Lindisfarne Gospels at the Laing - Map 1
I remember learning about the Lindisfarne Gospels when I was at school, and I’ve been fascinated and inspired by them ever since. As you can imagine I was delighted to be asked to make two illustrated maps for the Lindisfarne Gospels 2022 exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.
Project Background - Map 1
The job of the first map was to illustrate how, when, where and why these stunning, illustrated manuscripts were created. I was given a large number of documents to read and then it was up to me to distill all the information down into a picture which would be accessible for adults, students and school children. Quite a challenge!
The trickiest bit was going to be finding a way to pull all of these different types of information together in one picture which would act as a reminder and a talking point for young people (and grown-ups like me who didn’t concentrate in school history lessons).
I took a deep breath, sketched out several compositions, and ended up with this…
Some details
I began with how Christianity was brought over to Lindisfarne from Iona by St. Aidan.
Then came St. Cuthbert, and his role in shaping what happened next on Lindisfarne.
My favourite bit was illustrating all of the monks at work making the different coloured inks from the natural materials they found on Holy Island. It was pure chemistry!
Also, who doesn’t want to draw a marauding Viking, a king and a saint?
It was fascinating to learn that the gospels weren’t created in isolation - the monks were heavily influenced by all kinds of artistic traditions from right across the globe.
The finished map
Here’s the finished illustration. It’s one of my favourite pictures, and I’m lucky enough to have permission to sell it on a prints, a card and even a jigsaw.
The Laing also asked for the black and white ink drawing to give out to children as a colouring-in sheet. I hope they had some decent colour pencils and a sharpener!