AR328 irish art from the early iron age to the 8th century ad (Option)

Module Summary

The sublime artistic achievements of the 8th century such as the Book of Kells, the Tara Brooch and the Ahenny crosses, represent the climax of an artistic tradition that began with the introduction of Celtic or La Tène art styles into Ireland around the 4th century BC. This course examines how, following the Roman conquest of western Europe, the Classical roots of La Tène art re-emerge as a dominant, vegetal, element in Irish art of the first few centuries AD and continue, as a core element in the motif-book of early Christian art, into the 7th and 8th century. Dominated by fantastical animals, Germanic art of Dark Age Europe was also incorporated into Insular oeuvre.  Aesthetics and cross-cultural influences notwithstanding, art provides a unique window unto the more religious and philosophical concerns of its creators and its audience, aspects that are explored through iconographical analysis.

Core Texts

• Bourke C. 1995. From the Isles of the North: Early Medieval Art in Ireland and Britain: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Insular Art held in the Ulster Museum, Belfast, 7-11 April 1994. HMSO Belfast.
• Henderson, G. 1987. From Durrow to Kells: The Insular Gospel-books 650-800. London.
• Hourihane C. 2001. From Ireland Coming: Irish art from the early Christian to the late Gothic period and its European context. Princeton.
• Megaw, R and Megaw, V. 1989. Celtic Art. From its beginnings to the book of Kells. London.
• Moss, R. 2007. Making and Meaning: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Insular Art held in Trinity College Dublin 25-28 August 2005, 167-184. Four Courts Press, Dublin.
• Spearman R.M. and Higgitt J. 1993. The Age of Migrating Ideas: Early Medieval Art in Northern Britain and Ireland: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Insular Art, Scotland 1991. Edinburgh.
• Youngs, S. 1989. The Work of Angels, Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th Centuries AD. London.

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