In the manuscripts of the twelfth century, the influence of the Crusades made itself already felt. At this period, the East regenerated in some sort the West in all that concerned arts, sciences, and literature. Many examples witness that the painting of manuscripts was not the last to undergo this singular transformation. Everything the imagination could invent of the most fantastic was particularly brought into play to give to the Latin letters a peculiar character—imitated, moreover, from the ornaments of Saracenic architecture. This practice was even applied to public acts and documents, as Fig. 360 proves; it represents some of the initial letters in the “Rouleau Mortuaire” of St. Vital. Callot, in his “Temptation of St. Anthony,” has, we think, imagined nothing stranger than the figure we give; a demon standing on the back of Cerberus forms the vertical line in the letter T; while two other demons, whose feet are in the mouth of the first, form the two lateral branches of the letter.
Fig. 359.—Border taken from the Sacramentary of Æthelgar. (Rouen Library.)
In the thirteenth century, Saracenic or Gothic art universally prevailed. Everywhere figures assumed gaunt, elongated forms; coats-of-arms invaded the miniatures; but the colouring was of marvellous purity and brightness; burnished gold, applied with the greatest skill, stood out from blue or purple backgrounds which even in our own day have lost nothing of their original freshness.
Fig. 360.—Initial Letters extracted from the “Rouleau Mortuaire” of St. Vital, Twelfth Century.
(Imperial Archives of France.)
Among the most remarkable manuscripts of this century we must mention a Psalter in five colours, containing the French, Hebrew, and Roman versions, with some commentaries (Imperial Library, No. 1,132 bis). One should analyse the greater number of subjects depicted in this manuscript to understand all their importance; we will mention only that among them are sieges of towns, Gothic fortresses, interiors of Italian banking-houses, various musical instruments, &c. There is, perhaps, no other manuscript which equals this in the richness, the beauty, and multiplicity of its paintings: it contains ninety-nine large miniatures, independently of ninety-six
