Celtic art
Celtic art [De].A style of decorative art, widely regarded as one of the most impressive known from antiquity that developed around 500 BC in central and western Europe and found expression in the following centuries over a wide area from Spain and Ireland across to eastern Germany. Also known in its early stages as La Tène art. The development of the style in the 5th century bc owes much to the artistic genius of local craftsmen building on the tradition of HALLSTATT geometric and abstract art, coupled with influences resulting from material introduced through trade, especially the animal designs seen on SCYTHIAN artefacts from the steppes of eastern Europe and the plant motifs found in the classical world. The result of this combination was a bold curvilinear style with a fascinating blurring of the distinction between naturalistic and abstract with a strong sense of balance but not of...
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