by the hands of King David, and the hands are rendered in the most characteristic way of

Style A. The visible hand has long fingers and they almost appear to be boneless. The

palm of the hand and the back of the hand are rendered in a similar way, making it

difficult to assess which side of the hand we are viewing.

 Style B is present at least in one of the initial letters of the Psalms (fol. CLXIV v)

(Fig. 3). In this example of Style B we find the initial "A" with the prophet Ezra holding

a scroll. The initial is placed on a framed panel and against a pale yellow background.

From the top of the initial there are highly ornamented cascading plants intertwined with

animals and human figures on a red-orange background--not vermilion. The interior of

the initial is decorated with dots, and not the curved pattern so characteristic of Style A.

The lower part of the initial is occupied by the figure of the prophet Ezra against a dark

green ground. The prophet's attire is a red-orange garment and the uncolored cuff is

decorated with dots, similar to those that appeared in the interior of the initial. The

prophet has brown hair and beard but they are not patterned, furthermore the hair has

stylish curls on the back and there are strands of hair on the beard out of their proper

order. The hands of the figure are smaller in comparison with those of Style A. There is a

sense of sadness and resignation as the prophet points at himself. The style of calligraphy

of the Spanish section is different from the Italian section. The script appears to be

written in an Early Gothic style. The letters are more uniformly written, and they are also

more angular since the space between the letters and the words has been reduced for the

sake of speed and space."


17 Drogin, M., M~edieval Callygraphy, 1980, p. 53.