# Book of Durrow [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MINIATURIST, Irish]() - Date: 0651-0700 - Technique: Manuscript \(Ms. A.4.5 \[57\]\), 245 x 145 mm ## Commentary Book of Durrow 650-700 Manuscript \(Ms. A.4.5 \[57\]\), 245 x 145 mm Trinity College Library, Dublin This codex is one of the insular Gospel Books. They are all written in Irish half uncial scripts. The most famous is the Book of Kells, but this is really the last of a long line and was preceded by many outstanding manuscripts. The Book of Durrow is perhaps the oldest surviving Insular gospel, and the earliest example of the full range of Insular illustration and layout. The text consists of several prefatory pages and the Vulgate version of the gospels \(but presented in the pre-vulgate order of Matthew, John, Luke and Mark\). The manuscript was written around 650-675 either at the Durrow Abbey, County Offaly, Ireland, or in Northumbria, England. Wherever it was written, however, it ended up at the Durrow Abbey by the late eleventh or early twelfth century. The picture shows one of the six elaborate 'carpet' pages of interlaced patterns \(folio 125v\). It precedes the Gospel of St. Luke. ## Related artworks - [Book of Durrow]() - [Book of Durrow]() - [Book of Durrow]() - [Book of Durrow]() - [Book of Durrow]() - [Book of Kells]() - [Book of Kells]() - [Book of Kells]() - [Book of Kells]() - [Book of Kells]() - [Book of Kells]() - [Book of Kells]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()