Illumination and Its Development in the Present Day

by Sidney Farnsworth

CELTIC AND ANGLO-CELTIC ILLUMINATION

In the development of illumination the Celtic School played a most important part. There is a very strong contrast between this and the Byzantine School. The Byzantine MSS. were illustrated by more or less naturalistic representations, while in the Celtic MSS. everything seems to be treated as pure ornament. Even when the human figure is introduced it seems to be treated in this way. Gold is also absent in purely Irish MSS. The artists do not appear to represent the figure with any degree of realism.

The chief characteristics of Celtic work are intricate spirals and interlaced pattern, also patterns composed of dots, and curious elongated creatures entwined together in a most complicated fashion.

Possibly the earliest date mentioned in connection with Celtic illumination is that given by Giraldus Cambrensis, who went to Ireland at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. He was chaplain to John, the son of Henry II. He wrote concerning a famous MS. called the Book of Kildare, a book which at present is not known to be extant. He describes it as having been written at the “dictation of an angel in St. Bridget’s own time.” St. Bridget, of Kildare, lived in the latter part of the fifth and the early sixth centuries, so that, if this account may be relied upon, it must have been written at least a century before the celebrated Book of Kells. From the details that Giraldus Cambrensis gives of the Book of Kildare, he might easily be describing the Book of Kells. It was evidently very similar.

The Book of Kells is now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. Some authorities think this to be as old as the seventh century, while others assign it to the eighth or ninth century. This is an extremely beautiful MS.; it has been described so many times that there is no need to give a detailed description here.

Another well-known MS. is the Book of Durrow, also in Trinity College, Dublin. Some have thought that this was written by the famous Columba of Iona, as the name “Columba” is mentioned in the colophon at the end of the MS., but whether this Columba was St. Columba of Iona is, of course, debatable. Certainly a number of authorities are agreed that its claims to be an actual relic of St. Columba are by no means to be altogether rejected. The Book of Durrow, although very fine, is not such a good example as the Book of Kells.

It would be interesting to know if St. Columba had much to do with the cultivation of this art. The early biographies certainly speak of him as an enthusiastic calligrapher, and in an ancient “Life of St. Columba” he is spoken of as having written “three hundred splendid, lasting books.”

It was through the efforts of the Scoto-Irish missionaries from Iona that the art of illuminating was introduced into the north of England. They founded a monastery at Lindisfarne early in the seventh century. The famous Durham Book, or Lindisfarne Gospels, now in the British Museum, was written here about the year 700 (Nero D. IV.). The decoration and writing in this splendid MS. are essentially Celtic. It, however, differs from the Book of Kells by the slight use of gold in the decoration, also in the four full-page portraits of the Evangelists, which show a strong Italo-Byzantine influence. This MS. is undoubtedly one of the choicest treasures amongst the illuminated MSS. in the British Museum.