ABSTRACT
A manuscript containing Augustine’s De civitate Dei/City of God (Ms. A. XXI) unfolds in a witty self-portrait of Hildebert, a pictorial parable about the notions of ars and opus. Augustine laid the groundwork for the idea that both artist and creativity are rooted in the creation of humans in God’s likeness, emphasized in the account of Genesis. Hildebert’s self-portrait within this text reveals a reflection on Augustine’s ideas about craftsmanship, and suggests reading the image as a contemplation of the relationship between human and divine artifex. The discussion of the Junius/Cædmon Manuscript illustrating the creation of the cosmos and the story of Adam and Eve elucidates the challenge of including the creation of the cosmos in pictorial cycles of the Genesis account.
