One of Ireland’s most significant medieval manuscripts survives in the Abbey Library of St Gallen in Switzerland, as Bernard Meehan elucidates
The Gospel Book of St Gall is a key witness to the activities of Irish missionaries in early medieval Europe. Written and illuminated by Irish monks in c. 750, it contains the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and has twelve fully decorated pages. The origins of the monastic centre of St Gallen, which houses the book, go back to the exploits of the Irish missionary Columbanus (c. 540–615), who left Bangor, Co Down, around the year 590 and founded monastic houses at Annegray, Luxeuil and Fontaines in France and Bobbio in northern Italy. He had companions, a traditional twelve in number: Gall (c. 550–c. 645) was probably among them.
To read this article in full, subscribe or buy this edition of the Irish Arts Review
A Surrealist influence is evident in With Tomorrow, where the use of the Rückenfigur – a person seen from behind – dominates and where the surrounding space creates a tense and intriguing setting, writes Róisín Kennedy
Margarita Cappock visits Barbara Knežević’s exhibition, in which she explores her Balkan heritage through sculpture and film
Zsolt Basti talks to Francis Halsall about his accomplished practice, in which abstraction is an act of empathy