 Visual art combined new influences from continental monastic styles with development of earlier English features, and is often described as the "Winchester style" or "school" although this was only one of the centres involved. Although the foundation of new communities reduced in the early 11th century, art continued to flourish as the existing monasteries grew richer. The Benedictional of St. Æthelwold (Winchester, probably 970s, now British Library) is recognised as the most important of a group of surviving illuminated manuscripts, lavishly illustrated with extravagant acanthus leaf borders. According to the dedicatory poem, Æthelwold "commanded ... many frames well adorned and filled with various figures decorated with numerous beautiful colours and with gold", and he got what he asked for. It is described by Andrew Prescott as the "outstanding work of art to have survived from this period". According to Barbara Yorke, "The artistic workshops established at Æthelwold's foundations during his lifetime were to continue as influential schools of craftsmen after his death, and had a widespread influence both in England and on the Continent."
