Colourful beard-pullers
Object number: ROMGH.1998.137
Type: Poster
Technique: Drawn
Material: Ballpoint pen, Crayon, Paper
Width: 52cm | Height: 63cm
Production date: 1946 - 1962
George Bain clearly enjoyed bringing these fantastic beard-pullers to life. He enlarged them from their original size in the Book of Kells, so that we can read them clearly. He has used his earlier pencil studies of these panels to re-draw them and then colour them in biro and crayon. His vibrant colours help us understand the imagery.
Bain has added a lot of explanatory notes to help the viewer follow the interlacings. The two smaller designs are from one of the Eusebian Canons at the start of the Book of Kells. The larger panel is from a page in its St Matthew’s gospel. For reference he shows the actual size of each. That on the right is 14 times larger than drawn by the scribe in the monastery where it was created. Those on the left are 9 times bigger.
TCD MS58 folio 34r Trinity College Dublin and TCD MS58 folio 5r Trinity College Dublin
Author: Jill Harden
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