Anselm Baker (1834–1885), was an English artist. Baker first acquired a knowledge of drawing and painting at Hardman & Co.'s studios in Birmingham. He became a Cistercian monk at

Mount St Bernard Abbey Mount St Bernard Abbey is a Roman Catholic monastery belonging to the Trappists, Trappist Order, near Coalville, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1835 in the parish of Whitwick and now in that of Charley, Leicestershire, Charley. The abbey w ...

, Leicestershire, in 1857, and died there on 11 February 1885. Baker was a

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

artist. About two-thirds of the coats-of-arms in Foster's ''Peerage'' were drawn by him, and are signed 'F.A.' (Frater Anselm). He also executed the mural paintings in the chapel of St Scholastica's Priory,

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which ...

; in St Winifred's,

Shepshed Shepshed (often known until 1888 as ''Sheepshed'', also ''Sheepshead'' – a name derived from the village being heavily involved in the wool industry) is a market town and civil parish in the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England with ...

; in the Temple in Garendon Park, and in the Lady and Infirmary chapels at Mount St Bernard Abbey. The ''Hortus Animæ'' and ''Horæ Diurnæ'', published in London, and several beautiful works brought out at Mechelin and

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

, bear witness to his inventive genius. His ''Liber Vitæ'', a record of the benefactors of St Bernard Abbey, is magnificently illustrated with pictures of the arms and patron saints of the benefactors. He also left unpublished ''The Armorial Bearings of English Cardinals'' and ''The Arms of the Cistercian Houses of England''. ''Cardinals and Heraldry'' (London: Buckland Publications, 1988) by Mark Turnham Elvins used his illustrations.Catalogue entry for State Library of New South Wales
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Anselm 1834 births 1885 deaths English artists 19th-century English people English Cistercians Heraldic artists