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StillnessArt fact

The Book of Kells, a Latin copy of the four Gospels made around AD 800, turns its text into pages of dense, coloured ornament painted with carefully prepared inks and pigments.

Medieval manuscripts (Book of Kells)

ArtHistoryLanguage

The story behind the card

It was made by monks of the community founded by St Columba, probably begun on the island of Iona off Scotland and continued at Kells in Ireland after Viking raids drove the monks there. Its 340 surviving leaves, 680 pages, were given to Trinity College Dublin in 1661. Since 1953 they have been bound in four volumes; one is always on display, and the open page changes every 12 weeks. Studies of the colours found red and yellow ochre, a green copper pigment, woad for blue and a lichen dye for purple. Lapis lazuli, once assumed, was not used, and neither was gold; the woad and lichen point to an origin in what is now Scotland.

Türkçe oku
Kells Kitabı, yaklaşık MS 800'de hazırlanmış, dört İncil'in Latince bir kopyasıdır. Sayfaları, özenle hazırlanmış mürekkep ve boyalarla yapılmış sık, renkli süslemelerle doludur.

Kitabı, Aziz Columba'nın kurduğu manastır topluluğunun keşişleri yaptı. Çalışmaya büyük olasılıkla İskoçya açıklarındaki Iona adasında başlandı; Viking akınları keşişleri İrlanda'daki Kells'e göçe zorlayınca iş orada sürdü. Günümüze ulaşan 340 yaprak, yani 680 sayfa, 1661'de Dublin'deki Trinity College'a bağışlandı. Kitap 1953'ten bu yana dört ayrı cilttir; bunlardan biri her zaman sergidedir ve açık duran sayfa 12 haftada bir değiştirilir. Boyalar üzerine yapılan incelemelerde kırmızı ve sarı aşı boyası, bakırdan elde edilen bir yeşil, mavi için çivit otu, mor için de bir liken boyası bulundu. Eskiden kullanıldığı sanılan lapis lazuli de altın da yoktur; çivit otu ve liken, kitabın bugünkü İskoçya'da yapıldığını düşündürüyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Book of Kells
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