Decoration of the in principio initials in early insular manuscripts: Christ as a visible image of the invisible god

The Christological hymn in the Epistle to the Colossians names Christ as the only image of the invisible God, Qui est imago Dei invisibilis (Col. I: 15). This Pauline verse frequently employed by patristic writers was used as the epitome of an iconoclastic view, but it also served as both inspiration and theological justification for Christian art.¹ St Paul developed his concept of Christ as the image not only in conjunction with the Genesis account of the creation ofman (Gen. I: 26), but also in relation to the reformation of fallen man back into the image of God (Rom. 8: 29, I Cor. 15: 48–49, II Cor. 3: 18. II Cor. 4: 4).² In his Epistles he masterfully centred such crucial biblical themes as the creation and fall of man, the Incarnation of Christ as well as the restoration of man to divine grace around a lesson on the imago. The Pauline fusion of these themes established the imago as a complex and multi-layered concept and allowed later exegetes to view the image through a chain of biblical texts. To this chain some commentators added the idea of the visible as the image of something invisible, and their list often ended up with the artistic image;³ consequently everything was perceived as an image or a dark glass (cf I Cor. 13: 12) through which one glimpsed the divine.⁴ Following in the steps of the patristic exegetes, Insular writers developed their theology of the imago. Amongst these Insular writers, Bede (c. 673–735) and Columbanus (c. 543–615) were aware that the concept of the image bears in itself a multiplicity of connotations which included biblical and artistic meanings.⁵.