Bourke Ulick J. Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language
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330 IRISH ART
ORIGINAL.
From
an
essay by
the
present
writer on the art
of
illuminating.
Dublin,
1868 :
Mullany.
The
style
of
illuminating
which
prevailed amongst
the
literary
labourers of
those Christian
ages
in
this
island,
and in
Scotland and
England,
was not borrowed
from the
East
nor from
any
other
country.
It was
ori-
ginal
and
peculiar
to
Ireland.
"
Long,
however,"
says
Wyatt,
"
before
Byzantine
art
had
time to deviate
much
from
its ancient
traditions,
and
even while
it
maintained
an
easy
supremacy
over
the
Western
empire,
...
a
formidable
competitor
for
the
leadership
in the art
of
illumination
had
sprung
up
in
the extreme
West,
in
the
island homes of
the
Keltic races.
It
is
not
necessary
now
to
prove
what
historians have
freely
admitted,
that
Ireland was
certainly
Christianized
for a
long
time
pre-
vious to the
date of the
mission
of St.
Augustine
to
Eng-
land." And
again
:
"
Before
proceeding
to examine
the
precise
form
assumed
by
this
original
art,
it
may
be
well
to remind the
student
that the
general
character
of
the
decoration
of
all
writings, previous
to
Hie
origination
of
the
Keltic
style
in
Ireland,
had
been
limited
to the use of dif-
ferent colored
golden
and silver
inks,
on stained
purple
and white
vellum
grounds
;
to the occasional
enlarge-
ment
of,
and
slight
flourishing
about,
initial letters
;
to
the
introduction
of
pictures,
generally
square
or
oblong,
enclosed in
plain
or
slightly
bordered
frames
;
and occa-
sionally
to
the
scattering
about
throughout
the
volume
of
a
few
lines
and
scrolls"
(p.
18).
Lady
Wilde's
views
on
J. 0. Westwood's
wonderful
work,
are
worthy
of a
place
here
:
"
The
earliest
manuscripts
of
Greece
and
Rome
show
nothing
like
this distinctive
Keltic
art
;
nor the Italian
museums,
nor the
wall-paintings
of
Herculaneum
or
Pompeii
beautiful as
are
the
representations
of
the
KELTIC
ART ADOPTED IN EUROPE.
331
human
figure
found there
;
nor
does
Byzantine
art
afford
any
similar
types.
From
whence,
then,
did the
Irish,
the
acknowledged
founders of Keltic
art in
Europe,
derive
ideas of ornamentation ?
This is one
of
the historical
mys-
teries
which,
like the
origin of
the Hound
Towers,
still
awaits
solution. One
must travel a
lonj way,
even
to
the
far
East,
before
finding
the decorations of
the
ancient
Hindoo
temples
anything approaching
to the
typical
idea
that runs
through
all Irish ornamentation.
It
is,
however,
an
in-
controvertible
fact,
and one
proved
to demonstration
by
Mr. Westwood's
learning,
labour,
and
researches,
that at
a time
the
pictorial
art
was
almost extinct
in
Italy
and
Greece, and,
indeed,
scarcely
existed
in
other
parts
of
Europe
namely,
from the
fifth
to
the end of the
eighth
century
a
style
of
art had
been
originated,
cultivated,
and
brought
into
a
most marvellous
state of
perfection
in
Ireland
absolutely
distinct from that
of
any
other
of the
.civilized
world
;
and
which,
being
carried
abroad
by
Irish
and
Saxon
missionaries,
was
adopted
and
imitated in
the
schools of
Charlemagne,
and in
all
the other
great
schools
and
monasteries
founded
by
them
upon
the
Continent.
CONTINENTAL
SCHOOLS
ADOPT THE
KELTIC
ART.
*'
It
is
no
idle
boast to
say
that the Irish were the
teachers
of
Europe
from
the
seventh
to the ninth
century
in
art and
religion.
Mr.
Westwood has visited
all
the
great
libraries
of
England
and
the
Continent,
and found
abundant evidence that Irish
art,
or Hibernio-Saxon
art,
was
diffused over
Europe
during
that
period.
The
Greek
and
Latin
manuscripts
are
not
illuminated,
but
are
adorned
with intercalated
pictures
;
Irish art differs
from
them
in
many
respects amongst
others,
in
having
the
figures
and
rich
ornamentations
printed
on
the leaves and
borders of
the
book
itself. He
has
given
fac
similes from
332 STUDENTS
IN IRISH ART
Irish
manuscripts
now
existing,
in the
libraries of
Oxford,
Cambridge,
Durham,
Lichfield,
Salisbury,
Lambeth,
the
British
Museum,
and other
places
;
and,
passing
to
the
Continent,
has laid
under contribution the
great
libraries
of
Paris,
Eouen,
Boulogne,
St.
