And it cannot be too
clearly stated that the principal abbatial churches--those most splendid
monuments of architecture whose structure and dimensions are still the
admiration of the most cultured critics, and in which all the rules of
art were so marvellously applied--were the work of simple monks. The
great Church of St. Benignus at Dijon (so often spoken of by writers on
Burgundian art) was built in 1001, under Abbat William, assisted by a
young monk named Hunaldus. The period between 1031 and 1060 saw the
creation of the grand abbatial Church of St. Remi at Reims. In the words
of the Comte de Montalembert: "From the very beginning of the Monastic
Orders St. Benedict had provided in his Rule that there should be
artists in the monasteries. He had imposed on the exercise of their art
only one condition--humility." Hence it is that all we know of the
author of the Compendium from himself is "humilis presbiter Theophilus."
For the same reason Tuotilo and Folchard and Sintramn and the rest are
never anxious to put their names upon their work. For the same reason
the occurrence of an artist's name in a monastic MS. is quite
exceptional and unexpected. The foresight of St. Benedict "was
accomplished and his law faithfully fulfilled.
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