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Celtic
Art
Irish
Art
Art created on the island of Ireland and in its European dependencies.
The earliest forms of art in Ireland were prehistoric carved stones
(circa }2500 BC that formed parts of megalithic stone monuments and
tombs. Stone burial urns, ornamented with crude geometric designs and
wavy lines, were also common.
Pagan Celtic
Art
Art and decoration remained relatively primitive until the arrival of
the Celts, a migration that was probably complete by the 3rd century BC.
Early Celtic art expressed itself in gold and silver personal ornaments
and such bronze and iron implements as swords and bridle bits. These
objects were decorated with engraved designs or raised relief; the
distinctive Celtic style emphasized abstract geometric figurations based
on circles, spirals, and curved lines.
Christian
Celtic Art
With the arrival of St. Patrick in the 5th century AD, full-scale
conversion to Christianity took place, and monasteries became the
principal artistic centers. Christian Celtic art consisted mainly of
stone crosses, illuminated manuscripts , and metal objects such as
chalices, shrines, and reliquaries. The art of this period utilized
traditional Celtic curvilinear motifs enriched with foreign
embellishments brought back to Ireland by returning missionaries motifs
such as the Saxon use of entwined, interlocking animal forms in
geometric decorations. The most impressive Celtic Christian art was
produced from the late 7th to the early 8th century, both in Ireland and
in Irish missions in Europe. Manuscripts of books of the Bible were
embellished, or illuminated, with decorative borders and lettering of
astonishing intricacy and inventiveness. Complex, twining geometric
designs predominated; the rare representations of human faces and
figures were abstract and stylized. The masterpiece of this period is
the Book of Kells, which is unsurpassed for the minute perfection of its
jewel-like illumination. Other art of the period included large stone
crosses carved with interlacing relief decorations; ceremonial religious
objects ornamented with gold filigree and colored enamel studs, such as
the Ardagh Chalice (early 8th century, National Museum of Ireland,
Dublin); and personal ornaments of highly sophisticated design,
especially brooches called penannular brooches in gilded bronze and
silver.
Viking
Influence
Viking raids of the 9th and 10th centuries caused upheavals that put an
end to contemporary artistic endeavor. The return of settled conditions
around 1100 brought with it a period of renewed creative activity,
although the virtuosity of earlier centuries was never regained. Shrines
and reliquaries for sacred objects such as the great processional cross
from Cong were the outstanding artistic productions of the time. An
important innovation, most evident in the carving of stone crosses and
metalwork, was the gradual movement away from abstract geometric
decoration toward increasing representation of the human figure,
particularly bishops, saints, and biblical personages.
English
Influence
The indigenous Celtic tradition in Ireland declined rapidly during the
12th century. Increasing foreign influences, such as the introduction of
the Cistercian order in the mid-1100s, weakened traditional artistic
practice, and in 1170 the Norman conquest of Ireland put a complete end
to it. Thereafter, Irish art tended to be a mere subcategory of English
art. Irish Gothic art, the dominant style through the 15th and 16th
centuries, was only a weak imitation of English Gothic. Not until the
18th century did Irish art enjoy a resurgence. In architecture, the
neoclassical style then popular in England swept over Ireland, and Irish
architects, sculptors, and decorators produced many distinguished
country houses and town residences in that style. Irish painting emerged
in this period, when a number of Irish artists in London achieved modest
successes in the field of landscape and genre painting. The attempt of
James Barry to change the course of English art by reviving large-scale
historical painting, however, was a notable failure. In Dublin, a native
school of art, particularly devoted to landscape, coalesced after 1800
around such artists as William Sadler and George Mulvany.
20th-Century
Art
In the 20th century, Irish art has been notable for a modern revival in
stained glass; a minor renaissance in painting was led by Jack Butler
Yeats, whose exuberant, romantic paintings portray such lively figures
as Roma (Gypsies), clowns, and fighters.
Celtic Cross
In the 5th century Saint Patrick converted the Celts, the Iron Age
invaders of Ireland, to Christianity, but many of the converts retained
much of their Druidic religion. This Celtic cross near the Shannon River
in Ireland, with its elaborate stylized relief of earth gods and
woodland spirits, illustrates how the Celtic people preserved many of
their Druidic beliefs.
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