women, and it is not unlikely that these exquisite works came from this
royal school of art. It may be pointed out that one of the designs on
the Durham embroideries is the Right Hand of God. Now this same
device also appears on the Wessex coinage of Edward the Elder, and on
the sculptured Rood of Romsey Abbey, which probably filled the central
space on the west front of the church with figures of the Virgin and St
John on either hand of the Crucified Figure, above which the Hand
appears. A similar group, much defaced, may still be seen on the
west front of the little church at Hedbourne Worthy, close to
Winchester.
Anglo-Celtic art has been very much neglected, but in Great Britain and Ireland we have an enormous number of sculptured monuments which certainly have high interest for the history of art in Europe during the dark ages. It may seem an extravagant claim, but if the productions of the Anglian school are recognised, it will appear to be, at its Northumbrian centre especially, the first Teutonic school of Christian art. This is allowed for literature; poems like Caedmon's were not written in Gaul, but it has hardly even been suggested for sculpture, metalwork, and other crafts. It is agreed that the later school formed by Charlemagne became the centre for west European culture; yet, after all, Charlemagne gathered up the Northumbrian traditions, and Alcuin was but a follower of Wilfrid and Ceolfrid.
The Irish crosses are less competent in execution than the finest of the Anglian works, and the same is true of other forms of Irish art. The large number and the good preservation of the Irish crosses, however, give them considerable importance. On them we find sculptures which carry on the early Christian tradition in a very remarkable way. The designs must, for the most part, have been copied from quite early painted books of Eastern origin, and from ivories and other small works. The subjects are of the Crucifixion, and of Christ the Judge, with many scenes from the life and miracles of Christ, together with "types" from the Old Testament. Favourite types of Christ are the offering of Isaac, and David protecting the sheep by slaying the lion. Over the Crucifixion of a cross at Monasterboice is Moses with his uplifted arms supported by two companions. The life of David as a type of Christ is given in several scenes on some of the crosses. Another subject which occurs very frequently is the meeting of SS. Anthony and Paul in the desert. The ideals were clearly monastic, and those who had the crosses set up looked reverently back to the hermits of the Egyptian desert.
Much in Carolingian Romanesque art was directly derived from the Roman monuments; indeed, it must have been thought by Charlemagne and his Court that Roman architecture was being continued just as the Empire was being resumed. Romanesque, we may say, is "Holy Roman architecture." A letter of Einhard's exists, which was sent together with an ivory model of a column shaped according to the rules
