Lindisfarne Gospels

St John the Evangelist, illustrated in the Lindisfarne Gospels. One of the apostles (the 12 disciples) of Jesus, John is thought to have written the Fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation, both part of the New Testament of the Bible. John and his brother James, who grew up on the shores of Lake Galilee, were among the first disciples to be called by Jesus.

Celtic manuscript conceived as a memorial volume to St Cuthbert, who died in 687, held in the British Museum, London. It was produced at the Anglo-Irish monastery of Lindisfarne on Holy Island, Northumberland. Its decorative interlaced ornament is similar in style to that of the Book of Kells, now in Trinity College, Dublin (see Kells, Book of).

Under Ethelwold, bishop of Lindisfarne, the manuscript was enriched early in the 8th century by an elaborate painting of an evangelist to each of the four Gospels and by illuminated capital letters at the commencement of each book.

Its style has been described as Hiberno-Saxon, but the figures are often in Italian tradition, while the ornament derives unmistakably from Celtic design.