Lindisfarne Gospels: St. Matthew, cross-carpet page; St. Luke portrait page; St. Luke incipit page. Early medieval (Hiberno Saxon) Europe. c. 700 C.E. Illuminated manuscript (ink, pigments, and gold on vellum).
CROSS INSCRIBED CARPET PAGE; PRODUCED IN A NORTHUMBRIAN MONASTERY ON LINDISFARNE ISLAND; FUSION OF CHRISTIAN IMAGERY AND STYLE OF NORTHERN WARLORDS
BOOK CONTAINS SEVERAL ORNAMENTAL PAGES AND EXEMPLIFIES HIBERNO-SAXON ART; INTRICATE PATTERNING AND DETAIL; SERPENTINE INTERLACEMENTS OF FANTASTIC ANIMALS DEVOUR EACHOTHER, CURLING OVER AND OVER
RHYTHM OF OF EXPANDING AND CONTRACTIG FORMS PRODUCES A VIVID EFFECT OF MOTION AND CHANGE
DOMINATING MOTIF OF THE CROSS STABILIZES THE RHYTHMS OF THE SERPENTS AND IN CONTRAST, HEIGHTENS THE EFFECTS OF THE MOTION
MOTIFS W DETAILED SYMMETRIES; WITH INVERSIONS, REVERSALS AND REPETITIONS THAT THE VIEWER MUST STUDY CLOSELY IN ORDER TO APPRECIATE NOT ONLY THEIR VARIETY BUT ALSO THEIR MAZELIKE COMPLEXITY; VIBRATES W ENERGY; RICH BUT COOL COLORS; SMALL, COMPLEX
SAINT MATTHEW: UNINTERESTED IN THE EMPHASIS OF VOLUME, SHADING, AND PERSPECTIVE WHICH ARE THE HALLMARKS OF GRECO-ROMAN PAINTING, THE PAINTER CONCEIVED THE ARTIST EXCLUSIVELY IN LINE AND COLOR
DRAPERY FOLDS ARE SERIES OF SHARP, CURVING LINES FILLED W FLAT COLOR; ILLUSTRATED GOSPEL BOOK; MATTHEW SITS IN HIS STUDY COMPOSING HIS ACCOUNT ON THE LIFE OF CHRIST; ACOMPANYING HIM IS THE SYMBOL OF A WINGED MAN AND A MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN, IDENTITY UNKNOWN
He will illuminate the gospel text with a weave of fantastic images— snakes that twist themselves into knots or birds, their curvaceous and overlapping forms creating the illusion of a third dimension into which a viewer can lose him or herself in meditative contemplation.
The book is a spectacular example of Insular or Hiberno-Saxon art—works produced in the British Isles between 500-900 C.E., a time of devastating invasions and political upheavals.
illuminated the codex in the early 8th century. Two-hundred and fifty-nine written and recorded leaves include full-page portraits of each evangelist; highly ornamental “cross-carpet” pages, each of which features a large cross set against a background of ordered and yet teeming ornamentation
A mesmerizing series of repetitive knots and spirals is dominated by a centrally-located cross. One can imagine devout monks losing themselves in the swirls and eddies of color during meditative contemplation of its patterns.
Chameleon-like, their bodies change colors: sapphire blue here, verdigris green there, and sandy gold in between. The sanctity of the cross, outlined in red with arms outstretched and pressing against the page edges, stabilizes the background’s gyrating activity and turns the repetitive energy into a meditative force.
Luke holds a quill in his right hand, poised to write words on a scroll unfurling from his lap.
The gold halo behind Luke’s head indicates his divinity. Above his halo flies a blue-winged calf, its two eyes turned toward the viewer with its body in profile.
A dense interplay of stacked birds teem underneath the crosses of the carpet page that opens John’s Gospel. One bird, situated in the upper left-hand quadrant, has blue-and-pink stripes in contrast to others that sport registers of feathers. Stripes had a negative association to the medieval mind, appearing chaotic and disordered. The insane wore stripes, as did prostitutes, criminals, jugglers, sorcerers, and hangmen.
