Image
© Hildesheim, St Godehard |
| Psalm: |
105 |
| Iconography: |
The
initial, unlike all the others, is painted on a separate piece of
parchment, pasted in over a totally blank space, by an artist who
does not work elsewhere in the psalter. The tag, an hexameter and
unlike all the other titles, is not extracted from the psalm itself.
Spare your monks I beseech you, o merciful kindness of Jesus.
Christ stands in the blue heavenly part of the initial reaching out
to touch a nun, presumably Christina. She, and four monks, stand in
the green terrestrial zone, but through her intercession she is able
to reach Christ himself. One monk rests his hand on her shoulder and
reaches towards Christ with a similar gesture to Christina. The delicate
tenderness of this composition is echoed more stridently, with the
same message, in the Harrowing of Hell (p49).
Here Christ reaches out to grasp Adam's outstretched right hand while
his left arm is bent at the elbow. Behind him, Eve touches his bending
arm and reaches forwards with her other hand, like the monk behind
Christina. In each case, extra figures crowd behind the main characters,begging
for deliverance.
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| Art: |
Compared
to the robust and energetic style of Artist 1, this image is drawn
and painted with a nervous sensitivity. The nose profiles have a characteristic
kink at the bridge and are turned up at the tip. The facial shading
is delicate and subtle. Instead of the jaunty striped costumes, these
clothes fall in softer folds and shimmer with delicate white highlights.The
patch makes an almost seamless join with the page. To achieve this,
the edges of the patch have been tapered and rubbed down. The page
parchment immediately adjacent to the patch is scraped very thin (
a detail visible with backlight). This scraping and polishing resulted
in the letters iustitiam in omne below the picture becoming
abraded, and they have been lightly re-inked. Unlike all the other
tags, this one is written on ruled lines. The initial was painted
and dried outside the psalter but the tag, by scribe 1, was only added
after the picture was glued in. The mordant green ink of parce, quaeso
and clementia has seeped through two layers of parchment onto p286,
while Christina's green robe and background have not.It is useful
to compare the seepage of wet paint on p289,
and the seepage of green ink for instance on
p148.
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| Thread
stitch: |
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| Historical
Relevance: |
This
illustration can be interpreted on four levels.Keeping resolutely
neutral, it shows a woman leading some monks to Christ (Haney, 2002,572).
However, given the historical context, it is likely that she is Christina.
She may be simply interceding for the monks of St Albans, as indicated
by the rubric. After her first meeting with Geoffrey, 'all he asked
for was her intercession with God' (Talbot, 1998, 139). She was considered
an intercessor on a par with St Alban himself. 'As our blessed patron
St Alban had her from the Lord as co-operator in building up and furthering
his community on earth, so he had her afterwards as sharer of his
eternal bliss in heaven ' (Talbot, 1998,127). Or, she is introducing
several monks to the monastic life: 'there were in our community certain
souls whom she cherished more than those of other monasteries, some
of whom owed their monastic vocation to her'. (Talbot, 1998, 127).
Or lastly, it is more personal. Geoffrey is using her as a bridge
to Christ. He prayed to Christina and she prayed to Christ (GA 1,
104). In a vision Geoffrey 'gave her a sign with his eyes and head,
he humbly begged her to introduce him to the persons standing at her
side in the divine presence' (Talbot, 1998, 157)
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| Quire: |
16
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