The book is a large-sized book which shows that it was probably intended to be an altar-book. The book is written in the Irish style. The book is a Latin copy of the gospels. The Book is said to be "generally regarded as one of the finest examples of Christian Celtic art."
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, purle 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. However, I found it very difficult to decipher what animal the artist's were showing.
The Chi-Rho page is one of the most unusual pages. It provides very good examples of different designs. Indeed, the decoration takes up most of the page. Thus, leaving only a small space for writing. The Chi-Rho page is the most celebrated of the Kell images according to Marilyn Stokstad, author of Medieval Art.
The contents of the Book of Kells are: the text of the gospels, the canon-tables, the breves causae (summaries of the gospel), argumenta (strange collections of lore and legend concerning the evangelists), and lists of Hebrew names with interpretations. It also contains genealogy in the Gosple of St. Matthew. The book is incomplete. It is missing several pages either from getting loose or from thievery.
The Book is a beautiful example of Irish illuminated manuscripts. 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 tow pages of the book do not have any decoration. The designs are very beautifyl and it is hard to foccus on an individual pages as each page has a multitude of intricate designs.
The design's of the Book of Kells are very ornate. It has no less than 31 full-page illustrations. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each have a full-page illustration of their particular symbol. Matthew was the angel, Mark the lion, Luke the bull, and John the eagle. Other full-page illustrations are portraits of Christ, Virgin Mary and of the evangelists.
Celtic symbols are designs that date from the pre-Christianity period tht were used in ornamentation on brooches, mirrors and other objects. According to the Grollier encyclopedia Celtic art is: "the highly stylized curvilinear art that originated during the second half of the 1st millennium BC among the Celtic peoples of Iron Age Europe." Celtic art was highly influenced by Etruscan and Greek motifs.
The designs in the Book of Kells contain one intruding element, namely foliage patterns. This relates to the syle of Celtic art called La Tene. "La Tene is distinguished by the use of high-relief ornament and by a delight in complete transformation of form, from abstract to figurative and from plant to animal." Celtic ornament are found in stone coffins and in the manuscript paintings of the Celtic monks of the sixth century.
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