Lindisfarne Gospel

Manuscript illuminated at Lindisfarne in the late 7th or 8th centuries in Hiberno-Saxon style (Celtic-Germanic). It is one of the most splendid Early Christian manuscripts from the British Isles and is housed in the British Museum. It was the first great Anglo-Saxon work of this kind. Attributed to the Northumbrian school, the Lindisfarne Gospels show the fusion of Irish, classical, and Byzantine elements of manuscript illumination.

This gospel book, written out and painted by the order of Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne between 698 and 721, is one of the most splendid Early Christian manuscripts from the British Isles. Its sumptuous decoration shows a slight weakening of the great Irish tradition (see Book Of Kells), but it is an outstanding blend of Celtic and Germanic art — both of which were heavily influenced by Italian figural illustration — and the first great Anglo-Saxon work of this kind.