“Words to be seen and images to be read: decoding the Lindisfarne Gospels“, Michelle P. Brown FSA (Professor Emerita, SAS, University of London; Visiting Professor, University College London; Visiting Professor, Baylor University)

Date: Wed. 24 June 2015
Time: 6:30pm, Wednesday
Venue: N395 – Woolley Lecture Theatre, University of Sydney

All Welcome

Sponsored by the Medieval and Early Modern Centre

The Lindisfarne Gospels mirrors the world at a time of transformation from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Made on Holy Island in the north of Anglo-Saxon England during the early 8th century, it blends cultural, artistic, theological and spiritual ingredients of Celtic, Germanic, Roman and Near Eastern origin to create a world view that stretches from the Atlantic seaboard to the deserts of the East. In this lecture its former curator will show how excavation of the layers of evidence that it contains can help us to access aspects of its making and meaning and to decode its rich visual messages.

Michelle P. Brown FSA was until 2012 Professor of Medieval Manuscript Studies, School of Advanced Study (SAS), University of London. She was Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts, British Library (1986-2004), and specialises in cultural & book history. Media appearances include Time Team, In Our Time, Christianity: a history and Secrets of the Saxon Gold. Extensive publications include studies of the Lindisfarne Gospels, Luttrell Psalter and Holkham Bible. Exhibitions include ‘The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels’ (BL) and ‘In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000’ (Smithsonian). She is Professor Emerita at SAS and Visiting Professor at University College London and Baylor.