Illuminations and Text Treatments
Exodus 20: 1-17 The Ten Commandments
Matthew 5:1-12 The Beatitudes
Exercise
Text: Select an illumination. Read the text closely: what themes do you see in the text? How might you visualize it if you were making artwork based on it?
Art and Text: Now look at The Saint John’s Bible’s rendition of that passage. What do you see? Does anything surprise you? Are there themes in the text that the illumination emphasizes or downplays? (Feel free to use the Sink or Patella books for this question.)
Art and Text: Find another illumination that is symbolically in conversation with the first illumination you looked at. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for this illumination. What do you read and see?
Art and Art: What is the shared symbolism between these two texts? What does the symbol mean to you? (Feel free to let your imagination go on this one!)
Text and Text: What conversation does The Saint John’s Bible create between the artistically linked passages?
Conclusion: What do you think the significance might be of this Bible, particular in the illuminations you examined? Why should we with even bother with a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible in the digital age?
List of Illustrations and Text Treatments by Volumes
Illuminations and Text Treatments
Matthew 6: 9-13 Our Father
John 7:53 - 8:11 Woman Caught in Adultery