This book is a creative guide to the making of arguably the most extraordinary art object to be made in the 21st century. Published to accompany the 2007 exhibition ‘Damien Hirst: Beyond Belief’ at White Cube, it gives a fascinating pictorial insight into how Hirst’s diamond skull piece, ‘For the Love of God’ was conceived and produced.

Illustrated with candid behind-the-scenes photographs by Johnnie Shand Kydd, the book includes a number of preparatory drawings by Damien Hirst and a fold out image of the diamond skull. Accompanying this is an essay by the art historian Rudi Fuchs, who writes “The skull is out of this world, celestial almost. I tend to see it as a glorious intense victory over death”. A number of leading experts in the fields of archaeology and dentistry have also contributed detailed studies on the diamond skull, including analyses of its age and ancestry.

Texts: Victory Over Decay: Rudi Fuchs / Report on the measurement and bioarchaelogical analysis of the skull: Tania Kausmally, Hedley Swain and Bill White of the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology, Museum of London / A study of the reflection and refraction of light in diamond: Marcel Tolkowsky / Report on estimated age of the skull's teeth: Dr Helen Liversidge of Barts and The London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry / Explanation of the results of radiocarbon dating: Thomas Higham of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford / The mineral and carbon structure of a diamond: Steven Dutch / Report on a general analysis of the skull: Dr Theya Molleson / Report on the use of CRANID to evaluate the likely ancestry of the skull: Professor Richard Wright of the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology, University of London

Born in Bristol in 1965, Damien Hirst grew up in Leeds and studied at Goldsmiths College, London. Most notable amongst the exhibitions he curated whilst at college was Freeze, in 1988, in which he exhibited his work and that of his contemporaries. The exhibition is widely believed to have been the starting point of the Young British Artists’ careers, and a defining moment in kick-starting cutting edge British contemporary art.

Hirst’s body of work confronts the scientific, philosophical and religious aspects of human existence and includes sculpture, painting, drawing and printmaking. Arguably the world’s most famous living artist, he has exhibited widely and was awarded the Turner Prize in 1995 for ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’. In 2004, Hirst collaborated with Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst to exhibit recent works at Tate Britain, under the title In-a-Gadda-da-Vida. In 2006, works from the artist’s murderme collection were exhibited at the Serpentine gallery, London: ‘In the darkest hour there may be light. ‘

Hirst’s work can be found in several important collections worldwide, including Tate, London, UK; British Council, UK; MoMA, New York, USA; Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK; Broad Art Foundation; Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands; Neue Galerie Graz, Austria and State Museum of Berlin, Germany.