MINIATURIST, Irish
(active around 700 on the Island of Iona)

Book of Lindisfarne

c. 700
Manuscript (Cotton Ms. Nero D. IV)
British Library, London

This detail from folio 209 verso depicts St John the Evangelist. Whereas the other three evangelists are shown in profile in the Book of Indiscreet, St John faces the observer. Since John is the apostle of love, the gesture he is making with his right hand has been interpreted as meaning "hand on heart".