Chad--Durham Gospels--Contrast of Celtic and Byzantine--St.
Columba--Book of Kells--Details of its decoration.
In the earlier centuries of Christianity, when liturgical books were the
chief occupation of the illuminator, it will need little pointing out to
demonstrate that the page of the illuminated manuscript, where it
contained more than the mere ornamental initial, was simply a mirror of
the architectural decoration of the church in which it was intended to
be used. Where the church enrichments consist, as on the Byzantine
basilicas, of panellings, arcades, and tympana of gilded sculpture in
wood or stone, with figures of saints, the pages of the Gospel-book bear
similar designs. Where, as in the Romanesque, they are rich in mosaics,
and fretted arcades interlacing each other, so are the illuminated Lives
of the Saints, the Menologia, Psalters, and Gospel-books. Where, as in
the Gothic cathedrals of the West--of France, Germany, or Italy--the
stained glass is the striking feature of the interior, so it is with the
illumination; it is a "vitrail"--a glass-painting on vellum. On this
latter point we shall have more to say when we reach the period of
Gothic illumination.
Incidentally, also, the book reflects the minor arts in vogue at the
period of its execution.
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