Book Of Kells Research Paper

The inscriptions of Bible verses in Low German in Christ Blessing, Surrounded by a Donor Family are also indicative of the influence on Protestant beliefs on the painting. Prior to the Reformation, the Bible (like all Catholic liturgy) was always read in Latin. However, Latin was a language that was only comprehensible to the clergy and to a small class of very well educated and wealthy individuals. The vast majority of Europeans did not comprehend Latin and, therefore, they had to rely on the clergy to interpret the Bible’s teachings. Moreover, prior to the invention of the printing press Bibles, like all other books, had to be copied by hand. Since this was a time consuming and expensive process, Bibles were not widely dispersed. At the start of the Reformation, Gutenberg designed the printing press. The revolutionary invention of the printing press enabled the mass production of books and a reduction in their cost, which allowed a much larger audience to own Bibles.5 Furthermore, the translation of the Bible into the vernacular allowed a much wider audience to read and interpret it for themselves.6 The wide dissemination of relatively inexpensive Bibles in the vernacular served as a powerful catalyst for the spread of Protestantism. The inscriptions on the painting are indicative of the Protestant desire to disseminate the Bible broadly. Moreover, they derive from a copy of Johannes Bugenhagen’s translation of the bible

Beginning with the conversion of the Irish Celts around the fifth century, Christianity began to spread across the British Isles. Around 630, an envoy of monks was sent from a monastery on the Scottish Isle of Iona to a small Northumbrian island (only about 4 square kilometers at high tide) situated in the North Sea of the Atlantic. An Irish monk, Saint Aidan, established a monastery on that small spit of land that would come to be called Lindisfarne, or simply Holy Island. Together with the monastery at Iona, Lindisfarne became an integral part of artistic creation in early medieval northern Europe (Kleiner 288), and from it’s workshop would emerge a new style of artwork that wove elements of pre-existing artistic styles of the British Isles, such as those of the Celts and the Anglo-Saxons, with unfamiliar Christian imagery imported from Near East to create the Hiberno-Saxon, or Insular style. This style would be employed by the monks at Lindisfarne to create one of the most splendid texts of early medieval Brittania, the eponymous Lindisfarne Gospels. A wondrous illuminated manuscript worthy of its acclaim, these Gospels are a quintessential example of Hiberno-Saxon style, and its pages and iconography we can glean a look at the historical context of the book, as well as the

The Bronze Doors of Bishop Bernward is considered a sacred art because the architectural piece contains stories from the bible, but left side of door contains the Old Testament while the right side contains the New Testament. The purpose of artists organizing the biblical stories this way is to demonstrate an idea about Christianity where the followers of God must acknowledged and always applied to their daily lives. According to Penelope J.E Davies’s Janson’s History of Art, “When read as horizontal pairs, the panels deliver a message of the origin and redemption of sin through the system of typology” (Davies et al.339). The text exemplifies the subject matter of the Doors of Bishop Bernward where people are informed about atonement for their

It is unknown if these last twenty-four pages were written by the same hand (as the bulk of the manuscript was written in) or if it was written by another scribe. When Roys translated the manuscript, he wrote, "I do not feel competent to comment on the handwriting."

This manuscript is believed to have been produced in the 8th century, and was a “sacred work of art” placed on the high altar during special ceremonies (Brown 7). It follows the traditional Gospel book arrangement, as each Gospel is introduced by symbols representing the four Evangelists, a portrait of the corresponding Evangelist, and a decorative opening page (Brown 83). Symbols play a vital role throughout the book – most prominently “the Man for Matthew, the Lion for Mark, the Calf for Luke and the Eagle for John” (Brown 84), all which are shown as winged creatures. Recognized in the Book of Ezekiel as the four beings that guard God’s throne, the four evangelists are typically depicted in this manner to convey the theme of their Gospels (Saunders). Matthew’s Gospel focuses on Christ’s birth, and hence his depiction as a man reminds us of Christ’s humanity (Saunders). Lions are often associated with royalty and courage, and therefore Mark’s lion appearance represents Christ as such (Saunders). Luke as the ox relates to his Gospel’s theme of sacrifice – suggesting the ceremonial sacrifice of oxen as well as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to gain salvation (Saunders). Finally, John’s Gospel focuses on Christ’s death and resurrection, with the soaring eagle symbolizing Christ’s miraculous “rise” from the dead (Saunders). It is also notable that animals like fish, snakes, and birds appear recurrently to add life to the text (Brown 90). The book also features pages filled entirely with illustration to highlight important events such as Christ’s birth, crucifixion, temptation and resurrection (Brown 90). In fact, the Chi-Rho page in Matthew’s gospel is often referred to as the “single most famous page in medieval art” (The Book of Kells). Here, we see the Greek letters X and P intertwined to symbolize the

A medieval minister takes up a plume pen, designed from a goose quill, and plunges it into a rich, dark ink produced using ash. Situated on a wooden seat in the scriptorium of Lindisfarne, an island off the shore of Northumberland in England, he gazes hard at the words from a composition made in Italy. This book is his model, a bound book, produced using sheets of paper or material, the codex, from which he is to duplicate the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. For about the following six years, he will duplicate this Latin.

