please help me find a higher resolution version of this image and please tell me about it

December 7, 2010 1:48 PM

help me find a higher resolution version of this image, and please tell me about it (more inside!)

the image can be found here

i know a few things:

it comes from the story of the salmon of wisdom. AKA finn maccool

its depicting "9 hazel trees of wisdom" which feed hazel nuts to the salmon thereby making it smart.

what i don't know:

who did this work of art?

what is this style or art called?

was this a painting? a relief?

is this part of a series relating to Finn McCool? (see this very similar peice depicting Finn with the salmon)

is the image i linked to the original or has it been modified (IE to fill it out) as the only version i can find besides this one from a non-working google image search is this one which appears to be heavily cropped.

where can i find a high/higher resolution version?

tineye has been no help. the page i got the full size image from is chachi and i had to screen cap to get the image i linked to on the salmon page.

posted by chasles to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

TinEye has found another version at Dirk Campbell's site. Maybe he can help? Email address on site.
posted by oxit at 2:02 PM on December 7, 2010

It looks like watercolour.

I'd describe it as an illustration.
posted by fire&wings at 2:19 PM on December 7, 2010

I wouldn't be surprised if it were from an illuminated manuscript (but with the color restored). Wikipedia has a list of irish manuscripts. Clicking through, I see that some have stories related to the Fenian Cycle. Egerton 1782 has some things with "finn" in them, but the wikipedia page only has Irish titles and I can't read Irish. The Book of Lismore has the Acallam Bec in it, "a medieval Irish compilation of fianaigecht tales". The Yellow Book of Lecan contains "How Finn obtained knowledge, and the slaying of Cul Dub'", which looks promising. Still, most of these don't appear to have any illustrations. You might still want to look through if you get a chance, though.
posted by wayland at 2:20 PM on December 7, 2010

Actually, viewing close it appears to be on canvas so either oil or acrylic.

It's not an illuminated manuscript. It's a modern illustration done in a commercial style you might expect on a greetings card.
posted by fire&wings at 2:26 PM on December 7, 2010

Ah. I missed the close-up view. Disregard my post up there.
posted by wayland at 2:40 PM on December 7, 2010

It's going to be written as "Fionn" in Irish. Last name could be spelled various ways so search on that first.
posted by fshgrl at 2:52 PM on December 7, 2010

Fionn is a modern irish spelling; Finn is what's used in a lot of old manuscripts. You'll see either used in English stuff about him.
posted by wayland at 4:05 PM on December 7, 2010

Here's one that's ever so slightly larger, but cropped.

Also, it's a long shot, but you could take a look at this book if it's available at your library.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 4:06 PM on December 7, 2010

Even bigger, but also cropped. From here (which has an email address you might try contacting).
posted by juv3nal at 4:31 PM on December 7, 2010

Response by poster: quick update:

i have contacted people on all the websites i found and those found by you, the collective. I'm still hoping to hit on the name, or source of the artwork, or at least a high resolution image...


thanks! i'll post back with any results.
posted by chasles at 8:18 AM on December 8, 2010