DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22421#0204
140
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Letter VI.
cule letters commenced in those early centuries. This proof, which
is victoriously carried through, constitutes however, in my opinion,
the principal merit of the essay ; for, with respect to the minia-
tures, I am so far from being able to assent to his opinion, that,
judging by them, I cannot look upon the MS. as of an earlier date
than the ninth century. By the comparison of a large number
of miniatures from the seventh to the tenth century, I have con-
vinced myself that the decided influence of antique painting,
though in decreasing purity, was preserved in this whole period.
The miniatures in a MS. of the works of Gregory Nazianzen,
which was written for the Emperor Basilius Macedo, and therefore
in the ninth century, as well as those in a Greek Psalter in the
tenth century, both in the Library at Paris, approach, in some
respects, much nearer to the paintings of Pompeii than those in the
MS. of which we are speaking. The same may be asserted,
though in a less degree, of the miniatures in a copy of the Gospels
written in Italy between the years 714 and 732, in the library of
St. Genevieve at Paris. In the execution, as well as in the forms
of the faces, there is, on the other hand, a great resemblance with
some Frankish specimens of the ninth century; for instance, the
Psalter and Bible of Charles the Bald, also in the Library of
Paris. In this MS. there is something very characteristic in the
long, square, uniform countenances, low foreheads, and very long
noses, which in the MS. of Aratus are most strikingly observable
in the bust pictures of the five planets of Jupiter, Sol, Mars,
Venus, and Mercury, and are very faithfully represented in Ottley's
work, Plate VIII. I have not met with this decline into barbarism
before the ninth century ; but on the planisphere, which is only
drawn with the pen, and slightly washed with Indian-ink, we find
the type of countenance which is so common only in English
MSS. from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, but which is not
quite accurately given by Mr. Ottley, Plate XXII. This MS.
is therefore interesting to me, as a confirmatory proof, that in
the course of the ninth century the style of art, founded in all its
parts on the tradition of antique painting which prevailed on the
Continent, came into use in England, also, and perhaps partially
superseded the peculiar Anglo-Saxon manner.
An Evangeliarium (Cotton. Tiber. A. 11), folio, about the year
900, written in moderately large minuscule letters, 217 leaves,
one column. The frontispiece, David praying, belongs to the
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Letter VI.
cule letters commenced in those early centuries. This proof, which
is victoriously carried through, constitutes however, in my opinion,
the principal merit of the essay ; for, with respect to the minia-
tures, I am so far from being able to assent to his opinion, that,
judging by them, I cannot look upon the MS. as of an earlier date
than the ninth century. By the comparison of a large number
of miniatures from the seventh to the tenth century, I have con-
vinced myself that the decided influence of antique painting,
though in decreasing purity, was preserved in this whole period.
The miniatures in a MS. of the works of Gregory Nazianzen,
which was written for the Emperor Basilius Macedo, and therefore
in the ninth century, as well as those in a Greek Psalter in the
tenth century, both in the Library at Paris, approach, in some
respects, much nearer to the paintings of Pompeii than those in the
MS. of which we are speaking. The same may be asserted,
though in a less degree, of the miniatures in a copy of the Gospels
written in Italy between the years 714 and 732, in the library of
St. Genevieve at Paris. In the execution, as well as in the forms
of the faces, there is, on the other hand, a great resemblance with
some Frankish specimens of the ninth century; for instance, the
Psalter and Bible of Charles the Bald, also in the Library of
Paris. In this MS. there is something very characteristic in the
long, square, uniform countenances, low foreheads, and very long
noses, which in the MS. of Aratus are most strikingly observable
in the bust pictures of the five planets of Jupiter, Sol, Mars,
Venus, and Mercury, and are very faithfully represented in Ottley's
work, Plate VIII. I have not met with this decline into barbarism
before the ninth century ; but on the planisphere, which is only
drawn with the pen, and slightly washed with Indian-ink, we find
the type of countenance which is so common only in English
MSS. from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, but which is not
quite accurately given by Mr. Ottley, Plate XXII. This MS.
is therefore interesting to me, as a confirmatory proof, that in
the course of the ninth century the style of art, founded in all its
parts on the tradition of antique painting which prevailed on the
Continent, came into use in England, also, and perhaps partially
superseded the peculiar Anglo-Saxon manner.
An Evangeliarium (Cotton. Tiber. A. 11), folio, about the year
900, written in moderately large minuscule letters, 217 leaves,
one column. The frontispiece, David praying, belongs to the