).
Perhaps the best commentary on these old figures is the "Biblia
Pauperum," as it is commonly called, or as it should be called, the
Bible of the poor preachers. It also has the old allegories and
inscriptions rendered into later forms.
[30] Cf. the Rabula MS. at Vienna.
As for the texts or inscriptions, they would require a commentary to
themselves--not to speak of translations and remarks upon the
calligraphy. One of these remarkable miniatures may be described, as it
depicts the presentation of the volume to the Madonna. Our Lady in the
centre of the design is seated on a Byzantine _sedile_ with the infant
Jesus on her knees. She is crowned, and has the nimbus, and appears as
if intended to represent the glory of the Church. Her hand is raised as
in the act of teaching. Christ, also, has the nimbus, but with the cross
upon it, and raises his hand in the attitude of benediction. In the
tympanum of the semicircle over the Madonna, written in letters of gold
on purple, surrounded by the word "Sancta" in ordinary ink, is the
monogram of Maria, having a small sun and moon above it, and other
inscriptions, partly Latin, partly Greek. Below the Madonna, on the
left, stands the abbess, her knees slightly bent, holding up her book,
and clothed in the costume of her Order, but coloured, no doubt, simply
for artistic reasons.
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