Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/92

more especially in Greece,
(Fig 2) The Trinity creating Man.the nimbus is found in a triangular form: in other instances it becomes square or lozenge-shaped. The circular nimbus, when it belongs to the Divine Persons, is always distinguished by four rays at right angles to each other, one of which is concealed by the head. The three Persons of the Trinity are thus nimbed in fig. 2, taken from a MS. of the thirteenth century in the Bibl. Royale at Paris. M. Didron proceeds to describe other varieties of the nimbus, which (as well as the aureole or glory) he believes to have been intended merely as the outline of the rays of glory supposed to issue from the head or body of the divine or sainted personage.
(Fig 3) The Trinity nimbedThese rays are sometimes found without the line of circumference, and in some of the figures given in the book before us, we see how the line came to take these different forms. As we have already observed, the nimbus of God is always (unless by a rare instance of negligence or ignorance in the artist) distinguished by two cross perpendicular bars, arranged in the form of a Greek cross, one being partly concealed by the head, above which it rises vertically. In fig. 3, taken from a MS. of the thirteenth century, in the same collection as the former, we have another representation of the Trinity, each Person of which bears the cruciferous nimbus. M. Didron gives reasons which appear satisfactory for believing that this form was not allusive to the cross on which our Saviour suffered. The nimbus appears to be derived from the pagan symbolism of the eastern nations: it is not found in Christian monuments of the earlier ages. We have just observed that the cross of the divine nimbus appears to have no connection with the Christian symbol of the cross: one of the cuts given by M. Didron furnishes a curious proof of this. In the more ancient monuments, where the nimbus is absent, the Person of Christ is frequently accompanied by, or typified by, a lamb, which lamb always has