The appreciation of early Christian and Byzantine Art as a sublime expression of religious thought and feeling is a comparatively modern phenomenon. Byzantine art is both static and dynamic: static in the sense that once an image was established it was felt that no improvement was necessary; dynamic in the sense that there was never one style and these styles or modes were constantly changing. The story is not only complex in its unravelling but ranges widely over various media: mosaic, wall painting and painted panels, sculpture in marble and ivory, manuscript illumination, gold, silver, and precious stones, jewellery, silk, and rich vestments. This enthralling account by a gifted medieval art-historian should remain a standard work for many years to come.
Author(s): John Beckwith
Series: The Pelican History of Art
Edition: 2nd
Publisher: Penguin Books
Year: 1988
Language: English
Pages: 408
City: London
FOREWORD 9
MAP 10-11
1. PROLOGUE 13
2. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART: ROME AND THE LEGACY OF THE CAESARS 19
3. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART: THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF THE EMPIRE AND THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE 56
4. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART: THE SYNTHESIS OF THE SECULAR AND THE RELIGIOUS IMAGE 78
5. THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN 102
6. THE FORSAKEN WEST AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF 146
7. THE TROUBLED EAST 160
8. THE TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY 178
9. THE SCHOLAR EMPEROR AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE IMPERIAL IDEAL 201
10. METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY 240
11. METROPOLITAN DIFFUSION AND DECLINE 283
12. EPILOGUE 344
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS 348
NOTES 349
GLOSSARY 374
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 376
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 378
INDEX 388
