascinating' of all manuscripts he had ever seen. Questions of date, iconographical and stylistic character, artist's training, provenance, purpose, and patronage, largely unanswered since James' time, surround this manuscript.

The Egerton Genesis is a pictorial narrative of the biblical Genesis, supplemented by legendary material. It was commissioned in the fourteenth century for the entertainment of a...