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