of the Iliad and now in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, which
there is good reason for placing as early as the 3rd century.
In these pictures there is a considerable variety in the quality
of the drawing, but there are many notable instances of fine
figure-drawing, quite classical in sentiment, showing that the
earlier art still exercised its influence. Such indications, too,
of landscape as are to be found are of the classical type, not
conventional in the sense of medieval conventionalism, but still
attempting to follow nature, even if in an imperfect fashion;
just as in the Pompeian and other frescoes of the Roman age.
Of even greater value from an artistic point of view are the miniatures of the Vatican MS. of Virgil, known as the “Schedae Vaticanae,” of the 4th century. They are in a more perfect condition and on a larger scale than the Ambrosian fragments, and they therefore offer better opportunity for examining method and technique. The drawing is quite classical in style, and the idea is conveyed that the miniatures are direct copies from an older series. The colours are opaque: indeed, in all the miniatures of early MSS. the employment of body colour was universal. The method followed in placing the different scenes on the page is highly instructive of the practice followed, as we may presume, by the artists of the early centuries. It seems that the background of the scene was first painted in full, covering the whole surface of the page; then, over this background were painted the larger figures and objects; and over these again the smaller details in front of them were superimposed. Again, for the purpose of securing something like perspective, an arrangement of horizontal zones was adopted, the upper ones containing figures on a smaller scale than those below.
It was reserved for the Byzantine school to break away more decidedly from the natural presentment of things and to develop convention. Yet in the best early examples of this school the classical sentiment still lingers, as the relics of the miniatures of the Cottonian Genesis, in the British Museum, and the best of the miniatures of the Vienna Dioscorides testify; and in the miniatures of the later Byzantine MSS., which were copied from earlier examples, the reproduction of the models is faithful. But on comparing the miniatures of the Byzantine school generally with their classical predecessors, one has a sense of having passed from the open air into the cloister. Under the restraint of ecclesiastical domination Byzantine art became more and more stereotyped and conventional. The tendency grows to paint the flesh-tints in swarthy hues, to elongate and emaciate the limbs, and to stiffen the gait. Browns, blue-greys and neutral tints are in favour. Here we first find the technical treatment of flesh-painting which afterwards became the special practice of Italian miniaturists, namely the laying on of the actual flesh-tints over a ground of olive, green or other dark hue. Landscape, such as it was, soon became quite conventional, setting the example for that remarkable absence of the true representation of nature which is such a striking attribute of the miniatures of the middle ages.
And yet, while the ascetic treatment of the miniatures obtained so strongly in Byzantine art, at the same time the Oriental sense of splendour shows itself in the brilliancy of much of the colouring and in the lavish employment of gold. In the miniatures of Byzantine MSS. are first seen those backgrounds of bright gold which afterwards appear in such profusion in the productions of every western school of painting.
The influence of Byzantine art on that of medieval Italy is obvious. The early mosaics in the churches of Italy, such as those at Ravenna and Venice, also afford examples of the dominating Byzantine influence. But the early middle ages provide but few landmarks to guide the student; and it is only when he emerges into the 12th century, with its frescoes and miniatures still bearing the impress of the Byzantine tradition, that he can be satisfied that the connexion has always existed during the intervening centuries.
When we turn to the farther-west of Europe, there also we find under the Carolingian monarchs a school of painting obviously derived from classical models, chiefly of the Byzantine type, but whether derived directly from the East, or, what is more probable, transmitted through Italian channels, must remain doubtful. The interest of that school for our present purpose is that it was the parent of the later miniature-painting in the countries of the West. For in the native schools of those countries decoration only was the leading motive. In the MSS. of the Merovingian period, in the school which connected Frankland and northern Italy, and which is known as Lombardic or Franco-Lombardic, in the MSS. of Spain, in the productions of the Celtic school of our own islands, figure-drawing was scarcely known, and where it was practised it was of a barbarous character, serving rather as a feature of decoration than as a representation of the human form. Hence in those native schools the miniature, in its true sense of a picture, may be regarded as non-existent.
From these native schools we exclude the Anglo-Saxon school, developed especially at Canterbury and Winchester, which probably derived its characteristic free-hand drawing from classical Roman models, scarcely influenced by the Byzantine element. The highest qualities of the miniatures of the 10th and 11th centuries of this school lie in fine outline drawing, which had a lasting influence on the English miniature of the later centuries. But the southern Anglo-Saxon school rather stands apart from the general line of development of the western medieval miniature. How far it was affected by Continental influence will be presently noticed.
Turning to the productions of the Carolingian school, which owed its origin to the encouragement of Charlemagne, it is seen that the miniature appears in two forms. First, there is the truly conventional miniature following the Byzantine model, the subjects being generally the portraits of the Evangelists, or portraits of the emperors themselves: the figures stiff and formal; the pages brilliantly and often coarsely coloured and gilded, generally set in architectural surroundings of a fixed type, and devoid of landscape in the real sense of the word. On the other hand, there is also the miniature in which there is an attempt at illustration, as, for example, the depicting of scenes from Bible history. Here there is more freedom; and we trace the debased classical style which copies Roman, as distinguished from Byzantine, models. The figure-drawing is sufficiently clumsy, but the type is Roman, or debased Roman, and the costumes are clearly derived from the same source. Here, too, there is a better attempt at landscape, which is not of the absolutely conventional deadness of the Carolingian-Byzantine type. But this second style of illustrative miniature appears only occasionally. The other was the characteristic miniature of the Carolingian school, and, accompanied as it was with profuse decoration in border and initial, it set the pattern for the later Continental schools of the West.
The influence which the Carolingian school exercised on the miniatures of the southern Anglo-Saxon artists shows itself in the extended use of body-colour and in the more elaborate employment of gold in the decoration. Such a MS. as the Benedictional of Aethelwold, bishop of Winchester, 963 to 984, with its series of miniatures drawn in the native style but painted in opaque pigments, exhibits the influence of the foreign art. But the actual drawing remained essentially national, marked by its own treatment of the human figure and by the peculiar disposition of the drapery with fluttering folds. Its fault was over-refinement, tending to an affected exaggeration and disproportion of the limbs. With the Norman Conquest this remarkable native school passed away.
The period immediately succeeding the Carolingian school in western Europe was one of extreme decadence in the miniatures of MSS. In the 10th and 11th centuries they were mere lifeless copies of earlier types. But with the awakening of art in the 12th century the decoration of MSS. received a powerful impulse. Although the artist of the time excels in the border and the initial, still in the miniature also there is vigorous drawing, with bold sweeping lines and careful study of the draperies. The artist now grows more practised in figure-drawing, and while there is still the tendency to repeat the same subjects in the same conventional manner, individual effort
