Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/87

Rh curious, being partly of the Monastic and partly of the Priestly character; it is, indeed, difficult to determine whether the outer robe partakes most of the fashion of a cloak or of a cope, whilst underneath are visible the ends of a stole, and something like an alb, divided up the centre so as to display a red robe beneath. The dark train-like appurtenance is a little obscure, blending, as it does, into the ground below. The whole painting has been produced with the aid of three colours only, Venetian red, neutral tint, and reddish brown, employed in a very effective manner. The background is powdered or diapered with red stars, in the disposition of which the artist took particular pains, as he had twice or thrice partially erased his work by passing a white tint over the stars, and had then put them in afresh in a slightly different position. I believe, however, that they were stamped or stenciled on the plaster in the same manner as borders, flowers, &c., are now executed on ceilings, and in mural decorations in Italy, so that he could afford to be prodigal of his use of them. The date of the aisle in which this painting is displayed is about 1320. Though the execution of the design is somewhat coarsely and carelessly executed, it is effective, and I regret that much of its force is lost in reducing it to so small a scale. The head given in the larger drawing is a fac-simile of the original."

The representation of the animal at the feet of the Saint is mutilated, and it is difficult to determine with certainty what it may have been the intention of the painter to portray; it has been suggested, however, that the figure may represent St. Anthony, accompanied by his usual symbol of the pig. The other customary accessories, described by Dr. Husenbeth in his useful "Emblems of Saints," are here wanting; and the book carried in the hand is more commonly the emblem of an Evangelist, as Mr. Trollope has observed, whilst in representations of St. Anthony a book occurs suspended with his bell on his Tau staff, or attached to his girdle.

By Mr. .—An engraving by Bartoli, representing the Rape of the nymph Theophane by Neptune, from an antique sculpture in rilievo, and illustrative of the ivory acerra in the British Museum, found at Mayence, as described by Mr. Yates at the previous meeting (See p. 53, ante). The attitude is slightly varied, sufficiently to shew that the subject on that interesting relic is not an imitation of the sculpture given by Bartoli. It is a subject of rare occurrence in antique works of art, and there is scarcely any allusion to the myth in ancient writers, with the exception of Hyginus, in whose fables the tale of Theophane is found.

By Mr. .—A small Merovingian coin of gold, lately found in a garden at Brockham, between Reigate and Dorking. It is a triens, or tiers de sol, struck at Metz, of the coinage of the French kings of the first race, and of considerable rarity. Another coin of the same type occurred, however, in the remarkable collection found in 1828 on a heath in the parish of Crondale, Hants, as related in this Journal (vol. ii. p. 199). On the obverse appears a head, with a fillet on the forehead, and the legend METTIS CIVETATI. Reverse,—a cross, the letters C and Λ over the transverse limbs, and the name of the moneyer,— ANSOALΔΛS MONET. The occurrence of the Greek Δ as a D in the name Ansoaldus may deserve notice; Gregory of Tours speaks of the use of Greek letters