3225--viz. that Zeus is always red and Venus fair, that certain costumes
and colours of drapery are specially appropriated--would lead to the
supposition that even then there existed a code of rules like those of
the Byzantine Guide, and that therefore the art owed its origin to the
Greeks.
Between this MS. and the first known Christian book work there may have
been many that have now perished, and which, had they remained, would
have marked the transition more gradually. But even as they stand there
is no appreciable difference between the earliest monuments of Christian
art and those of the period which preceded them. Nor shall we find any
break, any distinct start on new principles. It is one continuous series
of processes--the gradual change of methods growing out of experience
alone--not owing to any change of religion or the adoption of a new set
of theological opinions. Of course we shall find that for a very long
time the preponderance of illuminated MSS. will be towards liturgical
works; and we shall also find that where the contents of the MS. are the
same the subjects taken for illustration are also selected according to
some fixed and well-known set of rules. We shall see the explanation of
this by-and-by.
The first example of a Christian illuminated MS.
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