..without
Gothic the Freemasons would have formed but a very ordinary community of
trades unionists."
To select an example of Gothic illumination which shall exemplify the
earliest features of the pointed style is not an easy matter,
notwithstanding the number of thirteenth-century MSS. which still exist
in public collections. In the National Library at Paris are several such
MSS. One that decidedly marks the change from the German work hitherto
in vogue is the Psalter of St. Louis (Nat. Lib., Paris., Lat. 10525),
which contains nearly eighty small, delicately executed miniatures. It
was completed about 1250. Its noticeable features are a vastly improved
dexterity in draughtsmanship, which displays a refined certainty of
touch, enabling the artist to express his intention with unhesitating
freedom. The drawing thus produced in outline is filled in with flat
tints of body-colour, without gradation or any attempt at brush-work
shading. Whatever finishing in this respect might be thought necessary
was added with the pen. Nothing could show more clearly that it is
simply and frankly imitative of stained glass. As in the glass the black
outline is left for definition. No colour is used on hands of faces
except a slight touch of red on the cheeks and lips.
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