Gall,
Milan,
Rome,
Munich,
Darmstadt, Stockholm,
Copenhagan,
and even
St.
Petersburgh,
and
thus
proved
the
excellence
to
which
Irish
artists,
or Saxon artists educated
in Irish
schools,
attained
more
than a
thousand
years
ago.
Review,
March
1869.
And
thus
it
appears
the
style
of
the
illuminating
art
as
practised throughout
Europe,
as
well as
that
which
the
Anglo-Saxons
prized,
was
that of which
the
mis-
sionaries,
St. Columba
and
St.
Columbanus,
had
acquired
a
knowledge
in
Ireland,
and had
brought
with
them
to
the
countries
which
they
civilized
or
enlightened.
"
The
art
of
illuminating
had attained a
perfection
in Ireland
almost marvellous
;
and
this,
in
after
ages,"
says
West-
wood,
"
was
adopted
and
imitated
by
the continental
schools visited
by
the
Irish missionaries.'
Students
in
ecclesiastical
colleges
should
not
only
know the
fact,
but should be familiar
with
it
;
and
young
boarders
who receive their
education
in
convent
schools
should
have no
misgivings
on the
subject,
that the
pre-
servation
of
the
literary
labours of the
learned
in ancient
Rome
and
Greece,
as well as
of all monuments
of
reli-
gious learning,
has
rested
mainly
on
the
guardian
care,
the
industry,
zeal,
and the laudable custom
of
copying
manuscripts,
for which
the monks
who studied
in
Ireland,
lona,
and
Lindisfarne,
in
conventual
seats
of
learning
established
by
missionaries
from
Ireland had been
so
eminently distinguish
eJ.
ART IN PAGAN
IRELAND.
The
following argument
appears
suasory
in favor
of
WHO
TAUGHT ST. COLUMBA LIMNING
?
333
the
existence
in Ireland' of the
art,
not
only
of
writing-,
but
also of
illuminating manuscripts
before the
coming
of
St.
Patrick to
Ireland. St. Columba was
born
A.D.,
520,
St.
Patrick
began
his mission
in
432,
A.D.
History
tells
us that
no
people
become
perfect
in
literary
arts in a few
years,
say
a
century
or two. The
growth
must
be
natu-
ral. In
the
year
540,
St. Columba
was,
it
is
known,
a
splendid
adept
at
illuminating
and
copying
books.
His
love for
manuscripts
and for translations
led
to a
pitched
battle,
and
ultimately
to his
exile from
Ireland.
The
Book
of
Kells,
which
is the wonder
of the
world
to
this
day,
is his work.
How did
the
saint
acquire
such a
knowledge
of
the
art of
writing,
or
illuminating,
and
to
such
perfection,
that his
work
to
this hour is
the
marvel
of all
European
antiquaries.
Digby Wyatt
observes that
in
delicacy
of
handling,
and minute but
faultless
execu-
tion,
the
whole
of
paleiography
offers
nothing
comparable
to the ancient
Irish
manuscripts, especially
the
Book
of
Kells,
the
most
marvellous
of
them
all.
He
attempted
to
copy
the
ornaments,
but broke down
in
dispair.
In
one
space
about
a
quarter
of an inch
superficial,
he
counted
with the
aid of
a
magnifying
glass
no
less than
one
hun-
dred and
fifty-eight
interlacements
of a
slender
ribbon
pattern,
formed
of
white lines
edged
by
black
ones
upon
a
black
ground.
"
No wonder"
says Wyatt,
"
that
tradi-
tion
should
allege
that these
unerring
lines
should
have
been traced
by angels."
Now Columba must
have
had
masters
to
teach
him. These
must
have
learned
from
others.
Who
were
they
?
Were
they
Roman
?
No.
Were
they
Irish ?
Yes.
Natives?
Yes. The
Irish
had
received
a
knowledge
of
letters
from
Rome,
if
you will,
Iwt
they
did not receive
a
knowledge
of
the
art
of
illu-
minating
:
and
this
for
two
reasons
;
(1)
the
shortness
of
the
period
between
432
and
540
;
(2)
the
fact
that
tlia
334
GERALD
BARRY.
