Art of the Islands: Celtic, Pictish, Anglo-Saxon and Viking Visual Culture, c.550-900
Tuesday 8 October 2024
09:30 hrs to 15:30 hrs
Buxton Lee Wood Hotel
Presented by Michelle Brown
1. The aftermath of Rome and the Northumbrian Renaissance
This session introduces the Celtic and Romano-British artistic background to the Germanic migration – the age of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the Conversion to Christianity. It will examine the formation of a new cultural identity in Northumbria, when led to the creation of a collaborative ‘Insular’ culture in Britain and Ireland, producing works such as the Book of Durrow, the magnificent Lindisfarne Gospels, the Ruthwell Cross, the York Helmet and the impressive buildings at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, with a splendid library which produced the Codex Amiatinus and a scholar of the calibre of Bede.
2. The Rise of Mercia
This session looks at the rise to power of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia and its overlordship of southern and central England from the mid-8th century to the early 9th. It will include the Staffordshire Hoard, the St Chad Gospels and the Lichfield Angel, ostentatious gilded books from Kent, Mercian women’s prayerbooks, the stunning sculptures of Breedon on the Hill and Peterborough. It will consider King Offa’s imperial ambitions and the place of the striking sculptures of the Peak District, lying on the contested borders between Northumbria and Southumbria.
3. The Vikings, the Resistance and England’s Celtic Neighbours.
This final session will cover the Viking raids and the turbulent 9th century, in which the Anglo-Kingdoms fell, leaving King Alfred of Wessex to lead the resistance and fight back and to negotiate the partition of England with the Vikings, resulting in the Danelaw. it will look at the arts of Wessex and the rise of Anglo-Viking sculpture, King Alfred’s spiritual and cultural revival, with the Alfred Jewel, books in Old English and works in paint, fabric and stone. It will also consider what was happening to the artistic traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Man, Wales and Cornwall as the Insular Age came to a close, at the birth of new early medieval nations.
Booking is now closed.