The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland, George and Isabel Henderson, (Thames & Hudson, London 2011) 256pp., paperback, £28.00 ISBN 978 0 500 289 63 1 (first published in hardback, 2004)

George Henderson, Emeritus Professor of Medieval Art at the University of Cambridge, and Isobel Henderson, sometime Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, have written many books between them on medieval Scottish art.  This however is likely to be their masterpiece of scholarship and dedication.  They discuss and scrutinise what has long been an enigma - the sculpture and metalwork of the Picts, the inhabitants of northeast Britain, in early medieval times.  They show how the art of the Picts interacted with ‘insular' art and was produced by a sophisticated society contrary to received opinion.  The book is organised around eight thematic chapters dealing with the characteristics of ‘Insular'art, the ‘Pictishness' of Pictish art, Pictish metalwork, the themes in Pictish art, the form of the sculptures and the impact of losses.  There are over 300 photographs, six maps and specially commissioned line drawings.  They explain as never before the meaning of the supposedly pagan symbols.

Possibly the most important work on the subject for 100 years, it is a work of art in itself and available at a very reasonable price.  The provenance of the illustrations is carefully given, there is a good index and a select bibliography for further reading as well as end-notes throughout.  Great work by the authors and the publishers.

It is a handsome volume and the Hendersons fully acknowledge their indebtedness to illustrators and to other art historians.