Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Golden Age of Irish Art is the first serious assessment of the subject since 1945. In the last fifty years, painstaking research has added a wealth of new information and fresh insight, and Peter Harbison, the acknowledged authority on Medieval Irish archaeology, examines the art of the entire period. This up-to-date account, with over 250 illustrations of illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, architecture, and sculpture, is the most lavish and authoritative survey available on the subject.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Highlighting fine examples of early Irish Christian art, HarbisonÄa professor of archaeology at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, an honorary academic editor of the Royal Irish Academy, and a renowned expert on early Irish artÄfollows its development from 600 to 1200 C.E. This rich art, filled with pagan swirls and spirals, is insular and distinctly Irish. Chronologically, Harbison leads us through the range of its manifestations in architecture, sculpture, metal work, and illumination. His delightful text is informed and interesting, providing necessary historical and stylistic background. The beautiful color and black-and-white illustrations are large enough to show timeworn details, especially the fascinatingly carved high crosses that changed over the years. A wonderful overview of the period and a delight to the eye and mind, this book is recommended for specialized art or Irish history collections and larger libraries.ÄKaren Ellis, Baldwin Boettcher Lib., Humble, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This is a classic coffee-table book, in large format with attractive design and numerous large illustrations; the color plates vary in quality but the more numerous black-and-whites are almost all superb. The illustrations range from fine large-scale views to numerous greatly enlarged details. It is also a useful work for scholars, not only because of the illustrations. Although lacking notes, the bibliography is extensive, and Harbison (Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts), an eminent scholar of Irish art, has made an effort to incorporate some relatively recent scholarly trends and opinions. For example, his discussion of the famous High Crosses draws upon his own massive book and suggests dating these only from the ninth century and not earlier, as previously believed. Also, although devoted to Irish material, Harbison neither ignores nor devalues the significance of contemporary works from Anglo-Saxon England and from the continent, which he sees as having artistic traditions connected to the Irish material: "Spiritually, Ireland has always been a part of Europe--but a very individualistic one." A fair-minded, concise, and readable introduction. General readers; undergraduates through faculty. L. Nees; University of Delaware

Booklist Review

The Book of Kells is the most famous artifact from the Middle Ages in Ireland, during which the visual arts flourished, but it is only one of thousands of masterpieces from the same time and place. Employing the traditional Celtic curvilinearity, Christian scribes and stonecutters created magnificent illuminated manuscripts, high crosses, and goldwork for more than half a millennium. Harbison's excellent, comprehensive, lavishly illustrated book charts significant historical events and their resonances in the visual arts. With a nod to the prehistoric background, he examines the manuscript and metal art of early medievalism but devotes most coverage to the ninth through the twelfth century, when monasteries contributed to the richness of Irish culture as they sustained the intellectual life of Europe. A fine, scholarly, but accessible work. --Patricia Monaghan

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Peter Harbison is a professor of archaeology.

(Bowker Author Biography)