[Anglo-Saxon Art [continued (3)]][23rd February 1991]

[Redbook8:289][19910223:1628][Anglo-Saxon Art [continued (3)]][23^rd February 1991]

19910223.1628

‘We know from written records that large numbers of Italian books, paintings and other church furnishings were being brought to Northumbria by Benedict Biscop, Abbot Geolfrith, and St. Wilfred.’

*

‘Fortunately, due to the missionary activity of such Anglo-Saxon saints as St. Boniface and St. Willibrord in Germany and the Netherlands, a certain number of works did travel abroad, and some of them, the Book of Echternach for instance, still exist (the latter in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). Of even greater general importance was Charlemagne’s employment of Alcuin of York as principal scholar and cultural adviser to the Frankish court, for through him much of the literature and learning salvaged by the English from Italy passed back to the Continent before England herself suffered at the hands of barbarian invaders.’

**

* – E[ncylopaedia of] V[isual] A[rt] 3:402

** – E[ncylopaedia of] V[isual] A[rt] 3:409

[continued]

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