The Catholic encyclopedia (Volume 9); an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline and history of the Catholic Church . far removedfrom naturalism. Nothing is more graceful than thelarge initials formed by ribbons ornamented with inter-lacings, in the midst of which are sometimes humanheads or animals. Some borders decorated with spi-rals, rose-work, and interlacings recall, by their dis-play of fancy, pages of the illuminated Korans. In-deed there are m Irish art elements which are franklyOriental, and the geometrical and symmetrical aspect of the human form in
The Catholic encyclopedia (Volume 9); an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline and history of the Catholic Church . far removedfrom naturalism. Nothing is more graceful than thelarge initials formed by ribbons ornamented with inter-lacings, in the midst of which are sometimes humanheads or animals. Some borders decorated with spi-rals, rose-work, and interlacings recall, by their dis-play of fancy, pages of the illuminated Korans. In-deed there are m Irish art elements which are franklyOriental, and the geometrical and symmetrical aspect of the human form in Irish MSS. may be compared towhat we find on certain Coptic monuments, buildings,or bas-reliefs. In Ireland as in the Orient, ancientornamentation finds little place; foliage is entirely ab-sent from thisdecoration, whichconsists almostexclusively ofgeometrical ele-ments. The kin-ship of thesemotifs with thosefound on the bar-baric jewels orthe stone sculp-tures of Ireland isevident. Amongthe most cele-brated works ofthis school maybe cited: theBookof Kells(Trinity College,Dublin), thetranscription ofwhich is ascribedto St. Columba,but which in. Beginning of St. Matthews GospelShowing Irish Initial and Bordering reality belongs to the seventh century; the Evan-geliarium of Durham, belonging to the Dioceseof Lindisfarne (British Museum, Cotton MSS.,Nero D. IV), copied in honour of St. Cuthbertby Bishop Eadfrith (698-721), bound by BishopiEthilwald, and ornamented with precious stones bythe monk Billfrith, is also of great value. Althoughcopied in an English monastery it possesses all thecharacteristics of Irish art; large initials decoratedwith interlacings and without foliage, the predomi-nance of simple colours (violet, green, yellow, red)absence of gold and silver, portraits of the evangelistssimilar to those on Byzantine MSS. Beginning withthe sixth century this art of illumination was broughtby Irish monks, not only to England but also to theContinent, where the monasterie
Size: 1392px × 1794px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, books, booksubjectcatholicchurch
