DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47496#0052
32
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND.
the coming of Patrick, it could not have been widely disfused.
We know that the saint, on various occasions, is recorded as
having taught the alphabet to such of his converts as were
destined for holy orders; and when he and his followers coming
from Gaul first appeared in the country, “carrying tablets in
their hands written after the manner of Moses,” the ignorant
natives, as already quoted, mistook them for swords.*
We have already seen that the character in which the Irish
scribes wrote resembles that employed in the Latin MSS. of
the Romance countries of the fifth century. It seems natural
to look to these countries then for the origins of Irish Christian
Art, but it is difficult to form any idea of what was the prevailing
character of Christian Art in Southern Gaul in the fourth and
fifth centuries.
Certain passages in the writings of Gregory of Tours
allude to mural decorations of churches, when Namatius, Bishop
of Auvergne (a.d. 423), brought from Ravenna the relics of
SS. Vitalis and Agricola; he erected a church in Auvergne,+
afterwards the cathedral of Clermont, in which to enshrine them.
It is not improbable that Byzantine Art penetrated even at this
early date through Ravenna to Gaul, and thence to Ireland in
the following century. The vaulted roof of this church of
Clermont is described as “wonderfully adorned with varieties
of colours,” and in a note we read of the mosaic work and
plastering work, both varied and complicated, with which it
was decorated, while the walls of the church were covered, or
rather veneered with marble. Again, it is stated that when
the Bishop found the basilica of St. Perpetuus consumed by
* See Todd, “ Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.”
+ “Hodie ecclesia S. Eutropii Suburbicarii; in ea sepultus suit Namatius
cum aliis sanctis, ut indicat libellusde Sanctis Claromont,” cap. 13, S. Greg.
Turon., “Hist. Franc.,” ii. 17 (Migne’s note). “Sic Regm. Picturas in
ecclesiis memorat passim Gregorius,” ut lib. vii. cap. 36, lib. x. cap. ult., etc.
“Hist. Eccles. Francorum,” lib. ii. cap. xvii.; Patrologia. Lat., t. lxxi.
col. 215, cap. 36.
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND.
the coming of Patrick, it could not have been widely disfused.
We know that the saint, on various occasions, is recorded as
having taught the alphabet to such of his converts as were
destined for holy orders; and when he and his followers coming
from Gaul first appeared in the country, “carrying tablets in
their hands written after the manner of Moses,” the ignorant
natives, as already quoted, mistook them for swords.*
We have already seen that the character in which the Irish
scribes wrote resembles that employed in the Latin MSS. of
the Romance countries of the fifth century. It seems natural
to look to these countries then for the origins of Irish Christian
Art, but it is difficult to form any idea of what was the prevailing
character of Christian Art in Southern Gaul in the fourth and
fifth centuries.
Certain passages in the writings of Gregory of Tours
allude to mural decorations of churches, when Namatius, Bishop
of Auvergne (a.d. 423), brought from Ravenna the relics of
SS. Vitalis and Agricola; he erected a church in Auvergne,+
afterwards the cathedral of Clermont, in which to enshrine them.
It is not improbable that Byzantine Art penetrated even at this
early date through Ravenna to Gaul, and thence to Ireland in
the following century. The vaulted roof of this church of
Clermont is described as “wonderfully adorned with varieties
of colours,” and in a note we read of the mosaic work and
plastering work, both varied and complicated, with which it
was decorated, while the walls of the church were covered, or
rather veneered with marble. Again, it is stated that when
the Bishop found the basilica of St. Perpetuus consumed by
* See Todd, “ Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.”
+ “Hodie ecclesia S. Eutropii Suburbicarii; in ea sepultus suit Namatius
cum aliis sanctis, ut indicat libellusde Sanctis Claromont,” cap. 13, S. Greg.
Turon., “Hist. Franc.,” ii. 17 (Migne’s note). “Sic Regm. Picturas in
ecclesiis memorat passim Gregorius,” ut lib. vii. cap. 36, lib. x. cap. ult., etc.
“Hist. Eccles. Francorum,” lib. ii. cap. xvii.; Patrologia. Lat., t. lxxi.
col. 215, cap. 36.