[29] In the page of the Eusebian Canons we see features which
take us across the plains of Lombardy to the doors of S. Michele of
Pavia, and to the churches of Venice. The columns rest on crouching
animals. Allegorical figures are introduced striving with each other as
in the later Gothic illuminations. A half-nude figure of Faith
vanquishes the champion of Paganism. On the dedication page sits the
Madonna with SS. John Baptist and Bartholomew, and below them the patron
saints of Brunswick, Blaize, and Egidius leading forth the Duke and his
wife, Mathilda. It may indeed be called a splendid book. Among the rest
of the pictures, some of them within richly decorated borders, occurs
the usual representation of the Duke and his Duchess receiving crowns.
The figures are well drawn, even elegant, the draperies good, and the
colouring skilful.
[29] See F. Culemann in _Neue hannov. Zeitung_, 1861, Nos. 22-4.
One of the many characteristic MSS. of this period to be seen in
continental libraries is the "Mater Verborum" of the monk Conrad, of
Scheyern in Bavaria, a noted scribe, illuminator, goldsmith, and
grammarian. The subject is one that scarcely gives promise of lending
itself to pictorial illustration, but after the successful attempts of
Theodulf we may be prepared for anything in the way of diagram and
symbol.
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