Irish monks who produced the illuminated manuscripts retained local artists to do the artwork (Nordenfalk 109). The designs and motifs that the, recently converted, artists used were similar to those used by traditional metalworkers and goldsmiths of the time. Therefore, many of the designs of Christian manuscripts have a likeness to the embellishments found on helmets, shields and other ancient pagan artifacts (NGA 2000). It is interesting to note that the manuscript artists did not use real-life models to create their designs and images; rather, they copied these elements from earlier works. Although the Christian Church came to dominate medieval culture, the techniques of the illuminated manuscripts show a connection to the earlier pagan culture. Thus, ironically, the transformation to Christianity was one of the ways in which some of the features of the earlier culture were preserved. The size of the Book of Kells is 33 centimeters by 25 centimeters, and it consists of 340 folio pages (Henderson 131). The first 28 pages consist of introductory material; however, some pages were lost. These pages include a list of Hebrew names, summaries of the four gospels, and descriptions of the four evangelists. The introductory pages also include a series of canon tables, which were lists for the purpose of cross-referring to various passages within the gospels (MacCorkill 1997). There are two main decorative elements found in the Book of Kells. These are the small decorative illustrations that occur throughout the book, and the full-page illustrations which are used introduce important sections. The decorations found throughout the book do not exist merely for the purpose of ornamentation. According to Meehan, these decorative schemes serve to clarify certain sections of text. Thus, “important words and phrases are emphasized and the text is enlivened by an endlessly inventive range of decorated initials and interlin...
