In this Post I have added some decorated animal letters from the Book of Kells that were created by the monks. These designs are loved and kept alive because they remind us of the joy in making and sharing art.  There is a playful feel to the animals as they intertwine and dance around the letters.

The Book of Kells dates to medieval Europe around 800 AD.

In the preliminary stages of the Gospel Books the same person could be a scribe and illuminator, but, with time the script and artwork became more complex, and the two arts were separated. The Book of Durrow and the Lindisfarne Gospels were also part of this tradition.

Letters and Animals Together as One

In the Book of Kells in particular, the illuminator of pictures and the scribe of words worked together and collaborated.  The text became embellished and decorated and where once animals were adjacent to capital letters, they soon became intertwined. Different scripts evolved and became more decorative and sometimes the scribe rubricated the text with red ink. Rubrication is the use of red dots around motifs and letters. The dots add a halo effect and notably can be found in the Lindisfarne Gospels. All the drawings were completed in detail before the painting and illumination began. 

The Illuminated Manuscripts using the decorated animal alphabet were an inventive integration of styles and layouts. The early big black letter designs and the decorated motif and animal alphabets were interchangeable. Every letter is unique and composed fresh, sometimes using a variation on the same theme. 

The tradition of the manuscript writing is kept alive because the monks discovered a great solution. Designs of animals wrapping and entangled in letters were a great invention. Knotwork and other motifs were sometimes included. Letters mostly as initials at the start of a sentence or page became features and stood out.  Intertwined letters with animals were an inspiration for calligraphy and other artforms.

I have worked the interpretations from the careful drawings of George Bain and Aidan Meehan and have used paint and pencil on paper. The colours are not from the Book of Kells. 

For Students: Decorated letters could be used as an Art Project in the classroom on Celtic Art.