This can be the best blog post for those like me who love art and are interested in learning the history of ancient art.
One of the joys of traveling for me is meeting great art in person.
Let’s dive into the maze of ancient art.
Jesus Christ sits on a throne and holds something very important. Which is a book, the holy word of God. He has a lush head of curly flaxen hair and a thoughtful expression. Seated under an arch, she is surrounded by a maze of colorful, intricately woven designs.
This parable from an old Bible tells the story of Jesus. This particular drawing came at the exact moment in the story (Matthew 1:18) where this heavenly Jesus was about to be born on earth as a meek mortal.
It is known as the Book of Kells. Which was just one page of a 1,200 year old gospel. Arguably the best work of art from the so-called Dark Ages, this book is a rare artifact from that turbulent time.
It is an industry 800 years old. The Roman Empire collapsed, throwing Europe into chaos. Vikings were raping and looting. The Christian faith – officially embraced in the last years of the empire – was now weakened, as Europe was returning to its pagan and illiterate ways. Amidst the turmoil, in the far reaches of Europe, lived a group of learned Irish monks dedicated to holding the embers of civilization.
These monks worked hard to preserve God’s word in the Book of Kells. They slaughtered 185 calves and dried the skins to make 680 cream colored leaves called vellum. Then the tonsured monks picked up their swan-quill pens and went to work. They carefully wrote the words in Latin, embellished the letters with elaborate curlicues, and interspersed the text with full-page illustrations — creating these “illuminated” manuscripts. The project was interrupted in 806 when Vikings savagely looted the monastery and killed 68 monks. But those who survived fled to Kells Abbey (near Dublin) and finished their precious Bibles.
Christ enthroned is just one page — 1/680th — of this wonderful book On closer inspection, the page’s incredible detail-work comes alive. On either side of Christ are two mysterious men in robes, and two strange-looking angels, with their wings folded in front. Christ’s head is a peacock (symbolizing Christ’s resurrection), with his feet stuck in a vine (symbolizing his Israelite roots). Of course, Christ isn’t terribly realistic: he’s got nutty eyes, oddly placed ears, and E.T. fingers
True beauty lies in intricate designs. It’s a forest of spiraling, coiling and coiled snakes — yes, those are snakes, their little heads popping up here and there. Monks mixed Christian symbols (crosses, peacocks, vines) with pagan Celtic motifs of the world around them (circles, spirals and interwoven patterns). It is all done in bright colors – blue, purple, red, green, yellow and black – carefully inscribed with a quill pen. Of the book’s 680 pages, only two have no embellishments.
As Christianity regained its foothold in Europe, monasteries everywhere began to produce similar monastic-usscripts—though rarely as many as the Book of Kells. In 1455, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, mass-produced books… freeing thousands of monks from being writers of civilization.