Task 1.1 - Illustrated Manuscripts (8/16)

Illustrated Manuscripts: Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is an Irish masterpiece and it contains the Four Gospels. It was written by Irish monks around 750 A.D. 

This manuscript was a codex which is made from sheets of vellum/calfskin and it is kept by the Roman Catholic Church. It features entire pages of beautiful decorations which are called carpet pages with only a line of text. These were used to separate the four gospels. 

The Book of Kells was written on calfskin, which is very time-consuming to prepare. It consists of 680 pages (340 foglios) and it is painted in at least ten colours. Some of the dyes were imported from other countries and therefore made them even more expensive.

The manuscript contains decorated initials and the lettering is in iron gall ink (made from iron sulfate).

 

Pages from the Book of Kells

Construction of Manuscript Books. 2014. Illuminated Manuscripts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://designhistory.org/BookHistory_pages/Manuscripts.html. [Accessed 28 March 2014].

Medieval History, 2014. The Book of Kells. [ONLINE] Available at: http://historymedren.about.com/od/bookofkell1/p/book_of_kells.htm. [Accessed 28 March 2014].

YouTube. (2011). Book of Kells ~ Part 1 Documentary. [Online Video]. 21 April 2011. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRGQPJIO5CM. [Accessed: 28 March 2014].