Description

Kilclooney Dolmen is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and impressive ancient monuments in the entire country.

The Stone Age inhabitants of Ireland were great builders as well as great warriors, male and female. Over a thousand of their monuments survive to this day despite the machinations of the venal political elite who rule us now. Kilclooney Dolmen is particularly graceful and artistic, poised like a great bird of prey about to soar into the sky. The Dolmen, or Cromleac, also known as a portal tomb, usually is covered with earth and smaller stones to form a barrow, and in this case, the covering has weathered away leaving the magnificent stone skeleton of the burial chamber intact.
This was originally one of a series commissioned for a calendar for the Bank of Ireland titled ‘The Heritage of Ireland’ and it was my first real venture into landscape painting using the more stylized forms I had developed for my Celtic work.
I have since extended this series for my own satisfaction and like all series dealing with the ancient heritage of Ireland the possibilities are endless.