Mont-Saint-Michel Sacramentary

In the eleventh century, manuscript production at the French island abbey Mont-Saint-Michel reached its pinnacle, as the scriptorium pioneered the Romanesque style. As a pilgrimage site between England and the Continent, the abbey absorbed influences from both. This Sacramentary, which contains texts read by the celebrant during High Mass, is the most lavishly illuminated surviving manuscript from the abbey. The Ascension is executed in a graphic style characteristic of early Romanesque Norman illumination, with figures more drawn than painted. Busy drapery and foliage, an emphasis on the play of jagged lines, and a distinctive palette of light green, soft pinks, and pale purples betray the Anglo-Saxon influence.