After nearly two centuries completely lacking in images, early Christians finally developed a pictorial language to express their faith. The conventions developed early on would come to define the middle ages, an entire era of almost exclusively Christian images. Early Christians adopted classical conventions for their art, which would serve an opposing purpose for outsiders and initiates. For outsiders, the symbols meant no harm. But to followers of the faith, the images are loaded with meaning. The meaning inherent in the history of the symbol, when combined with a biblical context, creates a full and multi-faceted iconographic tradition. The purpose of this paper is to explore the roots of the recurring subjects and symbols evident in the funerary paintings in Catacombs of Domitilla in Rome.

The hazy landscape in the image depicting the martyrdom of St. Ursula (Fol. 17v), for example, displays an attention to detail and accuracy through its aerial perspective, enforced by colours, particularly blue, all of which are of a lush hue, significantly improving the images’ believability through its distribution, accommodating the perspective by increasing the perception of depth. The landscape in the background adds layers of dimension to the profundity of the field of view in which the scene takes place, and this is due to the use of lighter colours towards the front, particularly on the martyrs and their persecutors, and darker hues that only become darker in the background, striking a contrast between the main figures and their surroundings. The miniature of St. Nicholas (Fol. 14v.) is just one example of the use of linear perspective in this prayer book. The tiles upon which St. Nicholas stands provide lines with which the direction of the vanishing point is indicated. The interior of the building contains what looks like a column, and this, coupled with the strong vertical of the building itself, further emphasises the rectilinearity of the whole composition.

Metzger further explains that there are many different kinds of manuscripts and they can vary from what they are written on to the languages they were written in. The earliest of the manuscripts were written on papyrus. This is important because of the papyrus being an older type of parchment, and helps to show the age. The later manuscripts were written on parchment made from the skin of a variety of animals. Some of the

As I turn the pages through The Book of Kells I am amazed at the effort it clearly took to produce such a collection of historic record active human creativity. The era of the Middle Ages is often displayed as a stagnant without any progressive in human history. People in the so called dark ages were not stagnate or regressing. The book of Kells is proof of having thinkers, and innovations of this time with the idea to save and document the scripture. Inside are a collection of thoughtful illustrations. Not only does the recoding of a religious text itself show the era is mislabeled, but the decorations of design and daily life so that life was actively developing.

An Augustinian Monk named Hugh wrote in 1133 CE that, “The World can be likened to books written by the hand of the Lord” (Johnson). To the modern scholar, this level of religiosity and fervor may be difficult to grasp, but faith dominated and controlled European society in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. The Christian dictated the content of art and literature in this era. Written works of faith, such as Gospels, Codices, Bibles, and Books of Hours, were vital in promoting Christian devotional practices and theological education. Two illuminated illustrations from this era – the Virgin and Child from Book of Kells and St. Anthony of Egypt from a Book of Hours —capture this religious influence. Both illustrations contain elaborate decoration, but differences in their scale, iconographical representation, and illumination express differences in the two books’ intended functions.

In order to provide a larger basis for the education of Celtic art history, the page of the chi-rho-iota from the Book of Kells should be put on display. The Book of Kells is a religious gospel that was created in Ireland or Scotland in the year 800 C.E. containing the four biblical accounts of Christ’s life. The Book of Kells is significant to the depiction of Celtic art by the historical relevance of its subject matter and adaptation of Christianity in Celtic culture.

The Synoptic Problem of the Gospels is encountered in devising a scheme of literary dependence to account for the combinations of similarities and dissimilarities. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are being referred to as "synoptic gospels" because the three are so similar in structure, content and wording that they can easily be set side by side to provide a synoptic comparison. However, the Gospel of John has a different arrangement and offers a unique perspective on Christ. The striking similarities of the first three Gospels prompt questions regarding the actual literary relationship that exists between them. This question, called synoptic problem, has been elaborately studied in modern times.

The Book of Kells (sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript in Latin, compromising four Gospels of the New Testament together with various texts and imageries. The manuscript was born in a Columban monastery of which the exact location was speculated in either Britain or Ireland, or contributions from Columban institutions from both countries. It is said that the manuscript was created c. 800. The text of the four Gospels is based from the Latin translation of the Bible (Vulgate), yet also includes passages from the version before the Vulgate (Vetus Latina). Western calligraphy in the Book of Kells represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination, and regarded as Ireland’s finest national

A copy of John dated to the late second or early third century (designated P66) also exhibits spacing, dots, and other reading aids. Many of these sense unit markings in P66 correspond in the same locations as the gospel of John in P75 revealing that there were conventions in the use of these reading aids.