Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their technique

by J. H. Middleton

Fig. 20. Miniature from the Gospels of MacDurnan of the ninth century.

Gospels of MacRegol.

Gospels of MacRegol.One of the finest of the manuscripts of the later Irish type is the Book of the Gospels of MacRegol in the Bodleian library (D. 24. No. 3946) executed in the ninth century. The ornaments and the very conventional figures of the Evangelists are of the purely Irish type, unmodified by any imitation of the superior figure drawing in Byzantine and Italian miniatures[^[73]].

Gospels of St Chad.

Gospels of St Chad.The manuscript Gospels of Saint Chad in the Chapter library of Lichfield Cathedral is another example of the Irish school and of the same date as the last-mentioned book. It is named after Ceadda or Chad who, in the seventh century, was the first Bishop of Lichfield, nearly two hundred years before the date of this manuscript of the Gospels[^[74]].

Celtic school on the Continent.

Celtic school on the Continent.During the most flourishing period of Celtic art in Ireland its influence was by no means limited to the Northumbrian school of illuminators. The Irish types of ornament were adopted by the scribes of Canterbury and other places in the South of England; and on the Continent of Europe Celtic art was widely spread by Irish missionaries such as Saint Columbanus, and by the founding of Irish monasteries during the sixth century in various countries, as, for example, at Bobbio in Northern Italy, at St Gallen in Switzerland, at Wurtzburg in Germany, and at Luxeuil in France. In these and in other places Irish monastic illuminators worked hard at the production of manuscripts and spread the Celtic style of ornament over a large area of Western Europe. The library of St Gallen possesses a number of richly illuminated manuscripts of the later Irish type, exactly similar in style to those which during the eighth and ninth centuries were produced in the monasteries of Ireland and Scotland[^[75]].

Psalter of St Augustine.

Psalter of St Augustine.The result of this spread of Celtic influence was that borders, initial letters and similar ornaments of pure Irish style were used in many manuscripts in which the figures of Saints were designed after an equally pure Italian or debased classic style. A good example of this is the so-called Psalter of Saint Augustine[^[76]] (Brit. Mus. Cotton manuscripts Vesp. A. i) which for many centuries belonged to the Cathedral of Canterbury. This is a manuscript of the eighth century; one of its chief miniature paintings represents David enthroned, playing on a harp with a group of attendant musicians and two dancing figures round his throne. These figures are purely Italian in style, of the debased Roman School; but the arched frame which borders the picture is filled in with ornament of the Irish metal type, closely similar in style, except that gold and silver are largely used, to those in the Book of Kells, though inferior in minute delicacy of execution. It is of course very possible that the illuminations in this Psalter are the work of two hands, the figures being painted by an Italian illuminator and the borders by an English or Irish monk.