Mus. Egert. MS. 1139_]
[Illustration:
CODEX AURENS
(GOLDEN GOSPELS OF ATHELSTAN)
C. 835
_Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 2788, fol. 176_]
Other examples have a square frame filled with the latter kind of
scrolls and foliages, leaving a sort of open panel in the centre, in
which is placed a small scene of sacred history or perhaps of country
life. Sometimes the title, in golden letters, is surrounded with
medallions containing heads of Christ and the Virgin, apostles, and
saints. The peculiar interlacing bands of violet, yellow, rose, blue,
etc., which are still often seen in Russian ornament, are also features
of these Byzantine MSS.; but most of all is the lavish use of gold.
Perhaps the fact most to be remembered about these MSS. is that the
painters of them worked in a manner that was absolutely fixed and rigid,
the rules of which are laid down in a manual called the _Guide to
Painting_, a work which has been translated by M. Didron.
So fixed and unalterable, indeed, is the manner that there is absolutely
no difference to indicate relative antiquity between a MS. of the
eleventh century and one of the sixteenth or even later, we might almost
say, of the present day. In the matter of saint-images this is strictly
true.
CHAPTER VI
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
Early liturgical books reflect the ecclesiastical art of their
time--This feature a continuous characteristic of illumination down to
the latest times--Elements of Celtic ornament--Gospels of St.
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