Back فن جزيري Arabic Островно келтско изкуство Bulgarian Insulær kunst Danish Arte hiberno-sajón Spanish Art insulaire French Ealaín na nOileán Irish Arte insular Galician Insularna umjetnost Croatian Seni rupa Insular ID Arte insulare Italian
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe. Art historians usually group Insular art as part of the Migration Period art movement as well as Early Medieval Western art, and it is the combination of these two traditions that gives the style its special character.[2]
Most Insular art originates from the Irish monastic movement of Celtic Christianity, or metalwork for the secular elite, and the period begins around 600 with the combining of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon styles. One major distinctive feature is interlace decoration, in particular the interlace decoration as found at Sutton Hoo, in East Anglia. This is now applied to decorating new types of objects mostly copied from the Mediterranean world, above all the codex or book.[3]
The finest period of the style was brought to an end by the disruption to monastic centres and aristocratic life caused by the Viking raids which began in the late 8th century. These are presumed to have interrupted work on the Book of Kells; no later Gospel books are as heavily or finely illuminated as the masterpieces of the 8th century.[4] In England the style merged into Anglo-Saxon art around 900, whilst in Ireland the style continued until the 12th century, when it merged into Romanesque art.[5] Ireland, Scotland and the kingdom of Northumbria in Northern England are the most important centres, but examples were found also in southern England, Wales[6] and in Continental Europe, especially Gaul (modern France), in centres founded by the Hiberno-Scottish mission and Anglo-Saxon missions. The influence of Insular art affected all subsequent European medieval art, especially in the decorative elements of Romanesque and Gothic manuscripts.[7]
Surviving examples of Insular art are mainly illuminated manuscripts, metalwork and carvings in stone, especially stone crosses. Surfaces are highly decorated with intricate patterning, with no attempt to give an impression of depth, volume or recession. The best examples include the Book of Kells, Lindisfarne Gospels, Book of Durrow, brooches such as the Tara Brooch and the Ruthwell Cross. Carpet pages are a characteristic feature of Insular manuscripts, although historiated initials (an Insular invention), canon tables and figurative miniatures, especially Evangelist portraits, are also common.
- ^ Nordenfalk, 29, 86–87
- ^ Honour & Fleming, 244–247; Pächt, 65–66; Walies & Zoll, 27–30
- ^ No manuscripts are commonly dated before 600, but some jewellery, mostly Irish, is dated to the 6th century. Youngs 20–22. The early history of Anglo-Saxon metalwork is dominated by the early-7th-century finds at Sutton Hoo, but it is clear these were the product of a well-established tradition of which only smaller pieces survive. Wilson, 16–27. The earliest Pictish stones may date from the fifth century however. Laing, 55–56.
- ^ Dodwell (1993), 85, 90; Wilson, 141
- ^ Ryan
- ^ The late Ricemarch Psalter is certainly Welsh in origin, and the much earlier Hereford Gospels is believed by many to be Welsh (see Grove Art Online, S2); the 10th-century Book of Deer, the earliest manuscript with Scottish Gaelic, is an Insular product of eastern Scotland (Grove).
- ^ Henderson, 63–71