In the “Book of Kells,” for instance, there are several illustrations which show in some parts a Greek influence, and in one page the Greek monogram of Christ appears.
The initial letters in square or rectilineal capitals usually occupy large portions of the illuminated page, and are often embedded in rectangular panels with borders, the latter being filled with elaborate interlacings and spirals, &c. (Fig. 310).
The smaller text used by the Irish scribes was founded on the round or uncial Roman variety of lettering, but in the Irish variety there is a distinct improvement on the Roman in its beautiful and restrained quality of artistic simplicity, combined with its perfect legibility. In some Irish manuscripts an angular cursive or running hand was also used.
An illustration given at Fig. 311 of the frontispiece from the “Epistle of Jerome,” in the Irish missal known as the “Book of Durrow,” is a fine example of Celtic ornamentation. This and the previous illustration are from Miss M. Stokes’ handbook on “Early Christian Art in Ireland.”
Fig 310.—Portion of Illuminated Monogram; Book of Kells. (S.)
The influence and art work of the Irish scribes and missal decorators in England and on the Continent has been much greater than was formerly believed. Missionaries were sent to England, Scotland, and to the Continent, from the great monastic establishments in Ireland during the period from the seventh to the eleventh centuries, and carried with them “Gospels,” “Psalters,” and other missals, besides making many other religious books for the use of the monasteries they had founded in foreign countries. These Irish scribes also taught their art of book illumination to the monks who lived at such places where they set up their missions, or where they had become recluses in the foreign monasteries already established. This accounts for the number of Irish manuscripts that have been found in such monastic houses as that of St. Gall in Switzerland, Bobio in Piedmont, at Mentz (Mayence), at Ratisbon in Bavaria, at Honau on the Rhine, and at many other places on the Continent. The style of art in all the manuscripts found at these places, though introduced at the inception of Christianity into Ireland from Italy through Gaul, had died out in the latter countries during the fourth and fifth centuries, and was re-introduced, as we have seen, under a modified phase into the Continent by the Irish missionary scribes.
Fig. 311.—From the Epistle of Jerome; “Book of Durrow.” (S.)
The majority of the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, if not written by Irish scribes in England, were either decorated or copied closely from the work of the latter. This is supported by some written testimony, but the ornamentation of the pages themselves are distinctly of Irish design.