exaggerated his importance by likening his image to that of an evan-
gelist writing his gospel and by including an inscription within the
inner frame that identifies him and proclaims himself a “prince
among scribes.” He declares that, due to the excellence of his work,
his fame will endure forever and that he can offer his book as an ac-
ceptable gift to God. Eadwine, like other Romanesque sculptors and
painters who signed their works, may have been concerned for his
fame, but these artists, whether monks or laity, were not yet aware of
the concepts of fine art and fine artist. To them, their work existed
not for its own sake but for God’s. Nonetheless, works such as this
one are an early sign of a new attitude toward the role of the artist in
society that presages the emergence of the notion of individual artis-
tic genius in the Renaissance.458 Chapter 17 ROMANESQUE EUROPE17-37Eadwine the Scribe,Eadwine the Scribe at work, folio 283
verso of the Eadwine Psalter,ca. 1160–1170. Ink and tempera on vellum.
Trinity College, Cambridge.
Although he humbly offered his book as a gift to God, the English monk
Eadwine added an inscription to his portrait declaring himself a “prince
among scribes” whose fame would endure forever.Hugo is one of the small but growing number of Romanesque artists
who signed their works or whose names were recorded. In the 12th
century, artists, illuminators as well as sculptors, increasingly began to
identify themselves. Although most medieval artists remained anony-
mous, the contrast of the Romanesque period with the early Middle
Ages is striking. Hugo seems to have been a secular artist, one of the
emerging class of professional artists and artisans who depended for
their livelihood on commissions from well-endowed monasteries.
These artists resided in towns rather than within secluded abbey
walls, and they traveled frequently to find work. They were the ex-
ception, however, and the typical Romanesque scribes and illumina-
tors continued to be monks and nuns working anonymously in the
service of God. The Benedictine Rule, for example, specified that
“artisans in the monastery ...are to practice their craft with all hu-
mility, but only with the abbot’s permission.”^6
One page (FIG. 17-36) of the Bury Bible shows two scenes from
Deuteronomy framed by symmetrical leaf motifs in softly glowing
harmonized colors. The upper register depicts Moses and Aaron pro-
claiming the Law to the Israelites. Master Hugo represented Moses
with horns, consistent with Saint Jerome’s translation of the Hebrew
word that also means “rays” (compare Michelangelo’s similar concep-
tion of the Hebrew prophet,FIG. 22-15). The lower panel portrays
Moses pointing out the clean and unclean beasts. The slow, gentle
gestures convey quiet dignity. The figures of Moses and Aaron seem
to glide. This presentation is quite different from the abrupt empha-
sis and spastic movement seen in earlier Romanesque paintings. The
movements of the figures appear more integrated and smooth. Yet
patterning remains in the multiple divisions of the draped limbs, the
lightly shaded volumes connected with sinuous lines and ladderlike
folds. Hugo still thought of the drapery and body as somehow the
same. The frame has a quite definite limiting function, and the
painter carefully fit the figures within it.
EADWINE PSALTER The Eadwine Psalter is the masterpiece
of an English monk known as Eadwine the Scribe.It contains 166
illustrations, many of which are variations of those in the Carolin-
gian Utrecht Psalter (FIG. 16-15). The last page (FIG. 17-37), how-
ever, presents a rare picture of a Romanesque artist at work. The
style of the Eadwine portrait resembles that of the Bury Bible,but
although the patterning is still firm (notably in the cowl and the
thigh), the drapery falls more softly and follows the movements of
the body beneath it. Here, the abstract patterning of many Roman-
esque painted and sculpted garments yielded slightly, but clearly, to
the requirements of more naturalistic representation. The Roman-
esque artist’s instinct for decorating the surface remained, as is ap-
parent in the gown’s whorls and spirals. Significantly, however, the
artist painted in those interior lines very lightly so that they would
not conflict with the functional lines that contain them.
The “portrait” of Eadwine—it is probably a generic type and not
a specific likeness—is in the long tradition of author portraits in an-
cient and medieval manuscripts (FIGS. 16-7, 16-13, 16-14,and 17-22),
although the true author of the Eadwine Psalter is King David. Eadwine
1 in.