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Recent archaeological discoveries have contributed much to our understanding of the visual art created in Britain and Ireland during the seventh to ninth centuries AD, known as ‘Insular art’. The scholarship of the late Dr Jennifer O’Reilly, a historian of Insular culture, complemented the archaeological advances by articulating with precision, imagination and profound knowledge the context of Insular manuscript art, which was rooted in the Christianity of late antiquity and the early middle ages.
Focusing on two famous manuscripts, the Codex Amiatinus and the Book of Kells, I will explore connections between the new picture of Insular art that modern archaeology has provided and the early medieval eyes through which Dr O’Reilly’s scholarship enable us to see this material culture. My talk accompanies the publication in 2019 of her collected art historical essays, which I have edited with Dr Elizabeth Mullins of University College Dublin: Volume 1: The Insular Gospel Books, and Text and Image, Volume 2: The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon Art (London, Routledge).
Remembered as a gifted lecturer and writer by her colleagues and her students, Dr Jennifer O’Reilly played a key role in establishing the degree programme in History of Art at University College Cork, where she lectured on medieval history between 1975 and her retirement in 2008. When she died in 2016, Jennifer O’Reilly left behind a body of published work in three areas of medieval studies: the iconography of the manuscript art produced in early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England; the writings of Bede and his older Irish contemporary, Adomnán of Iona; and the early lives of Thomas Becket. In these three areas she explored the connections between historical texts, artistic images and biblical exegesis shaped by the Church Fathers. Her teaching inspired generations of students, many of whom went on to complete doctorates under her supervision. In retirement she continued to write extensively, and she gave numerous public lectures, including the Jarrow Lecture and the Brixworth Lecture. She was a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
To celebrate this lecture and the work of Dr Jennifer O’Reilly Routledge have supplied us with a discount code that will enable enable a 50% discount on the print volume and a 25% discount on the eBook editions of Early Medieval Text and Image Volume 1 and Volume 2, and History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis. Discount will be available until midnight on 17 May 2021.
The discount code is JOR501. It can be redeemed at the check-out page on the publisher’s website – it will be applicable to both print and eBook editions of all three titles:
When she died in 2016, Dr O’Reilly left behind a body of published work in three areas of medieval studies: the writings of Bede and his older Irish contemporary, Adomnán of Iona; the early lives of Thomas Becket; and the iconography of the Gospel Books produced in early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England. In these three areas she explored the connections between historical texts, artistic images and biblical exegesis. The aim of the three volumes, published simultaneously by Routledge in 2019, is to realise that ambition. Seen together, the essays gathered in these books highlight her distinctive approach to historical sources, and her substantial contribution to our understanding of England and Ireland in the Middle Ages.
Please note that due to COVID 19 restrictions this event may be online only.
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