My friend Michael Brennan, who has died aged 80, was a teacher and activist, and also tried to unravel the mathematical basis of Celtic interlace – the ornamental knot patterns found in Irish art.
As a youth Mike had assisted his father in his work as a monumental sculptor. He was fascinated by the mathematical forms embedded in Celtic interlace, and in 2004 embarked on a serious study of this field, finally completing a PhD at Bangor University in 2011, on the Structure of Interlace in Insular Art. Among his published work is the chapter The Lindisfarne Gospels: The Art of Symmetry and the Symmetry of Art in Richard Gameson’s 2017 volume The Lindisfarne Gospels: New Perspectives. He later became drawn to Byzantine and early Islamic art.
