Rachel Moss is an Irish art historian and professor specialising in medieval art, with a particular interest in

Insular art Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from ''insula'', the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style dif ...

, medieval Irish Gospel books and monastic history.O'Rourke, Frances.
First encounters: Rachel Moss and Catherine Marshall
. ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', 23 November 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2021 She is the current head of the Department of the History of Art at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where she was became a fellow in 2022. Moss has written extensively on the sources and iconography of medieval Irish art, its materials, methods and political and cultural settings. Her work includes detailed examinations of Irish

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and ful ...

high cross A high cross or standing cross ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...

es,

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

s, Celtic broochs,

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. Re ...

es and house-shaped and other reliquary shrines, with a close focus on

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

s such as the Stowe Missal,

Book of Durrow The Book of Durrow is an illuminated manuscript dated to c. 700 that consists of text from the four Gospels gospel books, written in an Irish adaption of Vulgate Latin, and illustrated in the Insular script style.Moss (2014), p. 229 Its origin a ...

and

Book of Mulling The Book of Mulling or less commonly, Book of Moling (Dublin, Trinity College Library MS 60 (A. I. 15)), is an Irish pocket Gospel Book from the late 8th or early 9th century. The text collection includes the four Gospels, a liturgical servic ...

Career

Moss has said that her interest in the medieval came from her grandfather, an archaeologist living in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

, who took her on digs when she was a child. She remembered "vividly when I was six and he took me to see a dig. One of the archaeologists put a human jawbone in my hand and told me about how you could tell she was a young woman. As a post-graduate, she worked on literacy projects in the then deprived Fatima Mansions area of Dublin. She became a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

in 2011, and was elected president of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...

in 2013. She is the current Head of the Department of the History of Art at

.Dr. Rachel Moss, Associate Professor, History of Art
.

. Retrieved 18 July 2021 Her 2014 survey "Medieval c. 400—c. 1600" was published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

as part of their five-volume ''Art and architecture of Ireland'' series.Harbison, Peter.
Art and architecture of Ireland
. ''

History Ireland ''History Ireland'' is a magazine with a focus on the history of Ireland. The first issue of the magazine appeared in Spring 1993. It went full-colour in 2004 and since 2005 it is published bi-monthly. It features articles by a range of writers ...

'', Issue 1, volume 23, January 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2021 Her book was described by the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

as "an unrivalled account of all aspects of the rich and varied visual culture of Ireland in the Middle Ages. Based on decades of original research, the book contains over three hundred lively and informative essays." Writing for ''

'',

Peter Harbison Peter Desmond Harbison (14 January 1939 – 30 May 2023) was an Irish archaeologist and author. Harbison was Professor of Archaeology and a member (elected in 1979) of the Royal Irish Academy (Arts division), and the academy's Honorary Academic ...

said that Moss' book "covers a much greater span of time than all the others, and also deals with a much wider range of material. The major attractions are the famous manuscripts and metalwork from the earlier period, but there is a lot more besides—including the recently discovered Faddan More Psalter of c. 800. Stonework is covered extensively from the earlier medieval period:

es,

s and all the church buildings from he

Gallarus Oratory The Gallarus Oratory (, ''Gallarus'' being interpreted as either 'rocky headland' (''Gall-iorrus'') or 'house or shelter for foreigner(s)' (''Gall Aras'') is a chapel on the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland. It has been presented various ...

to Cormac’s Chapel." Moss lives in Dublin and Sligo with her husband Jason Ellis, a sculptor.

Selected publications

Books (author)

*"Medieval c. 400—c. 1600: Art and Architecture of Ireland". CT: Yale University Press, 2014. *"An Insular Odyssey: Manuscript Culture in Early Christian Ireland and Beyond". Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2017. *"The Book of Durrow". Dublin Trinity College Library; Thames and Hudson, 2018. *"Making and Meaning in Insular Art". Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007. Cosgrove, Peter. "Reviewed Work: Making and Meaning in INSULAR ART by Rachel Moss". ''Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society'', volume 22, No. 2, 2009. *"Edward Payne 1906-1991". Dublin: Moss & Glass, 1995.

Books (contributed)

*"Art and Visual Literacy in the Early Irish Church". In: Boyle, Elizabeth. ''A Companion to the Church in Early Ireland, c. 400-c.1150''. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2020 *"Resilience, restoration and revival: Insular art in later medieval Ireland". In: Thickpenny, Cynthia (ed). "Peopling Insular Art: Practice, Performance, Perception". Oxford: Oxbow, 2020 * "Irish Parish Churches: 1350-1550". In P. Barnwell (ed.) ''Places of Worship in the British Isles: 1350-1550'', Donington, Shaun Tyas, 2019 * "Material culture: c. 1200-1550". In B. Smith (ed.). ''Cambridge History of Ireland Volume 1''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018 * "The Art and the Pigments: A study of four Insular Gospel Books in the Library of Trinity College Dublin". In Panayotova and Ricciardi (eds) *''Manuscripts in the Making: Art and Science''. London and Turnhout: Brepols, 2017 * "Collective memory and municipal identity in the early modern Irish town". In Dany Sandron (ed.), ''Le Passé dans la Ville''. Paris: Presses de l'université Paris-Sorbonne, 2016Dr. Rachel Moss
. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 18 July 2021

Articles (selected)

* "Romanesque Chevron Ornament: the language of British, Norman and Irish sculpture in the twelfth century". ''British Archaeological Reports Limited'', 2009 * "Making and Meaning in Insular Art: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Insular Art Held at Trinity College Dublin, 25-28 August 2005". Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007Rachel Laura Moss
Google Scholar. Retrieved 18 July 2021

References

External links

Book of Mulling – one of four precious early Irish manuscripts conserved at Trinity
overview by Moss
Online exhibition of the Book of Durrow
curated by Moss for Trinity College Dublin {{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Rachel Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Irish art historians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women art historians 21st-century Irish women Irish women academics