With an estimated history marking the mid-seventh century, the Book of Durrow is introduced as the first example of a “blending of Irish and Germanic influences,” as quoted by the Metropolitan Museum of New York’s published article, “Treasure of Early Irish Art.” Considered as one of the first illuminated Gospel manuscripts, it is one of the most important books in the Irish culture and remains to be one of the best examples of the Evangelists. Through the ornamentation of the carpet pages and Evangelists pages, and thoughtful symbolism, the importance of this book remains to be the bridge between religion and countries as it helps introduce Christianity to the world.
With an alternating pattern between Evangelist pages and carpet pages, the …show more content…
There is a distinct similarity between all four of them in addition to the structure which involve the composition of the elements. The thick border outlines the main part of the text, which also seems to follow the ruling of the text on the other side. Within the frame resides decoration using the symbolic and most well known Celtic spiral. Although the original location of creation is unknown, this could hint even more plausible reason to the theory of the Book of Durrow possibly being made in Ireland as it contains strong Irish …show more content…
They are the only imagery apart from the frame and surrounding them is the natural vellum from the white space. This is a simpler design that makes the figure the main focus and differs from that of the Book of Kells, as seen in Figure 2 as a comparison. This is one of the main differences between the two famous Irish art books (“Treasures of Early Irish Art,” 140). The colors chosen for these pages are also consistent throughout the entire book. The Enamelling and Metallesque Origin of the Ornament in the Book of Durrow by Joseph Doran says that the red, gold, and green colors are used to contrast against the bright vellum as well as the black outlines. This works nicely as it helps make the imagery more interesting and eye popping. In addition, with the frame being so detailed, the center piece having so much other elements is not drown out by the decor.
Individually, the images create interesting pieces as their own. In Figure 3, we see the lion that is the zoomorphic version of St. John. His face is stippled in and after more examination, it seems as if his entire body was stippled before the addition of color. It is unclear whether the other three figures have this same treatment but it seems as if they did not to such an extent. The dots make another appearance in an over dramatic drop capped letter (Figure 4), which concludes that this remains as a style throughout. The lion seems to be wearing an armor