The portrait of
Henry II. (Saint Henry, husband of Cunegunda) in MS. 40 at Munich is by
no means barbaric--it is more Greek than anything else--but it is down
to the smallest element of composition a direct imitation of the similar
portrait of Charles the Bald in the Emmeram Gospels. It is not a copy,
for there is a significant difference in the attitudes of the emperors.
Henry holds a sceptre in his right hand and an orb in his left, like
Otho III. in the miniature already described, whereas Charles is empty
handed. Then both on the Emperor's head and on the smaller figures the
crowns are different--the panelling of the Imperial canopy is different,
and, of course, there is a different inscription. Lastly, it may be said
that some of the differences are improvements. Another change is
characteristic--Charles was beardless, Henry has a pointed beard.
It is true this is an example belonging to the very brightest years of
the Othonian revival. But to pass over other Saxon MSS., there are
extant examples from Evroul (when Roger de Warenne, son of the great
Earl of Surrey, practised as a scribe and illuminator on his retirement
to that monastery), St. Martin's of Tournay, St. Amand, Benedictbeuern,
Lobbes, and Weissobrunn could all boast accomplished calligraphers.
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