The history of Irish art 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. In early-Bronze Age Ireland there is evidence of Beaker culture and a widespread metalworking. Trade-links with Britain and Northern Europe introduced La Tène culture and Celtic art to Ireland by about 300 BC, but while these styles later changed or disappeared under the Roman subjugation, Ireland was left alone to develop Celtic designs: notably Celtic crosses, spiral designs, and the intricate interlaced patterns of Celtic knotwork.
Christ Enthroned from the Book of Kells (9th century)
Gold lunula from Blessington, Ireland, Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, c. 2400 BC – 2000 BC, Classical group
The Ardagh Chalice, c.? 750
Cupid and Psyche in the nuptial bower by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, who trained in Dublin under Robert West. Oil, 1792–93.
The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State in December 1922.
Royal Hibernian Academy
Academy House, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin (1824), mostly destroyed in 1916.
