Early Christian Art
Irish Metalwork, Illuminated Manuscripts & High Cross Sculpture in Ireland.
Visual Arts Guide

Early Irish Christian Art (c.200 BCE - c.1100 CE)

Unlike Britain and Continental Europe, Ireland was never colonized by Rome. As a result, Irish Celtic art was neither displaced by Greek or Roman art, nor buried in the ensuing "Dark Ages". Indeed, one of the defining features of Irish culture between the end of the Iron Age (200-100 BCE) and the gradual emergence of Christianity in Ireland from the third century CE onwards, was its unbroken tradition of La Tène Celtic culture influenced only marginally by Roman art. In the process, Irish culture retained its own oral historical and mythological traditions, as exemplified in the Lebor Gabála Erenn (Book of Invasions). Note that in 400 CE, the population of the country was between half a million and 1 million people.

From the fifth-century CE onwards, Irish culture underwent a gradual but significant renaissance, resulting (after about 650 CE) in an outburst of Hiberno-Saxon style or Insular art. This cultural renaissance was due to three factors. The first was the spread of Christianity throughout Ireland, a process attributed to Saint Patrick, which led to the foundation of numerous monasteries across the island - the basis for the resulting monastic Irish art. The second was the appearance of the first written Irish, or Ogham script, which offered a new means of artistic activity and expression. The third factor was the increased cultural contacts between Celtic Ireland and the Germanic Anglo-Saxons. The high point of this Insular art of the early Christian era was the creation of a series of illuminated Christian manuscripts, notably the Book of Durrow (c.650) and the Book of Kells (c.800), as well as such metalwork masterpieces as the Ardagh Chalice, the Derrynaflan Chalice, and the Tara Brooch. These religious illuminations in particular mark the third major step in the history of Irish visual art, after the Neolithic cultural finds at Newgrange and the ornamental gold objects of Irish Bronze Age art. At the end of the early Christian period, Celtic culture was superceded by the Norman invasion of 1169-1170 and the introduction of Romanesque art.

The impact of Christianity on Irish art should not be underestimated. The foundation of a tightly-knit network of monasteries throughout Ireland, Britain (especially Northumbria) and parts of Europe, all acting as centres of learning and artistic craftmanship as well as places of religious devotion, provided the perfect medium for a renaissance in the arts. The creative process of illuminating manuscripts was enhanced by Celtic designs taken from jewellery and metalwork produced for the Irish secular elite, but most insular art came about because of the patronage and direction of the Catholic church.

Monks began concentrating on the careful copying of Christian works such as the Gospels, embellishing them with fantasy-filled ornamentation. Most of the abstract forms (including spiral marking, knots, and tracery) which appear in these decorations, derived from patterns on brooches and buckles. Other examples of artistic embellishment include: historiated letters, figurative miniatures, rhombuses, crosses, trumpet ornaments, as well as stylized images of animal and human heads, plants and birds, all drawn in vivid colours. Further decoration was added through the use of ornamental metalwork in silver, gold and precious gems.

The earliest illuminated manuscripts are the Cathach of Colmcille (c.560), the Book of Dimma (c.625), and the Durham Gospels (c.650), while the earliest complete insular illumination is the Book of Durrow (c.670). But the most famous of all illuminated texts is the Book of Kells (also called the Book of Columba) regarded as the apogee of Western calligraphy. It includes the four Gospels of the Bible in Latin, together with introductions and explanations all embellished with numerous colourful illustrations and illuminations. The Book of Kells is on permanent display in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.

During the period 800-1000, silver became a popular medium for Irish and Anglo-Saxon metallurgists, which led to the creation of numerous impressive silver brooches. From the late eighth century to the twelfth century, Irish sculpture began to flourish in the form of the "High Cross", a large stone sculpture portraying a variety of scenes from the bible in carved relief. These sculptural works reached their high point during the early tenth century, as evidenced by Muiredach's Cross at Monasterboice, County Louth, and the Ahenny High Cross in Tipperary. The influence of Viking craftmanship on Irish Insular art can be seen towards 1100 when Irish artists began to follow the Nordic Ringerike and Urnes styles, as in the Cross of Cong, in County Mayo and the crosses at Cashel.

• For more about the history of Irish culture, see: Visual Arts in Ireland.
• For information about the cultural history of Ireland, see: Irish Art and Culture.

• How to Update This Mini Review of Early Christian Art.

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