Incredible Birds and Dogs

The Medieval monastery artists were ahead of their time. In this Post I have added three Zoomorph images that show the interlace style and imaginative design used by the monks.  

Animal and bird drawings in the Medieval manuscripts like the Book of Kells are called zoomorphs.  Rules forbade realistic representations and so the birds and animals were stylized and became interlaced motifs, sometimes in mirror pairs as shown below in the Tree of Life with two birds. These images of the dogs and the birds are more interesting than a naturalistic photographic representation. The drawing of the eyes with a black dot in the centre produces a stunned and hypnotic expression which adds intensity to the creature.  

The abstract drawings of animals and birds were beautifully wrapped around shapes and lines and extended and interlaced into complex designs. Sometimes the creatures were symbols for human ideas or people and can remind us of totem animals used in tribes and clans in some cultures. In Christian art the fish is a symbol of Christ, and the lion is a symbol of the evangelist Matthew in the manuscripts.

Zoomorphism in the Book of Kells means the animals can be symbols for something else (even if they don’t look like themselves). The Apostle Mark is represented by a lion, Luke by a calf and John by an eagle.  In this regard animals were not drawn realistically therefore their bodies were distorted, extended, and interlaced, but they were still a symbol of themselves.

Anthropomorphism is when animals and objects are drawn with human characteristics. They take on human gestures and intentions and the animals exhibit parts of the human body.  Animal cartoons like Walt Disney characters are an obvious example. Humans like cute smiles and gestures that remind them of themselves.

In contrast medieval manuscript creatures as zoomorphs are unique. They are not cute or sweet and the expressions and mannerisms are not cuddly and commercial. They are likeable even if they are a bit quirky and not real. 

Bird Zoomorphs

Bird drawn as a letter

Birds were combined with the letter in this interlacing style. The first zoomorphic drawing shows the bird wrapped in the simple small letter d.

Other more complex shaped letters use animals such as lions and snakes and can be seen in the Animal Letters Post.  The second image shows two birds in a tree with the Tree of Life Book of Kells’ interlaced style where the tree grows out of a pot. Even the leaves have been created new to look like three bunched skittles. The artist monks were incredibly creative and fitted the drawings into unusual shapes and spaces everywhere on the manuscript carpet page.

Dog Zoomorph

Symmetrical Dog Design

The third image is from the Lindsfarne Gospels and shows a dog pair on black, interlocked together in symmetrical harmony. The legs and paws are locked and entangled in an interplay of impossible gymnastics. Sometimes the quadrupeds hold and bite their own or other creature’s limbs, and this is thought to represent the carnivorous diet or animal play.  

Zoomorphs from Medieval manuscripts by the interplay of positions, limbs and interlace in complex designs have something far beyond the simple observation skill of rendering a drawing as a photograph. These animal zoomorphs grew from various influences such as Viking and/or Asian Eastern art. The designs grew in artistic steps from animal illustrations in the Book of Durrow and the Lindisfarne Gospels and eventually matured in style in the Book of Kells.

Abstraction, imagination, and design are the next brave steps beyond observation and copying skills.  Besides, the monk artists were limited by the Church rules. Imagine not being able to draw animals from life as they are.

The monks may have been limited by Church rules but they were not limited in their imagination. 

My drawings are adapted from the original manuscript drawings. Colours and the medium for posting on the internet mean there are changes in the processes.