We have an Irish
> crucifixion
> iconography with a pair of birds on Christ's shoulders, which to my mind
> seems more Scandinavian than Byzantine or Coptic;
>
The image of two birds on the shoulders of a figure appears
throughout Irish and Welsh mythology and Gaulish pre-Christian iconography.
Why does it have to be Scandinavian in origin?
Francine,
- I guess it doesn't - it just struck me as more likely than Byzantine or
Coptic, through Odin, but I'm willing to let that one go.
You're right about never resolving the manuscript origins - we just have to
keep reminding people about that, or they get very territorial and
sweeping! I personally think that Durrow and Kells are Iona products (that
is when I'm not worrying that Durrow isn't at all what it seems ...). And
I also believe that a synthetic style like that was always going to cause
problems. When the Irish backed out of Lindisfarne, I bet even then there
was dispute about "whose" style it actually was.
Best
Pippin
Pippin Michelli, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Art History, St Olaf College, MN
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/michelli/index4.html
Pippin Michelli
Art Department
St Olaf College, MN
http:www.stolaf.edu/people/michelli/index4.html
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