258 General Discussion of the Crosses 



1. SINGLE FIGURES OR GROUPS BELONGING 

 TO THE GOSPEL STORY 



A. John the Baptist with the Agnus Dei. 



On the north face of the Ruthwell Cross is a figure of John the 

 Baptist, 1 nimbed, wearing a long tunic and a mantle, and carrying 

 a lamb, also nimbed ; the similar figure on the Bewcastle Cross is 

 without a nimbus. 



Among the statues of the north porch of Chartres (before 1275) 

 is one of John the Baptist with a lamb completely aureoled.^ There 

 is a similar one belonging to the 13th century in the west porch of 

 the Cathedral of Rheims.^ 



The talaric tunic and the mantle are of assistance in determining 

 the date. According to Bulteau, they are not found on figures of 

 John the Baptist before the 10th century. 



The nimbus is not, according to Didron, uniformly given to saints 

 before the 11th century, and, beginning v\ith the 12th, becomes a 

 rude disk, instead of being ' fine and attenuate.' 



Dans les monuments duV° au X** siecle Saint Jean-Baptiste n'appa- 

 rait que convert d'un peau brute affectant la forme d'une tunique 

 courte, jetee negligemment sur les epaules. Depuis le X" siecle jusqu'au 

 XVI® Saint Jean est ton jours vetu de la tunique et du manteau selon le 

 costume dit apostolique^ 



The nimbus is not constantly figured around the head of saints, in 

 monuments belonging to a period earlier than the eleventh century. . . . 

 The nimbus, up to the twelfth century, was fine and attenuate. . . . 

 During the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, the nimbus 

 became more dense, narrower, and extending less beyond the head. . . . 

 It was nothing more thenceforth than a rude disk, a kind of plate or 

 sort of circular pillow painted or sculptured behind the head. It was 

 a thick wall, not transparent glass.^ 



Allen attributes to the 13th and 14th centuries a somewhat 

 similar figure of the Baptist. 



1 See p. 20; cf. p. 24. 



2 Bulteau, Monographic de la Cathedrale de Chartres 2. 182-3; Marriage, 

 The Sculptures of Chartres Cathedral, p. 166. 



3 Didron, Christian Iconography 1. 321-2. 

 « Bulteau 2. 183-4, note. 



5 Didron 1. 99-100. 

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