The Saint Matthew and Ezra Prototype?         The author portrait of Saint Matthew, from the Lindisfarne Gospels and the portrait of Ezra from the Codex Amiatinus can be easily compared since both are of similar nature. They can be compared for similarity and differences in the elements of frame, background, position and composition of the central figure, rendering of drapery, perspective and dimension, the use of line and pattern and the suggestion of space and environment. …showed first 75 words of 1867 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1867 total…composition of the central figure, perspective and dimension, and the use of line and pattern all strongly support this thesis. In these elements and, to a lesser degree, frame and the rendering of drapery, are so similar as to defy any other explanation. These individual elements, by themselves, may be passed off as coincidence. However, taken together, they provide ample evidence that these two portraits have their roots and are deviations of an original prototype.