ABSTRACT
It need hardly be stressed that the illustration of the Bible in the middle ages was not the subject of personal invention, as is to a large extent the case today when a modern artist, such as Marc Chagall, undertakes to illustrate the Scriptures. 1 The purpose of this chapter will be to set forth the principles that govern the conventions of Bible illustrations as a background for the assessment of the place of the Stavelot Bible in the historical evolution. For despite the limitations placed on personal invention medieval Bible illustration was not fixed and unchanging: it has a history. Perhaps the best way to come to grips with the changing pattern of Biblical illustration is to consider the influence of two factorst: 1) the development of Biblical interpretation, that is the intellectual understanding of the sacred texts; 2) the evolution of artistic traditions against the general historical background. Seen in its broadest aspect the latter process may be viewed as the interaction of two trends, which may be termed aniconic and iconic. In Irish book illustration, as is well known, human figures were originally avoided: in the Book of 35Durrow the evangelists are not directly portrayed but are only shown by their symbols. With the growth of Mediterranean influence, however, figural imagery becomes more important, and narrative scenes and effigies (portraits) appear, as in the Book of Kells. The Stavelot Bible contains both figural and nonfigural initials. While the former will generally engage our interest, it is important to realize that the very concept of the initial was developed in milieux with leanings towards the aniconic.
