Colum Hourihane is an Irish-born art historian, iconographer, and editor formerly of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, specializing in

medieval art The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, with over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional ar ...

and iconographic studies.Colum Hourihane
.

. Retrieved 31 July 2022 From 1997 to 2014, Hourihane was the director of the Index of Christian Art, the largest thematic and iconographic index of medieval art and architecture in the world. Here, he stewarded the project during its early days of digitization and developed an annual conference program which placed the Index at the forefront of medieval art scholarly exchange. He first studied

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

and the National University of Ireland Galway (1977) before earning a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

in 1984.Dr Colum Hourihane’s book on Bantry through the Centuries selling at a fast pace
. '' The Southern Star'', 3 September 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2022 Hourihane has published on the subjects of

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

, Index history and methodology, and Gothic Irish art.Colum Hourihane: Oxford Biographies
. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 31 July 2022 He is a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

and a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

. In 2012, Hourihane edited the "Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture" for Oxford University Press, and was the editor for the "Routledge Companion to Medieval Iconography" in 2017. Between 2008 and 2011, he was president of the International Center of Medieval Art.

Selected publications

Books

* ''The Processional Cross in Late Medieval England: the Dallye Cross''. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 2005. * ''Gothic Art in Ireland 1169-1550: Enduring Vitality''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. * ''The Mason and His Mark: Masons' Marks in the Medieval Irish Archbishoprics of Cashel and Dublin''. Oxford, England: J. and E. Hedges, 2000.

Articles

* "Classifying Subject Matter in Medieval Art: The Index of Christian Art at Princeton University." ''Visual Resources,'' Volume 20:3, 2014. * "Sourcing the Index: Iconography and its Debt to Photography." In ''Futures Past: Twenty Years of Arts Computing'' (ed. Anna Bentkowska-Kafel), CHArt conference, 2004. * "It Begins with the Cataloguer: Subject Access to Images and the Cataloguer's Perspective." In ''Introduction to Art Image Access: Issues, Tools, Standards, and Strategies'' (ed. Murtha Baca), Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2002. * "They Stand on his Shoulders: Morey, Iconography, and the Index of Christian Art." In ''Insights and Interpretations: Studies in Celebrations of the Eighty-fifth Anniversary of the Index of Christian Art'' (Princeton, NJ: Index of Christian Art/Princeton University Press, 2002), pp. 3-16.

Edited Volumes

* ''Manuscripta Illuminata: Approaches to Understanding Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2014. * ''Patronage: Power and Agency in Medieval Art'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2013. Flora, Holly. "Reviewed Work: Patronage: Power and Agency in Medieval Art by Colum Hourihane". ''Renaissance Quarterly'', vol. 67, No. 3, 2014. pp. 949–951. * ''Abraham in Medieval Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Art'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2013. * ''From Minor to Major: The Minor Arts in Medieval Art History'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2012. * ''Insular and Anglo-Saxon Art and Thought in the Early Medieval Period'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2011. * ''Gothic Art and Thought in the Later Medieval Period'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2011. * ''Looking Beyond: Visions, Dreams, and Insights in Medieval Art and History'' (ed.). Penn State University Press, 2010. * ''Pontius Pilate, Anti-Semitism, and the Passion in Medieval Art''. Princeton University Press, 2009. * ''Time in the Medieval World: Occupations of the Months and Signs of the Zodiac in the Index of Christian Art''. Princeton University Press, 2007. * ''Virtue and Vice: The Personifications in the Index of Christian Art,'' Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2000. * ''King David in the Index of Christian Art'', Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2002. * ''From Ireland Coming: Irish Art from the Early Christian to the Late Gothic Periods and its Context within Europe'' (ed.). Yale University Press, 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hourihane, Colum Alumni of University College Cork Irish art historians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Galway 20th-century Irish archaeologists 21st-century Irish archaeologists Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Members of the Royal Irish Academy Place of birth missing (living people)