Agria 43. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2007)

Palmer Matthew: Alexandriai Szent Katalin szobrának új datálása

and stockings.

28 As an emperor,

29 Maxentius would, however, have been more likely to have been represented wearing clothing fit for a person of his rank. A figure of a contemporary monarch, Louis I as seen on the title page of the Hungarian Picture Chronicle (Budapest, Országos Könyvtár, Cod. Lat. 404, fol.

Ír),

30 who wears a tunic with prominent buttons and stockings, albeit wearing a long ermine-lined mantel rather than a cape, would therefore have supplied a more likely model. It is undeniable, nevertheless, that the clothing in question had a long career, making the establishment of exact reference points difficult.

31 Any attempts at dating the Eger St Catherine would have to be left at that were it not for the recent discovery of another triple-clasped strap, that worn by the figure of Blanche of the Tower, daughter of Edward III of England (1327-1377) and Philippa of Hainault (d. 1369), who is depicted alongside her brother William of Windsor on a small alabaster effigy in the Chapel of St Edmund at Westminster Plate 5. Blanche of the Tower and William of Windsor (Chapel of St Edmund, Westminster Abbey). 28 It is interesting to note, that whereas the buttons worn by Maxentius are exaggerated, in the figure of St Catherine, with the exception of the strap and its clasps, all modes of fixture are left unshown. This is a feature shared by the Buda statues, where the buttons and the lacing are shown on the male figures only. 29 Maxentius, Roman Emperor (306-312), who according to legend threw Catherine, the lettered daughter of a king, into prison after fifty of the empire's finest minds had failed to outwit her on the topic of the worshipping of graven images, a practice that was rife at the time. After having refused Maxentius's consequent offer of marriage Catherine was beheaded, following an unsuccessful attempt to break her on a wheel during which the flying debris killed a large number of heathens. 30 PROKOPP Mária in LEGNER Anton (ed.) 1978 vol. 2. 461.; MAROSI Ernő in MAROSI Ernő (ed.) 1987. 484^89.; MAROSI Ernő 1995. 48-57. Prokopp suggests that the manuscript was originally commissioned to be a gift for Louis of Orleans on the occasion of his engagement to Catherine, daughter of Louis I in 1372. Although Marosi agrees that the manuscript was painted by artists active at the court of Louis I, he believes it was earlier on account of the style of the costumes worn. 31 KOVÁCS Éva in MAROSI Ernő (ed.) 1987. 239. 771