[40] Of course the
pictures are upside down to the reader, so as to be right for the
congregation.
[40] See one in British Mus., Add. MS. 30337, and description of it in
_Journ. of the Arch?ol. Assoc._ vol. 34, p. 321.
Very little progress was made, as we may imagine, until after the great
revival movement begun by Cimabue, Giotto, and their contemporaries,
about the middle of the thirteenth century. But before taking up any
inquiry into Italian work generally we must not omit reference to the
remarkable MSS. produced at La Cava and Monte Cassino during the
Franco-Lombard period. Some idea has already been furnished in dealing
with Celtic MSS. and the foundations begun by Columbanus and his
scholars. Indeed, the general character of these Lombard MSS. is seen in
the Franco-Celtic. The distinguishing feature, if there be one, is the
frequent recurrence among the interlacements of the _white dog_. The La
Cava Library, which was one of the finest in Italy, has been transferred
to Naples. Monte Cassino still continues and maintains not only a
library but a printing press, from which the learned fathers have issued
at least one great work on the subject of Cassinese pal?ography. Of all
the pr?-Carolingian hands, Lombardic or Lombardesque was certainly the
most peculiar, and is perhaps the most difficult to read.
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