Monks At Work

Birds and animals in the Lindisfarne Gospels

The Lindisfarne Gospels book is unusual for its large quantity of bird illustrations, and their naturalistic detail. Although they are arranged decoratively, they show observation of real birds, such as shags and herons, which would have been plentiful around Lindisfarne at the time. The eagle, the traditional symbol of St John, is so naturalistic that Eadfrith may have drawn one from life. He also included very distinctively drawn cats, one of which stretches up the major initial page of St Luke’s Gospel, with its elongated body filled with birds.

Aldred's inscription, added in the 10th century, recorded that the Lindisfarne Gospels were bound by Ethelwald and the cover decorated with an impressed design.
The jewelled binding for the GospelsA jewelled casing was added to the book by Billfrith the hermit priest. Both Ethelwald's and Billfrith's work has disappeared, probably removed by Henry VIII’s commissioners when the dissolution of the monasteries was ordered in around 1536. However, the cover and casing may have resembled those of the small book of St John's Gospel and the St Cuthbert portable altar, both placed in St Cuthbert's new tomb in 698. Writing and decorating materials Few other early manuscripts are painted using such varied colours as the Lindisfarne Gospels. The inks used to decorate the pages were pigments ranging from locally available vegetable dyes, plant extracts and minerals, to lapis lazuli, which had to be brought from the Himalaya mountains in Asia. The ink was made from soot, and other natural materials. In total about forty different paint pigments may have been used. Gold was also used in the illustrations but only in tiny amounts. Eadfrith’s pens were cut from feathers, probably goose feathers, which were easily available around Lindisfarne. Brushes were used to apply the paint colours, and tiny hairs from the brush have been found in places in the paint.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/features/gospels/gospels_monks_at_work.shtml