Striking Gold: The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, 966-1066

The exhibition of late Anglo-Saxon art currently at the British Museum (until 10th March) offers a splendid – indeed, a golden – opportunity to view many of the most notable works of art (and of related historical interest) surviving from what may reasonably lay claim to being (as the accompanying catalogue declares) 'one of the greatest periods of English art'. Smaller in scale and far less daunting than the recent Arts Council exhibition on English Romanesque art (reviewed in History Today in June 1984), this exhibition is sponsored jointly by the British Museum and the British Library; it focuses upon the century leading up to the Norman Conquest, when 'a distinctive Anglo-Saxon style burgeoned and flourished'.