Romans
themselves
did
not
begin
to
practice
the
art of
illuminating
till
about that
period,
or a
century
earlier,
and
when
they
did
begin, they
had
nothing
so
beautiful
or
grand
as
the
illuminating
school
in
Ireland,
even
at
the
earliest
period,
produced
(See
Lady
Wilde's
words
quoted
above.)
The art
as
practised
in Ireland
was,
toio
ccelo
different
from
the Roman.
The
earliest
manuscripts
of
Greece
and
Rome,
says
Lady
Wilde,
"
show
nothing
like
this
distinctive
Keltic
art. .
.
.
Hence,
she
asks,
"
From
whence
did
the
Irish,
the
acknowledged
founders
of
Keltic
art
in
Europe,
derive their ideas
of ornamenta-
tion
?
. .
One
must travel
a far
way,
even to
the
far
East,
before
finding
in the decorations
of
the
ancient
Hindoo
Temples,
anything
approaching
to ike
typical
idea
that
runs
through
all Irish
ornamentation."
The
famous
Rev.
Gerald
de
Barry
(Cambrensisj,
who
did
not
regard
the Irish
of
any period
to
be
much
above
the level
of
barbarians,
was
obliged
to admit the
beauty,
finish,
and
perfection
displayed
in the
penmanship,
in
the
painting,
in
the
pictured
letters of
the
Book of
Kells.
His
words
are :
Si
autem
ad
perspicacius
infcuentium oculorum aciem
invi-
taveris,
et
longe
penitus
ad artis
arcana
transpenetraveris
tam
delicatas
et
subtiles,
tarn
acutas et
arctas,
tam nodosas
et
vinculatim
colligatas,
tamque
recentibus adhuc coloribus
illustratas,
notare
poteris
intricaturas,
ut
vere
hsec omnia
an-
gelica
potius
quam
humana
diligentia jam
asseveraveris,
esse
composita.
It
is
seemingly
Lady
Wilde's
opinion
that this Keltic
style
of
ornamentation
is of
Eastern
origin.
This view
harmonizes
with
all
that
has been stated
and
proved
in
the
foregoing
chapters
respecting
the
Eastern
origin
of
the
Kelts
of
Ireland.
It is
certain the
early
Irish
in the
first
age
of
their
conversion
to the
Catholic
faith,
prac-
tised
the
art.
W^est
wood's
Work
(Fac
S
'miles
of
the Mi-
ART
INVENTED OR BORROWED.
335
niatures
and Ornaments
of
the
Anglo-
So,
con and
Irish
Manuscripts)
of which
a
copy
is
to
be
had
at
the
Royal
Irish
Academy,
Dublin,
and the Book
of
Kells,
are
standing proofs
of
this
truth. It
is
certain
that the
style
of
art
has
not been borrowed
from
any
country
on earth.
The
style
is
essentially
Irish. Professor Westwood
says
that
art,
cultivated
in Ireland
and
by
Irishmen,
and
known
as
Keltic,
was
absolutdy
distinct from that of all
other
parts
of the civilized
world
;
that it had
attained,
in
Ireland,
a
perfection
almost
marvellous,
and
that
it
was
in
after
ages adopted
and imitated
by
the con-
tinental
schools,
visited
by
Irish missionaries.
Whence
did the
native race derive
that
knowledge
?
Either
they
invented
it, or,
as
Lady
Wilde seems to
divine,
they
had
it
from
the East. The science of
comparative
philology
bears out
Lady
Wilde's views. These
views
appear
to the writer
the
best
and
the truest.
In
any
case,
the art was known even
before
the
arrival
of St.
Patrick.
For no
people
on earth
could,
in
one cen-
tury,
have
become such
perfect
limnists as
the
Book of
Kells
and Westwood's
work
prove
them
to
have
been.
On
the other
hand,
if the Irish
Pagan
Kelts
had
invented
the
art,
and
brought
it to
such
perfection,
without
any
traditional
knowledge
from
the
early
mother
land,
they
must have been
the
most
extraordinary
in-
ventive
race on the face of
the earth.
This ie
the
strongest
possible
proof,
of a
high
state of
Pagan
civilization.
All writers admit that
the Keltic race were
most tena-
cious of old
rights,
old
customs,
and
traditionary
know-
ledge
of all kinds.
To
this
very
hour
the Irish
race
will,
despite
all
inno-
vation of the
nineteenth
century, cling
to
many
of
the
old customs
;
and
rightly,
if the customs are
good.
