The Art of the Lorsch Gospels
March 20th, 2007 by Menachem Wecker
Thanks to Mobius (see his great post on a kaffiyeh dress) for alerting me to a post on BiblioOdyssey of images from the Lorsch Gospels, created in for Archbishop Gero of Cologne (c. 969 AD).
A few preliminary thoughts, before I fall asleep:
- In the full page images, the artist has done a good job of creating circular compositions (mostly playing off halos), while balancing them with harsher triangles and diamonds.
- The frames, which are so ornate they evoke Indian miniatures, are only semi-framing objects, and it is interesting to see where the interior action overflows the borders.
- In the first image, the four winged forms–eagle, ox, man, lion from Ezekiel–seems to represent the four evangelists, Sts. John, Luke, Matthew, and Mark. Those four appear in the four evangelists’ solo portraits.
- The thumb touching the ring finger is a popular configuration. I am not positive what it references, although I’ve seen some indications that it forms the letter cee for Christ.