[39] In early times and indeed throughout the whole mediaeval period very few objects of any kind were placed upon the High Altar even in the most magnificently furnished churches. In addition to the chalice and paten, and the _Textus_, the only ornaments usually allowed were a small crucifix and two candlesticks. The modern system of crowding the _mensa_ of the altar with many candles and flowers did not come in till after the Reformation. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the _Pax_ was usually a separate thing, of more convenient size and weight than the heavy, gold-covered _Textus_. [40] Fine coloured plates of this wonderful _Textus_-cover were published in 1888 by the Society of Antiquaries in their _Vetusta Monumenta_. [41] Published in 1844 by the Surtees Society of Durham. [42] The "Gospeller" was the officiating Deacon; the Sub-deacon being called the "Epistoller." [43] The remarkable artistic advance which was made by Giotto is to be seen not only in his improved and more realistic drawing, but also in his freedom from the long-established abuse of green in his flesh painting, for which he substituted a warmer and healthier tint. [44] Of the original mosaics on the west façade of Saint Mark's only one remains of the original highly decorative twelfth century mosaics. The rest, shown in Gentile Bellini's picture of Saint Mark's, have all been replaced by later mosaics. Inside the church, happily, the old mosaics still, in most places, exist; see p. 61. [45] See page 202 for an account of Giulio Clovio. [46] Mr M. R. James has pointed out to me an interesting example of similar designs being used by illuminators of manuscripts and by mosaic-workers. The designs of the miniatures in a fifth or sixth century manuscript of _Genesis_ in the British Museum (_Otho_, B, vi) are in many cases identical with those of the twelfth and thirteenth century mosaics in Saint Mark's at Venice; see Tikkanen, _Genesisbilder_, Berlin. [47] Alcuin, when Dean of York, was sent by Offa, king of Mercia, about 782, as an envoy to Charles the Great. A large number of manuscripts were written under his guidance and influence, not only in Tours, but also at Soissons, Metz, Fulda, and in other Benedictine monasteries. [48] It is priced in Mr Quaritch's catalogue of 1890 at £2500. This manuscript was probably written at Tours in the school of Alcuin of York; see Wattenbach, _Die mit Gold auf Purpur geschriebenen Evangelienhandschriften der Hamilton'schen Bibliothek_, Berlin, 1889. [49] See for example the beautiful patterns of the woven hangings behind the enthroned figure of Christ shown on fig. 12; cf. also page 84. [50] Theophilus, _Schedula diversarum Artium_, I. 34; this work is frequently quoted in Chapter XV.