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Christ with Saint Dunstan
From Saint Dunstan’s Classbook
England, probably Glastonbury; ca. 950
Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Auct. F. 4.32
Few medieval drawings have known the acclaim and devotion of this work, long believed to have been executed and signed by the Anglo-Saxon saint Dunstan (909–988), whose interest in correcting and adorning books was celebrated by medieval biographers. An inscription identifies the little monk who kneels humbly at the feet of Christ as Dunstan himself. While scholars question whether Dunstan was in fact responsible for the whole drawing, it seems likely that he was involved at the very least in its commissioning.