The Book of Kells – Part 3

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

Spirals in art have fascinated me for quite a while now and while I’m not exactly sure why, I may have come a bit closer to discovering what draws me to them.  Apparently, the Irish have been fascinated by spirals for thousands of years and it keeps showing up in their artwork.

I started my adventure in Ireland by exploring Newgrange and Knowth, two megalithic passage tomb sites that are roughly 5000+ years old.  Both sites have extensive stone carvings of concentric circles, swirls and spirals.

On my second to last day in Ireland, I visited The Book of Kells at Trinity College in Dublin and found the manuscripts were also full of spirals.

One suggestion is that the spiral is a solar reference which would make sense in the case of Newgrange and Knowth with their solar connections to the solstices.  I wonder if it is possible that the spiral is adopted by the Early Medieval monks who crafted The Book of Kells as a reference to another sun, in this case, the Son of God.  Of course, this is just a theory I’v been pondering.  I guess I’ll just have to go back to The Emerald Isle to do some more research!

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I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.