In this lecture, we explore the rich history of Monastic Ireland, examining the visual culture associated with key sites such as the Abbey of Kells and other centres of early Christian learning. The lecture considers how trade, travel, and conquest during the Viking raids fostered patterns of visual exchange between Ireland and neighbouring regions, particularly Iona, shaping artistic forms, materials, and motifs. Through close interpretation of The Book of Kells, we will explore how faith, devotion, and aesthetics were deeply intertwined, revealing a sophisticated visual language rooted in theology and ritual. The lecture will also examine the development of a native symbolic mythology, focusing on the famous yet enigmatic Sheela na Gig sculptures, whose meanings continue to provoke debate. Together, these case studies illuminate the complexity, creativity, and cultural connections of Ireland’s monastic artistic tradition.

27 January: Ireland and the Academy

Visual art was slow to prosper in Ireland during the Early Modern period due to political disruption and a dearth of patrons. However, a tradition of Irish painting began to flourish in the late 1600s, coinciding with the development of art academies across Europe. Beginning in Florence, Italy in 1563, the Academy would largely supplant the medieval traditions of artistic apprenticeship and institutionalise artistic education. Centres of art, culture, and significant influence, the Academy became an important centre in which national tradition and identity could develop. This period saw a dramatic surge in the development of visual art and literature throughout Europe. This was equally true in Ireland; still a part of the British Empire, Irish artists nonetheless drew on the prevailing academic tradition to create a distinctly Irish identity.

3 February: Irish Art in the Age of Enlightenment

This lecture explores Irish art in the Age of Enlightenment, a period shaped by new ideas about reason, education, and cultural exchange in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It will examine how the Grand Tour played a crucial role in the development of Irish artists, exposing them to classical antiquity, Renaissance art, and contemporary European painting, and how these experiences influenced artistic ambition and style on their return home. The lecture will consider the emergence of a more confident and outward-looking Irish visual culture, shaped by travel, patronage, and international networks. Particular attention will be given to artists such as Daniel Maclise, whose historical and literary paintings reflect Enlightenment interests in narrative and moral inquiry, and Joseph Arthur O’Connor, whose landscapes reveal the impact of continental traditions combined with a distinctive Irish sensibility. This week will illuminate how Irish artists engaged with Enlightenment ideals while negotiating questions of identity, place, and modernity.

10 February: Irish Artists Abroad

This lecture examines Irish art in the early stages of modernity, focusing on how travel and sustained encounters with European modern art helped shape a distinctly Irish artistic response. As artists studied, lived, and exhibited abroad, they absorbed new approaches to form, colour, and subject matter emerging from centres such as Paris and London, while also negotiating questions of national identity and cultural independence. The lecture explores how these influences were adapted rather than simply adopted, resulting in work that balanced international modernist ideas with local experience, landscape, and social realities. Attention will be given to the tensions between tradition and innovation, and to the ways Irish artists forged individual paths within wider European movements. By tracing these exchanges and transformations, the lecture highlights how early Irish modernism emerged through dialogue, mobility, and creative reinterpretation.

17 February: The National Collection in Cork’s Crawford Art Gallery

This week focuses on the Irish National Collection at Crawford Art Gallery, exploring its rich history through a close examination of the gallery’s sculpture collection and the pivotal role played by historic bequests and donations in shaping its growth. Guest speaker Dr Michael Waldron, Curator of Collections & Special Projects at Crawford Art Gallery, will join Dr Whyte to offer a lecture entitled ‘National Treasures of the Twentieth Century’. Dr Waldron will explore some of the twentieth-century highlights of Crawford Art Gallery’s collection including the work of artists like Harry Clarke, Gerard Dillon, Mainie Jellett, Seán Keating, Alice Maher, Norah McGuinness, Patrick Scott, Mary Swanzy, Jack B. Yeats, and donated works from the AIB Art Collection. By tracing how key works entered the collection, the lecture will reveal the networks of artists, patrons, and institutions that contributed to the development of one of Ireland’s most important public art holdings. With the Crawford currently closed for Capital Redevelopment, this talk offers a timely opportunity to revisit familiar works and uncover new and lesser-known aspects of their histories, from their original contexts to their journeys into the national collection. It invites audiences to reconnect with the collection in fresh ways while reflecting on its enduring cultural significance.

24 February: Irish Contemporary Art

We finish our journey through the history of Irish art by turning our attention to the here and now. In the present day, Irish artists are beset with the question that faces artists the world over – what does it feel like to be alive today? In the twenty-first century, this means a melting pot of cultures, media, visual forms, and meanings. Contemporary Irish art represents this diversity – in today’s lecture, we survey some of the most prominent Irish contemporary artists, exploring how their practice advances both visual culture and the most pressing issues that face us in the present climate. Today’s lecture will include an artist talk from Cork-based visual artist Lara Quinn, a recent graduate of MTU Crawford College of Art & Design, whose powerful work incorporates a sophisticated art historical lens and mythological sources within arresting imagery of feminine archetypes.