Among noteworthy illuminated manuscripts
of the Septuagint is the ill-fated Cotton Genesis dating from the fifth or sixth
century. Although only charred fragments of this manuscript survived the
disastrous fire in the Cotton Library in 1751, these are sufficient to indicate
the superior abilities of the artist who painted the 330 or so miniatures originally
contained in the manuscript. Slightly later in date than the Cotton Genesis,
the miniatures in the Vienna Genesis preserve that mode of the classical style
which relates to impressionism. The illustrator also enriched the extensive
Joseph cycle of miniatures with extraneous elements drawn from Jewish legends.
(see Plate 20). In the case of the Psalms, instead of cycles illustrating
continuous narrative, the imagination of the artist moved from one kind of
scene to another . . . (Bruce M. Metzger,
Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography [New
York: Oxford University Press, 1981], 45)
The Vienna Genesis is a handsome
illuminated purple parchment manuscript of the v/vi century . . . (Ibid., 92)
Plate 20 = Genesis 39:9-18. Rahlfs L (Vienna Genesis) (p. 93)
Further Reading:
Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons