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Work

Book of Durrow

Illuminated Manuscripts and Calligraphic Works

The Book of Durrow is an illuminated gospel book dated to around the year 700, containing the Vulgate Latin text of the four Gospels along with some Irish textual variations. Written in Insular script, it is richly decorated in the style of Insular art with four full page Evangelist symbols, six ornamental carpet pages and numerous decorated initials. It is regarded as the earliest of the great surviving Insular illuminated gospel books.

Facts
Year Created
700 1
Circa; the raw source states ‘dated to c. 700’, a scholarly consensus range, not a pinned single year.
Medium
Illuminated manuscript, ink and pigment on vellum 1
Location
Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD MS 57) 1
Primary Material
Vellum 1
Classification
Genre
Manuscript Illumination 1
Medium
Medium (category)
Illuminated Manuscript 1
Connections

In Form

Illustration, Art Forms

Insular illuminated Gospel book.

In Genre

Manuscript Illumination, Art Forms
In the Other Atlases

Located In

Ireland

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.

Source Book of Durrow (Wikipedia)tier 2
Sources
1. Book of Durrow (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Lead paragraph, sentence 1
    The Book of Durrow is an illuminated manuscript gospel book dated to c. 700 that contains the Vulgate Latin text of the four Gospels, with some Irish variations, and other matter, written in Insular script, and richly illustrated in the style of Insular art with four full-page Evangelist symbols, six carpet pages, and many decorated initials.
  • Description section
    Its pages measure 245 by 145 mm and there are 248 vellum folios.
  • Lead paragraph, final sentence
    Today it is in the Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD MS 57).
  • Lead section
    The book was probably made in Ireland, in or near Durrow Abbey, County Offaly, founded by Colum Cille (or Columba) in the 6th century, rather than the sometimes proposed origin of Northumbria, a region that had close political and artistic ties with Ireland, and like Scotland, also venerated Colum Cille.
  • In Group: Gospel Books and Bibles, Lead
    The Book of Durrow is an illuminated manuscript gospel book dated to c. 700 that contains the Vulgate Latin text of the four Gospels, with some Irish variations, and other matter, written in Insular script, and richly illustrated
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