Title
Text in praise of Celtic Art Sent in Decorative BorderDate1905
MediumColoured inks, gold paint and coloured paints on cardboard
Dimensions
79.8 x 55.6 cm
Credit LinePresented, Dun Laoghaire, The Dominican Sisters, 1992
Object numberNGI.2011.2
Inscriptionupper centre to lower centre (in ink, coloured inks, gold paint and illumination): Perhaps there is no branch of the Art of Illum-/ inating more interesting to the hearts of the Irish / people than the intricate interlacing which may be / called their own peculiar style having sprung up / in the extreme west in the island homes of the Celtic race. / As their Code was independent / so was their Art original; nothing resembling it can be traced / previous to it, and at a period when the fine arts may be said to / have been almost extinct in Italy and other parts of the Conti-/ nent namely from the fifth to the end of the eighth century a / style of Art had been established and cultivated in Ireland / absolutely distinct from that of all other parts of the civilized world./ There is abundant evidence to prove that in the sixth and seventh / centuries the art of ornamenting manuscripts of the Sacred Scriptures / had attained a perfection in Ireland almost marvellous./ We have only to refer to the famous Book of Kells which is the / admiration of everyone, having in the space of a quarter of an inch one hundred / and / fifty-eight / interlacements./ No wonder that tradition should allege that these unerring lines should have been traced by angel's[sic].'lower centre (in purple ink): St Mary's Dominican Convent / Kingstown.
This illuminating was done by a member of the Community 2nd Nov. 1905.'
on verso, centre (in pencil): 'On Good Friday 1935/ the word Code was inserted instead/ of Creed which was in the original copy'.
lower left: 'Please pray for the repose of the soul / of Ss. M. Concepta. [sic] who began this Illuminating/ on the 12th July 1905. [sic] and finished it, 2nd Nov. 05.'
lower right: (in pencil): 'Taken out of frame to try & get/ off marks of damp / Summer retreat 1917'.
lower right (in brown ink, faded): 'O Mary [three further lines, illegible]' and 'I place this Illuminating, which will be [illegible] / the Dublin exhibition[sic], May 1907, [illegible] / from fire & all danger there, and send it back / Safe [illegible] for the greater honour & Glory / of God.' [all struck out in pencil] and, pencil, 'Was never sent'.
