The Lindisfarne Gospels

'In honour of God and of Saint Cuthbert'

Late classical influence from the Mediterranean is blended with celtic motifs and Germanic animal ornament to produce a distinctive and satisfying whole, characterising Eadfrith as an accomplished and imaginative craftsman who exercised the full range of his talents in celebration of his Christian faith.

One very distinctive form of ornament is used to more striking effect in the Lindisfarne Gospels than in any other insular manuscripts - the technique of applying tiny drops of red lead to form backgrounds, outlines or patterns. The initial page of St.Luke has 10,600 dots, experimentation suggests a rate of 30 dots per minute - thus would have taken a minimum of six hours' hard work!

Eadfrith had one small idiosyncrasy which is apparent on several of the major decorated pages which has not been satisfactorily explained. Apparently deliberately, he several times either left a small part of the design unfinished or introduced into it a detail at odds with the remainder of the page. There are some schools of thought that believe he died leaving the work unfinished, but some of these imperfections are at the beginning of the book and are so small that it seems unlikely that they were the results of major interruptions to the work. It seems more feasible to suppose that Eadfrith was practising the humility of avoiding absolute perfection in the mammoth task which he had undertaken.

We are indebted to the late Janet Backhouse who supplied the text for our Gospel Page and gave
permission to use the images in her book "The Lindisfarne Gospels" published in association
with The British Library by Phaidon, Oxford - ISBN 0 7148 2148 9.

Available from:
THE LINDISFARNE CENTRE

Page Transcribed by: Mrs.J.Ward
Web Page Design by : Geoff Porter

updated: 12th January 2010