Reply To: Illuminated Manuscripts

[Tamara Toy]

I feel that the Byzantine influence is definitely more obvious than a Classical one. The Book of Durrow and the Coronation Gospels both favor the religious influence of the Byzantine area. This is when Christianity is firming up its grasp on The British Isles, pushing out the Pagan religion of the Celts and Scots (for the most part), so it makes sense that Medieval art would heavily favor Byzantine art as much as it does. In fact, I see very little influence of Classical art in this period. Most of the art is religious in nature, with little art representing a living person. Instead, Medieval art is more focused on religious meanings and consuming all means into a religious context, of some sort.