Lacertine

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Lacertines, most commonly found in Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Insular art, are interlaces created by zoomorphic forms. [1] [2] [3] While the term "lacertine" itself means "lizard-like," [4] its use to describe interlace is a 19th-century neologism and not limited to interlace of reptilian forms. [2] [5] In addition to lizards, [6] lacertine decoration often features animals such as birds, lions, and dogs. [7] [8]

Although examples of lacertine have been found in stone sculpture and architecture, [9] [10] [11] such as in a fragment from the Church of St. Mary of the Rock, [12] [13] it is more comment to find lacertines in illuminated manuscripts. [14] Notable examples of lacertine decoration can be found in the Book of Kells, Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Lichfield or St. Chad Gospels, and the Mac Durnan Gospels. [3] [14] [15]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breton Gospel Book (British Library, MS Egerton 609)</span>

British Library, Egerton MS 609 is a Breton Gospel Book from the late or third quarter of the ninth century. It was created in France, though the exact location is unknown. The large decorative letters which form the beginning of each Gospel are similar to the letters found in Carolingian manuscripts, but the decoration of these letters is closer to that found in insular manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. However, the decoration in the Breton Gospel Book is simpler and more geometric in form than that found in the Insular manuscripts. The manuscript contains the Latin text of St Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus, St. Jerome's commentary on Matthew, and the four Gospels, along with prefatory material and canon tables. This manuscript is part of the Egerton Collection in the British Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carpet page</span> Page of geometrical illumination in a manuscript

A carpet page is a full page in an illuminated manuscript containing intricate, non-figurative, patterned designs. They are a characteristic feature of Insular manuscripts, and typically placed at the beginning of a Gospel Book. Carpet pages are characterised by mainly geometrical ornamentation which may include repeated animal forms. They are distinct from pages devoted to highly decorated historiated initials, though the style of decoration may be very similar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insular art</span> Post-Roman British and Irish style of art

Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe. Art historians usually group Insular art as part of the Migration Period art movement as well as Early Medieval Western art, and it is the combination of these two traditions that gives the style its special character.

Barbara Yorke FRHistS FSA is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England, specialising in many subtopics, including 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. She is currently emeritus professor of early Medieval history at the University of Winchester, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is an honorary professor of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interlace (art)</span> Decorative crossing patterns in art

In the visual arts, interlace is a decorative element found in medieval art. In interlace, bands or portions of other motifs are looped, braided, and knotted in complex geometric patterns, often to fill a space. Interlacing is common in the Migration period art of Northern Europe, in the early medieval Insular art of Ireland and the British Isles, and Norse art of the Early Middle Ages, and in Islamic art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art in Medieval Scotland</span>

Art in Medieval Scotland includes all forms of artistic production within the modern borders of Scotland, between the fifth century and the adoption of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. In the early Middle Ages, there were distinct material cultures evident in the different federations and kingdoms within what is now Scotland. Pictish art was the only uniquely Scottish Medieval style; it can be seen in the extensive survival of carved stones, particularly in the north and east of the country, which hold a variety of recurring images and patterns. It can also be seen in elaborate metal work that largely survives in buried hoards. Irish-Scots art from the kingdom of Dál Riata suggests that it was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the Insular style developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insular illumination</span>

Insular illumination refers to the production of illuminated manuscripts in the monasteries of Ireland and Great Britain between the 6th and 9th centuries, as well as in monasteries under their influence on continental Europe. It is characterised by decoration strongly influenced by metalwork, the constant use of interlacing, and the importance assigned to calligraphy. The most celebrated books of this sort are largely gospel books. Around sixty manuscripts are known from this period.

References

  1. ↑ Karkov, Catherine E. (2011). The art of Anglo-Saxon England. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. p. 5. ISBN   978-1-84383-628-5. OCLC   663952876.
  2. 1 2 Clarke, Catherine A. M. (2012). Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England: Texts, Hierarchies, Economies. Vol. 17. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN   978-1-84384-319-1. JSTOR   10.7722/j.ctt81qz9.
  3. 1 2 Miner, Dorothy (1951). "The Book of Kells". Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions. 8 (4): 3–8. ISSN   0090-0095. JSTOR   29780636.
  4. ↑ "lacertine, adj. and n.". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. March 2017.
  5. ↑ Kessler, Herbert L.; Suckale, Robert (2020). "The Montalcino Bible's Steep Mountain of Mysteries". Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. 65: 307–371. ISSN   0065-6801. JSTOR   27031301.
  6. ↑ Davenport, Cyril (1912). "Illuminated Manuscripts". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 60 (3087): 245–251. ISSN   0035-9114. JSTOR   41339989.
  7. ↑ Gilbert, John, T. (1879). Sullivan, Edward (ed.). National Manuscripts of Ireland: Account of Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland, from the Earliest Extant Specimens to A.D. 1719 (2nd ed.). London: H.M. Stationery Office.
  8. ↑ Leyerle, John (1967). "The Interlace Structure of Beowulf". University of Toronto Quarterly. 37 (1): 1–17. doi:10.3138/utq.37.1.1. ISSN   1712-5278. S2CID   162194120.
  9. ↑ Allen, J. Romilly (John Romilly); Anderson, Joseph; Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1903). The early Christian monuments of Scotland. Getty Research Institute. Edinburgh, Printed by Neill & co., limited.
  10. ↑ Way, Albert (1869). "Notices of Certain Bronze Relics, of a Peculiar Type Assigned to the Late Celtic Period". Archaeological Journal. 26 (1): 52–83. doi:10.1080/00665983.1869.10851446. ISSN   0066-5983.
  11. ↑ Megrew, Alden F. (1968). "A Church of Berry: The Abbey of St. Martin at Plaimpied". Gesta. 7: 29–35. doi:10.2307/766606. ISSN   0016-920X. JSTOR   766606. S2CID   193434059.
  12. ↑ Kenworthy, J. (1981). "A further fragment of early Christian sculpture from St Mary of the Rock, St Andrews, Fife". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 110: 356–363. ISSN   2056-743X.
  13. ↑ Westwood, J. O. (1853). "On the Distinctive Character of the Various Styles of Ornamentation Employed by the Early British, Anglo-Saxon and Irish Artists". Archaeological Journal. 10 (1): 275–301. doi:10.1080/00665983.1853.10850906. ISSN   0066-5983.
  14. 1 2 Westwood, John Obadiah; Tymms, William Robert (1868). Fac-similes of the miniatures & ornaments of Anglo-Saxon & Irish manuscripts. London: B. Quartich.
  15. ↑ Bain, George (1973). The methods of construction of Celtic art. New York: Dover Publications. p. 101. ISBN   0-486-22923-8. OCLC   695803.


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