Regarded as the first comprehensive study of Irish art. Bruce Arnold traces the complex evolution of Irish art through three millennia, showing how it has drawn on Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Mediterranean sources. The author repatriates Irish artists who are frequently regarded as "English"--including William Mulready, Daniel Maclise and James Barry-- and explores how Irish paintings and sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, metalwork and architecture together form a rich and distinctive cultural heritage. Irish art of the early Christian era is justly celebrated. So, too, are the individual contributions of artists such as Jack B. Yeats. What is perhaps less widely accepted is the existence of a continuing and developing tradition of Irish art from the earliest times to the present day. Bruce Arnold has also written on William Orpen, Mainie Jellett and Jack Yeats.