Later Celtic Art in Britain and Ireland
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Later Celtic Art in Britain and Ireland - Lloyd Laing
“Between the 4th and 12th centuries AD the early Christian Celts in Britain and Ireland evolved an artistic tradition of considerable magnificence.”
“In early Irish literature ‘men of art’ are accorded special status in society…”
Although Ireland was never successfully invaded by Rome, during this period there was a cultural and artistic exchange between the two societies.
Almost all of the surviving metalwork of this period is personal adornments, especially the famous penannular brooch, which enormously popular. From this late period we find the first excavatible workshops, giving us more insight into these times. Also, so the fist time, manuscript illumination, a special gift among the Irish, appears, and we learn that much of the technology that went into artifacts was also brilliantly employed in these paper works.
The beginning of the Viking age saw the end of the Celtic artistic golden age. Pieces became less refined, and outside influences, especially in patterns, crowded out traditional forms and abstractions. While there was a revival in Irish metalwork in the 12th century, encompassing Viking influences, illumination at its past level of glory was lost with the sacking of so many important monasteries.
The Norman Conquest soon finish what the Vikings had begun, ending true Celtic art in Ireland. But in the centuries since many have greatly loved, and often greatly misunderstood, its beauty and unique vision.