A new book explores the life of a pioneering Irish stained-glass artist through his glorious creations
about 5 months ago (12/18/2023)
A new book explores the life of a pioneering Irish stained-glass artist through his glorious creations Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Books review A new book explores the life of a pioneering Irish stained-glass artist through his glorious creations Michael Healy’s reclusiveness belied his trailblazing role in Ireland's most prestigious studio of its kind Maev Kennedy 18 December 2023 Share Detail of The Potter (1923), at the Church of the Most Holy Rosary in Bridge a Crinn, County Louth, Ireland Photo: Jozef Vrtiel The saints and angels created in the early 20th century by the Irish stained-glass artist Michael Healy look down in a blaze of heavenly light from a jewelled world. The clergy and wealthy middle-class patrons who commissioned windows for churches across Ireland and England, even as far as New Zealand and Texas, could hardly have believed how different the artist’s own world was. Healy was part of a new Irish school of stained glass, driven by the urge to supply Irish-designed and made windows for scores of Roman Catholic churches being built, extended or restored, often funded by a newly prosperous Catholic middle class, and strongly linked—as was the revival of interest in Irish art and language in general—to the nationalist movement.