Anglo-Saxon and Insular Art
Anglo-Saxon art emerged when the Anglo-Saxons migrated from the continent in the fifth century and ended in 1066 with the Norman Conquest. Anglo-Saxon art, which favored brightness and color, survives mostly in architecture and metalwork.
Anglo-Saxon metalwork survives mostly in Germanic-style jewelry and armor, which was commonly placed in burials. After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in the seventh century, the fusion of Germanic Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and Early Christian techniques created the Hiberno-Saxon style (or Insular art) in the form of sculpted crosses and liturgical metalwork. Insular art is characterized by detailed geometric designs, interlace, and stylized animal decoration.
Anglo-Saxon metalwork initially used the Germanic Animal Style decoration that would be expected from recent immigrants, but gradually developed a distinctive Anglo-Saxon character. For instance, round disk brooches were preferred for the grandest pieces, over continental styles of fibulae and Romano-British penannular brooches, reflecting Anglo-Saxon taste throughout the period. Decoration included cloisonné ("cellwork") in gold and garnet for high-status pieces. Despite a considerable number of other finds, the discovery of the ship burial at Sutton Hoo transformed the history of Anglo-Saxon art, showing a level of sophistication and quality that was wholly unexpected at this date. Among the most famous finds from Sutton Hoo are a helmet and an ornamental purse lid.
Sutton Hoo helmet (reconstruction)
The Sutton Hoo helmet features an iron skull of a single vaulted shell and has a full face mask, a solid neck guard and deep cheekpieces. These features have suggested an English origin for the basic structure of the helmet. Although outwardly very like the Swedish examples, the Sutton Hoo helmet is a product of better craftsmanship. This reconstruction in the Royal Armouries shows the intricate jeweled inlay, repoussé reliefs, and abstract designs that once adorned the original.
Sutton Hoo Purse Lid
This ornamental purse lid covered a lost leather pouch, hung from a waist belt. The forms on the top row feature interlace typical of Insular art, while the bottom row features stylized humans and mythical animals either devouring or being devoured.
Anglo-Saxon Architecture
Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. No universally accepted example survives above ground. There are, however, many remains of Anglo-Saxon church architecture. At least fifty churches are of Anglo-Saxon origin with major Anglo-Saxon architectural features, although in some cases the Anglo-Saxon part is small and significantly altered. The round-tower church and tower-nave church are distinctive Anglo-Saxon types. All surviving churches, except one timber church, are built of stone or brick, and in some cases show evidence of re-used Roman work.
Fobbing Parish Church, section of outer wall.
Blocked Anglo-Saxon round-arched window at Fobbing Parish Church. Also visible is the textured stone work of the outer wall.
The architectural character of Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical buildings range from influence from Celtic and Early Christian styles. Later Anglo-Saxon architecture is characterized by pilasters, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. In the final decades of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom a more general Romanesque style was introduced from the Continent, as in the now built-over additions to Westminster Abbey made from 1050 onwards.
Anglo-Saxon church at Reculver
Triple arch opening separating the nave and apse in the seventh-century church at Reculver, Kent (now destroyed). This reconstruction shows the blank arcading that was common in Anglo-Saxon architecture.
Celtic Art
"Celtic art" refers to the art of the people who spoke Celtic languages in Europe, as well as the ancient people whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with Celtic speakers. Typically, Celtic art is ornamental, avoiding straight lines, only occasionally using symmetry, and often involving complex symbolism. Celtic art has used a variety of styles and has shown influences from other cultures in knotwork, spirals, key patterns, lettering, and human figures.
Around 500 BCE, the La Tène style appeared rather suddenly, coinciding with some kind of societal upheaval that involved a shift of the major centers in a north-westerly direction. La Tène was especially prominent in northern France and western Germany, but over the next three centuries the style spread very widely, as far as Ireland, Italy, and modern Hungary. Early La Tène style adapted ornamental motifs from foreign cultures, including Scythian, Greek, and Etruscan arts. La Tène is a highly stylized curvilinear art based mainly on classical vegetable and foliage motifs such as leafy palmette forms, vines, tendrils, and lotus flowers together with spirals, S-scrolls, lyre, and trumpet shapes. It remains uncertain whether some of the most notable objects found from the La Tène period were made in Ireland or elsewhere (as far away as Egypt in some cases). But in Scotland and the western parts of Britain, versions of the La Tène style remained in use until it became an important component of the Insular style that developed to meet the needs of newly Christianized populations.
Celtic art in the medieval period was produced by the people of Ireland and parts of Britain over the course of 700 years. With the arrival of Christianity, Celtic art was influenced by both Mediterranean and Germanic traditions, primarily through Irish contact with Anglo-Saxons, which resulted in the Insular style. The interlace patterns that are regarded as typical of Celtic art were in fact introduced from the Mediterranean and Migration Period artistic traditions. Specific examples of Celtic Insular art include the Tara Brooch and the Ardagh Chalice.
Tara Brooch, front view.
Created in about 700 CE, the seven-inch long pseudo-penannular brooch is composed primarily of silver gilt and is embellished with intricate abstract decoration including interlace on both front and back.
The Ardagh Chalice
The Ardagh Chalice reflects the interlace styles introduced into the Celtic Insular Art form from the Mediterranean.
Catholic Celtic sculpture began to flourish in the form of the high cross, large stone crosses that held biblical scenes in carved relief. This art form reached its apex in the early tenth century, with Muiredach's Cross at Monasterboice and the Ahenny High Cross.
Ahenny High Cross (700-800 CE)
Ahenny High Cross, Ireland, one of the primary examples of Celtic sculpture.