When the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland invited a number of poets to accompany the art of the past with their words, it triggered a fruitful collaboration between language and painting. .
The resulting book, A Conversation Piece, published this week, features the work of 50 poets, mainly Irish, seeking to echo their chosen artists' painterly expression.
Casting new light on old shadows, a dialogue began which in some cases provided much-needed creative stimulus for some poets, and in others allowed a two-way communication take place between these two historically compatible art forms. Some examples give a flavour of the creation couplings.
A Conversation Piece, Poetry and Art by Adrian Rice and Angela Reid is published by Magni (The National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland) in association with Abbey Press (£14.99 sterling)