Lindisfarne Gospels - Iconography

Iconography

The Lindisfarne Gospels is a manuscript that contains the Gospels of the four Evangelists Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew. The Lindisfarne Gospels begins with a carpet page in the form of a cross and a major initial page, introducing the letter of St. Jerome and Pope Damasus I (Backhouse 2004). There are sixteen pages of arcaded canon tables, where parallel passages of the four Evangelists are laid out (Backhouse 1981, 41; Backhouse 2004). A portrait of the appropriate Evangelist, a carpet page and a decorated initial page precedes each Gospel. There is an additional major initial of the Christmas narrative of Matthew (Backhouse 2004).