A lengthy discussion of the subject of Irish art lies outside the scope of our present study. We shall therefore content ourselves with making a rapid survey of some of its more characteristic features and with noting the part played by the monastic schools in its development and cultivation.
In the first chapter it was pointed out that there was a native art in Ireland before the introduction of Christianity and that the pagan Irish exhibited considerable artistic skill in their bronze, silver, gold, and enamel work as the specimens still preserved in our museums go to prove. From the pagan period we have numerous torques, gorgets, lunulae and other articles of personal adornment. These show that the pagan artist possessed both skill and taste in a high degree.[443] The character of the arts introduced into Ireland with Christianity was therefore grafted upon and modified by the native arts while new variations in design were introduced from the Continent by missionaries and foreign artists that came to Ireland. Thus art as practised in early Christian Ireland was no slavish imitation of foreign art but rather a development of native art whose progress was upward from the introduction of Christianity in the fourth and fifth century until the Norman invasion in the twelfth.[444]
CHARACTERISTICS OF IRISH ART:
The chief characteristics of Irish art are:
1. A symmetrical interlacement of a band or bands into a variety of patterns.
2. The graceful divergence of lines into trumpet forms.
3. The coiling of one or two very fine lines into mysterious spirals a lengthened examination of which has a weirdly fascinating effect on the eye.
4. A total disregard for the comforts of animal life, the bodies and members being twisted and distorted to suit the convenience of the artist.