Pigments of the earliest Northumbrian manuscripts

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a campaign of non-destructive pigment analysis on a group of seventh-and eighth-century Northumbrian manuscripts, including the Durham Gospels. Integrating this critical mass of new information with the previously available data about related volumes such as Codex Amiatinus and the Lindisfarne Gospels, it reassesses the palette and use of colour in early Northumbrian manuscripts more generally.