Overview

The opulence of Byzantine art, with its extravagant use of gold and silver, is well known. Highly skilled artists created powerful representations reflecting and promoting this society and its values in icons, illuminated manuscripts, and mosaics and wallpaintings placed in domed churches and public buildings. This complete introduction to the whole period and range of Byzantine art combines immense breadth with interesting historical detail. Robin Cormack overturns the myth that Byzantine art remained constant from the inauguration of Constantinople, its artistic centre, in the year 330 until the fall of the city to the Ottomans in 1453. He shows how the many political and religious upheavals of this period produced a wide range of styles and developments in art. This updated, colour edition includes new discoveries, a revised bibliography, and, in a new epilogue, a rethinking of Byzantine art for the present day.

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9780198778790

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Reviews

The reader is left with a powerful impression of how the Byzantines themselves must have looked upon the art that surrounded them. * David Buckon, The British Museum * Review from previous edition The handbook of Byzantine Art for both lay readers and specialists. * Annabel Wharton, Duke University *

The reader is left with a powerful impression of how the Byzantines themselves must have looked upon the art that surrounded them. * David Buckon, The British Museum * Review from previous edition The handbook of Byzantine Art for both lay readers and specialists. * Annabel Wharton, Duke University * This is the best introduction/introductory book to Byzantine art and to perceptions of that art - both ours and the Byzantines'. The structure remains the same but it has been updated with a subtle shift in emphasis, arguing for Byzantine art as a product of the Roman world. Its not a simple narrative but a questioning of how Byzantine art worked for its audiences. * Liz James, Professor of History of Art, University of SUssex * Cormack's book is a masterpiece of synthesis. His book not only provides an elegantly written, thoughtful, and intelligent introduction to one of the most elusive, and often misapprehended artistic civilizations of the past, but also discloses and deconstructs the many biases and preconceived ideas that still influence our understanding of Byzantine tradition. * Michele Bacci, University of Fribourg, Switzerland *

Author Information

Robin Cormack is Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. He is author of Writing in Gold: Byzantine Society and Its Icons (1985), The Byzantine Eye: Collected Studies in Art and Patronage (1989), Painting the Soul: Icons, Death Masks, Shrouds (1997), and Icons (2007, 2014). He co-operated in the production of the film A Window to Heaven (Getty Foundation and Metropolitan Museum of Program for Art on Film, 1990), and was the Royal Academy consultant for the exhibitions From Byzantine to El Greco (1987), The Art of Holy Russia: Icons from Moscow 1400-1660 (1998), and Byzantium 330-1453 (2008-9).

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