Article Review Of “Shapes Of Early Sculptured Crosses Of Ireland”

The article by Robert Stevick focuses on the crosses that were constructed during the early middle ages of Ireland. He starts off by writing about how these Irish High Crosses are easily recognizable and have not been analyzed in depth. He goes on to talk about the different shapes of these crosses starting with the shapes of stone crosses (3). He deconstructs these crosses so that each element can be pointed out and explains how they were put together so that if someone wanted to, they would be able to reconstruct one. He mentions that these crosses are highly geometric in their form and notes that who ever may have built them took their time to measure everything out. The different mathematic ratios of these crosses are also further explained in his article. The cross arm supports that are both common and uncommon are briefly explained in his article. Stevick explains that these crosses are often supported with a ring shape surrounding them. This is mainly because when a cross in this shape is made out of stone it is more susceptible to breaking. The circle surrounding the arms allows for further support from damage and is also esthetically pleasing to the viewer (12). He further writes about the details that are within these ringed crosses. He believes that specific shapes are chosen for these crosses to create balance, ease tension and will be a counterpoint for two oppositions (13). The article then goes into some of the uncertainties of these crosses such as weather they were derived from geometry of not and what might these possible mathematic patterns represent (16). He concludes his article by imposing some specific questions to the viewer about why did these people make ringed crosses and if these crosses have a specific chronology in design from one to the other over time (19).

Over all this article was extremely well written. It is very informative for the reader to be able to read about the geometric analysis of the crosses and just how they were laid out and planned. This breakdown allows for one to be able to go to another cross from that time period and deconstruct the mathematical elements of that particular cross. The article was very easy to read and to understand due to the contextual approach that was taken