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The open volume
shows the introduction to St John’s Gospel with a cross-carpet page on
the left and the first page of the Gospel (the incipit page) on the
right. The cross-carpet page, in luminous colours, is filled with
intricate interlaces, animal ornaments, and step pattern surrounded by
an elaborate frame. On the incipit page a dominant monogram is lavishly
decorated with animal forms and other ornaments. The facsimile copy of
the manuscript, made in association with the British Library, faithfully
replicates every exquisite detail and colour of the original, including
forensic details revealing how the book was designed and made.
A perfect facsimile
Pre-dating the Book
of Kells by almost a hundred years, the manuscript of the Lindisfarne
Gospels is possibly the most important item of cultural heritage of The
British Isles. Now, almost 1300 years after its creation, experts from
Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland and The British Library
have laboured over many months to create a perfect facsimile of the
original.
Written and
illuminated around 715-720 AD to celebrate the life of Saint Cuthbert,
who had been prior and later bishop of Lindisfarne, the manuscript
occupies a place of extraordinary importance in the history of art, in
palaeography and in linguistics.*
45 different colours
The entire
manuscript is brilliantly illuminated using 45 different colours and
tones. Magnificent ‘carpet’ pages are designed in such intricate and
sophisticated geometric patterns that the viewer sees something new on
each inspection. Spirals, whorls and fantastic bird and animal forms are
worked into the designs, creating a spectacular carpet of interwoven
colours.
Exquisitely decorated monograms
At the beginning of
each of the four Gospels, exquisitely decorated monograms are filled
with ornaments while the first few words of the Gospel are also
brilliantly illuminated and outlined with thousands of red dots. The
four Gospels are each accompanied by a portrait of the author at work,
the eyes of the evangelists having an almost hypnotic quality. The work
combines elements of Roman and Byzantine art with the influence of
Celtic and Germanic culture to create an effect that is unique in early
Medieval art.
On view in The British Library
The original
manuscript can be seen in The British Library where it is displayed with
just one double-page spread on view. However, a perfect facsimile copy
of all 518 pages of the Gospels has now been created and this can be
examined privately, page-by-page, by arrangement with The British
Library. In all, 980 bound copies will be made and offered for sale in a
worldwide limited edition. Each copy will be an exact replica of the
original manuscript.
* Between the lines
of the Latin text an early English translation was added in the tenth
century. It is the oldest surviving English translation of the Gospels.
For more information contact:
info@alecto.gg |