If
it
IB so
now,
it
was
much
more
the
habit of
the
Keltic
race,
330
DRUIDS
AND
PAGAN
PHILOSOPHERS.
in
the
early
ages.
Zeuss and
Constantius
Nigra
bear
ample
testimony
to
this
special
(rait
of
character :
Moru.-ii
ipriscorum
semper
l<
.
\ <vu nt
GelticifOjmli
(_G
ram-
mafic.
i
(.-' I
,
/>.
915.)
La
"
;
\\
'i
!c
say.s
:
"
Tho
Irish
adhered with
wonderful
fidelity
to
their
peculiar
art
ideas
for
at
least
eight
hun-
dred
years
(say
twice
eight
hundred).
While the
Saxons
coquetted
with
Frankish
art,
the
Irish
continued their
exclusive
devotion
to the
ancient and
national
Keltic
type,
They
gave
ideas
to the
world,
~but
received
nomin
exchange."
The nature
of the
Pagan
polity,
and
the
Druidical
laws
in
connection
with the
religious
system,
fostered
this
traditional
conservatism,
as at
present
it
is
fos-
tered
amongst
the
Brahmins of
Hindostan.
Hence it
is
in
no
way
surprising
if
the
first dawn of the
light
of
the
Keltic
"
illuminatory
art"
had
come from
the
East
;
and
if
a
knowledge
of
it had been
preserved,
and even
improved
amongst
the
Druid
teachers and their
scholars.
The
youth
of
these countries
have
been
taught
to
regard
the
Pagan
Druids
as
educated
savages,
whereas
they
had
the same
opportunities
for
acquiring
knowledge,
and
had
really
possessed
as
much,
perhaps,
as the
Pagans
of
the
Peloponesus.
ART
OF
MIXING
COLORS KNOWN
IN
PAGAN
IRELAND.
All
that has
been stated
and
proved
in
the
foregoing
paragraph
receives
additional
strength
and
confirmation
from
the
historic
proofs
that remain to show the
extraor-
dinary
knowledge
which
the
Pagan
Irish
possessed
of
the
art of
mixing
colors.
This
art of
producing
and
combin-
ing
colors
was
as
well
known
by
our
Pagan forefathers,
as
it
had
been
by
the
Tyrians.
W.
K. Sullivan
writes
:
"
The
intimate
acquaintance
of
the
ancient
Gaels
of
Erin
with
the
cardinal
colors in
their
higest
degree
of
purity,
and
with
a
great
variety
of
ORIGINALITY.
837
other shades
and
tints,
can
be
clearly
established
by
ex-
isting
evidence
of
a
very
certain character.
The
Book
of
Kells,
which is
an ancient
copy
of the four
Gospels,
preserved
in the
library
of
Trinity
College,
Dublin,
con-
tains,
in its
pictorial
representations
as
well as
in its
iUuminations
of the written
text,
a
display
of beautiful
coloring
sufficient
of itself
to
prove
the taste and know-
ledge
of the
beautiful
in
colors,
possessed by
our remote
aucestors."
"
Wnen Ireland
fell
under
the
Norman
sway,
in
the
twelfth
century," says Lady
Wilde,
"
Norman
ideas
naturally
became
triumphant
;
but
everything
that
is
most beautiful
in
antique
art
belongs
to the
pre-Norman
period.
All
those evidences
of
high
cul
Ovation
and
artistic skill
were
in
existence
long
before
Normans had
set foot
on our
shores."
"
Wherever,
amongst
the
early
manuscripts
in
foreign
libraries,
one is found
surpassing
all
the
rest
in the
sin-
gular
beauty
and
firmness of
the
writings,
there at
once
an Irish
hand
is
recognised
as
the
worker,
or
an
Irish
in-
tellect
as
the teacher. . . . The
border
of the
pages
in
Irish
manuscripts
seems
powdered
with
crushed
jewels"
Lady
Wild;.
Review,
Hardi,
1867.
The
figures
in the
Book
of
Kells
are
;
no
doubt,
ecclesiastical
and
scriptural,
but
this
circumstance does
not in
the
least
invalidate our
claim
to
originality
in the
production
and
combination of
the
colors used
in
the vestments
there
pourtrayed.
On
the
contrary,
the fact
of
finding
them
in
illuminations
such
as
these,
still
preserving
all
their
brilliancy
in
a
book
written,
perhaps,
about A.D.
560,
only
bears the
strongest
evidence
of the
truthfulness
of
the use
of
bril-
Laut
dyas
in
the
coloring
of costume.
