The Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century, when the village of Ruthwell, now in Scotland, was part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria.
The Ruthwell Cross
Ruthwell church showing annex that houses the cross
The washing of Christ's feet, south side.
Top of the south face
Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of England, whose sophisticated art was influential in much of northern Europe. The two periods of outstanding achievement were the 7th and 8th centuries, with the metalwork and jewellery from Sutton Hoo and a series of magnificent illuminated manuscripts, and the final period after about 950, when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions. By the time of the Conquest the move to the Romanesque style is nearly complete. The important artistic centres, in so far as these can be established, were concentrated in the extremities of England, in Northumbria, especially in the early period, and Wessex and Kent near the south coast.
Shoulder-clasps from Sutton Hoo, early 7th century
11th century walrus ivory cross reliquary (Victoria & Albert Museum)
Bird from the Sutton Hoo shield (part replica)
The evangelist portrait and Incipit to Matthew from the Stockholm Codex Aureus, one of the "Tiberius group", show the Northumbrian Insular and classicising continental styles that combined and competed in early Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. It was probably made in Canterbury.