Art I Love: the Book of Kells
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006
As far as I’m concerned, the Book of Kells is one of the finest pieces of artwork in the world and quite possibly the pinnacle of medieval artistic achievement. (The “Dark Ages”? I think not.) Sure, I’m biased–I’m a medieval studies major, after all. But any way you look at it, it is a phenomenal artwork.
It dates from about AD 800 and was created by monks in Ireland. It contains all four gospels in Latin (it was still several hundred years before people would begin trying to translate Scriptures into the local languages), as well as some commentary. Although it is called the Book of Kells, it was probably created (or at least begun) at another monastery (probably at Iona) and moved to the Abbey of Kells to protect from the wave of Viking invasions that swept Ireland in the early Middle Ages. It is now on permanent display at Trinity College in Dublin, where they turn a new page of it every day.
Not all of the pages are as lavishly illuminated as the one I’ve posted here, which features the Chi Ro symbol (this page is from near the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew), although I am pretty sure there are no pages entirely without decoration. (Not all of the decoration has been completed, though–the manuscript was never completed.) The Book of Kells contains ten full-page decorations, including portraits of each of the four evangelists and a portrait of the Virgin and Child. Unlike many medieval manuscripts, the Book of Kells and many other Irish manuscripts contain no “true” illumination with gold leaf, but they do feature a wide range of pigments, many of them rare and expensive.
Irish manuscript illumination is unique and easily distinguishable from that of mainland Europe because of the heavy Celtic influence that can be seen in the imagery. When the missionaries (St. Patrick and others) came to convert Ireland, they made a great effort to incorporate and “Christianize” as much of the existing culture as possible. This is part of the reason the conversion of Ireland produced virtually no martyrs. So instead of pursuing a “red martyrdom” of blood, Irish monks sought a “white martyrdom” of self-denial, contemplation, and solitary wandering in the wilderness. The swirling and complex imagery of the Book of Kells and other Irish manuscripts from the same period reflects this rich inner spirituality, inviting the viewer on a visual journey that is somewhat analogous to the physical and spiritual journeys undertaken by Irish monks and mystics.
However you interpret it, it is a fascinating marriage of Christian and pagan imagery, of beauty and practicality, a spectacular artistic achievement, and a feast for the eyes.
(Image and some facts courtesy of Wikipedia, which has a pretty nice article on the Book of Kells, as well as some of the other major Irish manuscripts, like the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Durrow.)