The
parity
and
brilliancy
of
the
gre^'ii,
the
bL.e,
the
crimson,
the
teurlet,
'
CLASS COLOKS.
ship,
stand
unrivalled^
and
can
only
be
recognised
by
art
actual examination of
this
very
beautiful
manuscript."
Manners
and Customs
of
the
Ancient
Irish,
vol.
Hi.,
p.
12.
COLORING
AND BRILLIANCY OF
DYES.
The
coloring,
and the
brilliancy,
and
variety
of the
dyes
is evidence
of the
knowledge
the
early
Irish
pos-
sessed
in that
department.
The
form
of the
figures,
the
symmetry
of the
written
letters,
the
minute
delineation,
the skill
in the
execution,
the
harmony
of
detail,
present
a
picture
of human
workmanship
that
cannot
be sur-
passed.
The
process
of
combining
colors
was
a
public
art.
The dresses
of men and
women,
from the
prince
to
the
peasant,
from the
queen
to the
quaint
housewife,
were
regulated
in color :
"
Blue
to
women,
Crimson
to
kings
of
every
host,
Green
and black to noble
laymen,
White to clerics." Book
of
Ballymote.
Amongst
the
princes
and
princesses,
there was
theft,
as
there
is
now,
a
rivalry
in
the
superiority
and
excellence
of the
coloring
of the
dresses
worn.
Not
only
was the
specific
color
named which
each
class
should
adopt,
but the number
of
colors
also
helped
to
distinguish
the different
graces
of
Irish
society
in
the
Pagan period.
"
One colour
in
the
clothes of
servants.
Two colors
in
the
clothes of
rent
paying
farmers.
Three colors
in
the
clothes of
officers,
rive
colors
in the
clothes of
chiefs.
Six
colors
in the clothes
of
Ollams and
poets.
Seven
colors
in the clothes
of
kings
and
queens."
Manners
and
Customs
of
the
Ancient
Irish,
p.
89,
by
'Curry.
Edited
lij
W. K.
Sullivan
t
President
oftlie
Queens
College,
Cork*
AX IIUSII
QUEEX.
339
These extracts
show
what
strict attention the
ancient
Irish in
Pagan
times
paid
to the
art
of
diversifying
and
improving
colors.
Hence
at
the
time
of
St.
Columba,
it
is in no
way
surprising
that
natives of
ancient Eire
were
then
superior
to
any
other
people
in
their
knowledge
of
combining
colors,
of
ornamenting,
of
writing
and
painting.
A
striking
instance of the
style
of
dress,
and
of
the
color
of
tho cloak
worn
by
kings
and
queens,
is
given
in
the Irish
Epic
of
the
early part
of the
first
century.
The
Taini
ho
Cuailgne.
Queen
Melb
is described as : "A beautiful
pale,
long-
faced
woman,
with
long, flowing,
yelljw
hair,
a crimson
cloak,
fastened
with a brooch of
gold
over her braasb
;
a
straight
ridged
'
slezgh,'
or
light
spear
blazing
red in
her
right
hand."
Lecture
SLjaiii,
uoZ.
ii.,
0'
Carry,
supia.
All this
is evidence
of the
knowledge
and
practice
of
the
art
of
coloring
in
the
days
of
Paganism
in
Ireland.
It is
no wonder
that a
people
so
conversant
with the art
of
combining
colors
should,
in
the
early years
of
their
conversion,
become
so soon
such
adepts
in
dyeing,
in
mixing
colors,
in
illuminating,
and
in
penmanship.
The
thoughts
of
Lady
Wilde on this
subject
of
the art
of
illuminating
in Ireland
appear
so
truthful,
so
natural,
so
beautiful,
that
the
writer
prefers
'
to
present
theui
than
to
express
his
own
:
"
It was
about
the end
of
tho sixth
century
that
the
fame
of
Irish
learning
and the
skill
of
Irish
artists
began
to
extend
to
England,
and from thence
to the
Continent
;
and
Irish
scribes
were
employed
to
make
copies
of the
Gospels
and teach
the
splendid
art
of illumination
in the
English
monasteries.
From
that
period
till the end
of
the ninth
century
the Irish
were
a
power
in
Europe
from their
learning
and
piety
eminent
in Greek
as well
as
in
Latin,
and
the
great
teachers of
scho-
lastic
theology
to the
Christian
world.
The
Gospels
of
Lindis-
iarne,
executed
by
monks
of lona
iu the
seventh
century,
and