Irish art
Its history starts around 3200 BC with Neolithic stone carvings at the Newgrange megalithic tomb, part of the Brú na Bóinne complex which still stands today, County Meath.
From the late 17th century, artists in the general contemporary styles of European fine art began to emerge, particularly the painting of portraiture and landscapes.
With a small pool of patrons and better opportunities to be found abroad, many Irish artists emigrated, especially to London (portraitists) or Paris (landscapists), which stifled the nascent indigenous scene.
Opportunities began to spring up at home; the Celtic Revival movement saw a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture, Hugh Lane established the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, the first public gallery of its kind in the world, and with increased patronage a new generation of homegrown talent and returning emigres gradually formed a solid basis for the regrowth of art in Ireland.
A range of thin decorated gold discs, bands and plaques, often with pin-holes, were probably attached to clothing, and objects that appear to be earrings have also been found.
The Late Bronze Age of 900–600 BC saw the peak of the surviving Irish prehistoric goldsmithing, with superbly worked pieces in simple but very sophisticated designs, notably in a type of dress-fastener that looks like a double-ended trumpet curved round so that the two bell mouths are roughly pointing in the same direction.
Goldwork all but disappears in the Iron Age, except for the late and enigmatic Broighter Hoard of the 1st century BC, which appears to mix local and Roman pieces.
The decoration on a number of bronze scabbards, many found in the River Bann, have inspired much discussion, as they seem close to other pieces from as far away as Hungary, and the possibility of an immigrant master has been raised.
Through the Gothic and Renaissance periods Irish art was essentially a regional variation of wider European styles, with many works imported from England or further afield, and some English artists and craftsmen active in Ireland.
[3] Wars, rebellions, and unrest, concentrated in the late 16th century, from 1641 to the 1650s, and after 1688, greatly hindered the developments of the arts, and the processes exemplified by the Flight of the Earls in 1607 largely brought to an end the position of the old elites of Gaelic Ireland, who had been a mainstay of patronage for artists.
As in other areas of work, many artists based themselves in the much larger market offered by England for most of their careers, including the 18th-century landscapist George Barrett, Sr., the portraitist Nathaniel Hone the Younger, James Barry, Daniel Maclise, John Lavery and Sir William Orpen.
The portrait sculptor Christopher Hewetson (c.1737–1798) moved to Italy in his twenties, and never left, catching English aristocrats on the Grand Tour, and producing many busts of Pope Clement XIV.
[5] Early Irish masters include: Garret Morphey, Robert Carver, George Barrett, Sr., James Barry, Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
The Irish impressionists included Roderic O'Conor and Walter Osborne, with other landscape artists: Augustus Nicholas Burke, Susanna Drury, Paul Henry, Nick Miller, Nathaniel Hone the Younger and Pat Harris.
Apart from Francis Bacon, who left Ireland as a young man, the best-known 20th-century Irish artist was Jack Yeats, brother of the poet, also with an individual style that is hard to classify.
Interest in collecting Irish art has expanded rapidly with the economic expansion of the country, primarily focussing on investment in early twentieth century painters.
[citation needed] Support for young Irish artists is still relatively minor compared to their European counterparts, as the Arts Council's focus has been on improving infrastructure and professionalism in venues.
