Abstract

The St. Albans Psalter is one of the most important manuscripts of English Romanesque art. The illumination consists of 44 full page cycles and 192 historiated initials for each Psalm and prayer. Every initial contains motifs based on the verse while Psalmist and Christ appear as main character. This paper focuses on the visulalization of tropes of the St. Albans Psalter initials. It analyses the method to turn similes, metaphors and metonymies into images in the St. Albans initials. The artisits or designer selected a few verses and made up compact motifs to fit for dialog scenes of Chritst and the Psalmist. We found that Psalmist often pointed motifs and related verse or caption to let readers follow designated way of identification. The St. Albans initials reveal that the Psalm illustration became designated for systematic reading after the 12th century