Old Gardener Tetramorph
From the Trier Gospels
This old gardener from an illuminated manuscript holds a flower and a knife. The image from c720 AD is signed by the artist scribe Thomas and was found in the Trier Gospels, folio 5v as a Tetramorph.
Two scribe/artists wrote the Trier Gospels. Thomas was the Head scribe while Frank completed the last section and did some of the writing.
The three styles found in the Trier Gospels were: Insular, Merovingian, and Mediterranean and combining the three was a challenging achievement.
What is a Tetramorph?
A tetramorph is four different elements combined into one visual unit. In this case the four evangelists are represented by animal symbols and sit in close alignment with each other in a stage box formation. In modern media art today, morphing happens in time lapse videos.
The old gardener is the Apostle Matthew (he is represented as the human animal). His feet are found below the stage box pointing in one direction.
The Old Gardener Tetramorph c720 AD by Thomas
The Apron Stage
The apron as a stage combines the three other apostles. There are three animal skins shown by different line markings for different textures -feathers of a bird, scale skin of lion legs with claws, and a flat block grey for fine fur of the calf legs. The Eagle is placed at the top of the apron with green wings in this case. The eagle wings symbolise St. John. Below that are the feet and incredible claws of a lion. The lion is the symbol for St Mark. Under that are the grey legs and hooves of a Calf. The calf symbolizes St Luke. The gardener himself is the symbol for the man St. Matthew.
It is an extraordinarily complex design and shows an old man with lines on his face, a beard, and a brown (gardening?) jacket over one shoulder. The undercurrent of metaphors and meanings is rich with ideas.
It is an extraordinary work with Celtic knotwork motifs placed in two small triangular corners. I like the idea of the single flower placed over the heart of the gardener. In the other hand is a small knife, very delicate and small hands. Thomas the artist managed to solve the puzzle of the tetramorph in this incredible work. Mind and imagination working together.
My drawing for the demonstration image is mixed media and is from a drawing by Aidan Meehan in his book The Tree of Life. The colours are not the original colours because I worked from the black and white drawing. I did eventually find a copy of the original on the internet but only afterwards.