Victorian sculpture is less well-served by the scholarship than Victorian painting, and biblical sculpture ignored comparative to pieces inspired by Greco-Roman mythology. Rather than treat these as two separate strands, or, alternatively, assume that statues of Old Testament figures such as Eve and Rebecca were interchangeable with those of Venus and Psyche, this chapter thinks harder about how they relate. Looking first at free-standing sculpture, then at religious works in the private house, and finally at sculpture in the church, it hones in on affect to determine how the classical and biblical and the interactions and discrepancies between the two spoke to nineteenth-century British society, gender, belief and so on. As well as revisiting artists such as Thomas Woolner and John Gibson, it puts an emphasis too on women sculptors such as Emmeline Halse and on female representation, patronage and response to show that sculpture was as important in sermon-making as pictures.

Chapter 5 brings to the fore Manasses’ activities as a teacher in Constantinople and focuses on the so-called Astrological poem, the Origins of Oppian and five grammar exercises, known as schede, attributed to Manasses. Dedicated to Sebastokratorissa Eirene, the Astrological poem offers a basic introduction to the workings of the stars and planets along with the zodiac. While the Astrological poem may seem to teach rather untraditional knowledge, the Origins of Oppian and the schede express the very basis of Byzantine education: grammar, Christianity and the ancient heritage. The Origins of Oppian at the same time contains references to Manasses’ own situation as a writer on commission, offering yet another important connection between patronage and education. The schede are all on Christian topics, drawing attention to the significance of hagiographical and biblical texts as a complement to the ancient heritage, and for comparative reasons the Sketches of the mouse is brought into the discussion.

Chapter 7, the concluding chapter, discusses the literary production of Manasses in light of the observations made in the close readings throughout the monograph. Returning to the theoretical considerations of the functions of occasional literature, special attention is here devoted to certain aspects of Manasses’ production: the recycling of Graeco-Roman and biblical material and his own verses within and across genres. The economy of reusing motifs, words, expressions and verses is considered from the perspective of occasional literature written on commission or in the hope of achieving commissions, but also from an aesthetic viewpoint. The ways in which Manasses comments upon his own situation as a writer and inscribes his own authorship into his texts are seen as the conscious creation of an individual voice, but also as a reflection of the Komnenian trend towards poetic self-assertiveness.