264 General Discussion of the Crosses 



at St. Lazare d'Autun.^ That at St. Benoit-sur-Loire is found in 

 the third row of the narthex, and is the third from the left, as one 

 faces the west front. It dates from about 1170, according to Marignan 

 (see p. 49, note 3), who thus describes it : ' The Virgin is seated on a 

 horse, and holds the child Jesus, whose feet rest on a footstool, and 

 whose head is surrounded by a cruciform nimbus. It is no longer 

 the representation of the child placed in his mother's lap ; he is turned 

 toward the left, and stands erect, extending his little hand toward 

 Mary's right [really placing it, with two fingers in the act of blessing, 

 and with palm opened outward, against her right shoulder], a gesture 

 which only appears in the second half of the 12th century.' ^ The 

 local guide-book,^ which is sometimes incorrect, interprets the ani- 

 mal as an ass, and adds that Joseph holds the reins with one hand 

 (the left), and has a stick in the other. 



On one of the storied capitals of the left doorway of the west front 

 of Chartres Cathedral* there is a Flight into Egypt which considerably 

 resembles that at RuthweU, so far as the position of the Virgin and 

 the Child is concerned. 



These are the nearest analogues I have been able to find to the 

 representation of the same subject on the Ruthwell Cross. There, 

 too, the Virgin faces outward ; there, too, she is without a nimbus, 

 while the child has one ; and there, too, Joseph must have been ori- 

 ginally figured, as is shown by the inscription, MARIA ET 10. 

 The evidence, therefore, points to the 12th century for this panel, 

 and to the second half of the century rather than the first. 



D. The Anointing of Christ's Feet.^ 



The earliest representation of this subject, according to Rohault 

 de Fleury,^ is in a manuscript of the 9th century, and the next in 



^ Michel, Hist, de VArt 1^. 643. The tympanum dates from about 1132 

 (Angles, p. 38). 



2 Revue de VArt Chretien 45 (1902). 297. 



^ Guide a Saint- Bendit-sur- Loire (Orleans, Imprimerie Paul Girardot, 

 1886). Here we are also told {Guide du Pelerin, p. 15) ; ' En face [to the 

 right], le roi Herode, ou plutot un de ses satelhtes, tenant un glaive nu a 

 la main droite et une hallebarde sur I'epaule gauche, cherche I'enfant Jesus 

 pour le faire mourir ; et derriere ce groupe, I'archange Saint Michel terrasse 

 le dragon infernal.' The group is figured (though not with perfect accuracy) 

 in Caumont, Abecedaire d' Archeologie 1. 175 ; cf. Bull. Mon. 22 (1856). 117. 



* Marriage, Sculpt, of Chartres Cath., p. 48 ; Bulteau 2. 43-44. For that 

 at Amiens, see Ruskin, Works 33. 168 (plate). 



5 See p. 17. 8 UEvangile 2. 122. 



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