The "
Book of Kells" is a group of manuscripts created in approximately the 9th century A.D. in Ireland and the northern region of the British Isles. The manuscript is renowned throughout the world for its extraordinary collection of pictures, interlaced shapes and ornamental details.
The document is effectively a transcript of the four Gospels transcribed in Latin along with The Lindisfarne Gospels, and the amazing lettering and illumination are the creation of Irish monks. It is a remarkable example of early western art and the finest surviving illuminated manuscripts in the whole of Europe.
Each of the transcript's pages often depicts a strange, half-Surrealist imagination thanks to a skilled technique and the very fine state of preservation make it an object of endless fascination. It possesses colorful and complex decoration that would take a life-time to properly study it. The designs are very complex and ornate. They consist of strange little animals, plants, spirals, mazes, and swirls. Only two of its 680 pages do not have any decoration. The almost unbelievable minuteness of the details, the arabesque, interlaced patterns, the weird and witty monsters and grotesqueness are still a source of inspiration to modern artists who create
Celtic jewelry such as
Claddagh rings and
Celtic rings.
Certainly, examples as in the Book of Kells present such a significant and unselfconscious blurring of the dividing line between the Christian world and the slowly fading pagan world.
The book consists of a Latin text of the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It also contains the canon-tables, the breves causae (summaries of the gospel), argumenta (strange collections of lore and legend concerning the evangelist), lists of Hebrew names with interpretations and genealogy in the Gospel of St. Matthew.
The book is incomplete. It is missing several pages either from getting loose or forcibly removed. It is a large-sized book which shows that it was probably intended to be an altar-book. The book does not have any gold decoration but a generous use of yellow makes up for the lack of gold. Some other colors in the book are red, black, purple and indigo. Decorated initials are a very common feature of the book. Many of the letters fit into the shape of animals. Some examples of animals are: lion, calf, eagle, snake, moths, otters, cats and mice. The designs in the book have an almost perfect symmetry.
The books are bound and sewn by hand, following a medieval process that requires great skill. What do we know about the artists and craftsmen who made this book, almost 1200 years ago? Not very much. No records have come down to us. There is no list of credits, not even an account book. There are some visual clues, however. Experts who have studied the manuscripts have been able to identify only four "hands" in the calligraphy.
The manuscript was held at Kells until 1661 when it was moved to Dublin where it remains as the chief treasure of Trinity College Library.
