The Language Of Forms In The Book Of Kells

The Book of Kells is an illuminated gospel manuscript created by Irish Celtic Christian monks about800A.D. It is a combination of the special religion enthusiasm of Ireland and Hiberno-Saxon (Insular) art style. The forms of images and decorations are influenced by the gospel-interpreted concept of Harmony of the Gospels that took place from2nd century to5th century. On one hand, they follow the principle of unification but variation in designing the visual elements and planning overall layout, integrating the variety art styles of Hiberno-Saxon, Germanic, Coptic and continental Europe, in order to represent the four gospels are unity but each of them has unique characters, an aspect of the concept of Harmony of the Gospels. On the other hand, through the dual semantics of forms:declarative semantics and symbolic semantics, they interpret the humanity of Christ and render the deity of Christ for expressing the incarnation, another aspect of the concept of Harmony of the Gospels, so as to strengthen the authority of the gospels. It shows that the language of forms in the Book of Kelts is based on the interpretation of Scripture before the scholasticism in early medieval, with the distinct target audiences and function demands, and it becomes a special approach for communication.