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Byzantium: 330-1453
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| List Price: | £55.00 |
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Product Description
This magnificent book is published to accompany a spectacular exhibition devoted to the artistic and cultural riches of Byzantium. Essays by leading scholars trace the history and cultural development of more than a thousand years of Byzantine art, revealing the splendours of the imperial city of Constantinople. Numerous artefacts from icons, wall paintings, mosaics and manuscripts to ivories, metalwork and jewellery reveal the distinct style and character of Byzantine art and its influence on the European and Islamic traditions. Illustrated with over 300 works lent by the holy monasteries of Sinai and Mount Athos, the Treasury of St Marks in Venice, and by museums and institutions worldwide, this landmark publication is essential reading for anyone interested in the turbulent but vivid history of Byzantium.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #81916 in Books
- Published on: 2008-11-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 496 pages
Customer Reviews
Excellent and enjoyable
After visiting the exhibition, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this catalogue/descriptive volume. There are a number of chapters covering different aspects of Byzantine art and artifacts, and linking them into the history and society of the time. The quality of the illustrations is outstanding, and if you are not able to get to the exhibition, this book is worth possessing and enjoying at leisure.
Outstanding!
The glory of Byzantium
The Byzantine empire lasted over one thousand years, the precise chronology is given in the exhibition title "Byzantium:330-1453" held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, until March 22nd.
There is no consensus on the merit of Byzantium and its contribution to world civilization as the verdict of its severest critic, British historian Edward Gibbon attests.
But whatever one's judgment is on Byzantium nobody can deny the brilliance of the exhibition.
The character of Byzantium is defined by its Hellenism and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy. Artistic techniques, such as the use of gold, silver and ivory and above all the painting of icons and frescoes, remained at an exalted level of excellence throughout the turbulent history of the empire. The exhibition has brilliant examples of this excellence gathered from museums in Greece, throughout the Balkans, Italy and America.
The presentation of items ranging from late Roman gravestones, to an 11th-century incense burner and Italo-Cretan religious art suggests a worthy successor to ancient Rome, that later became a worthy precursor to Renaissance.
The exhibition's stellar pieces comprise ten icons from St Catherine's monastery of Mount Sinai, including famous ones of Moses and Archangel Michael. With their restrained excellence, they exemplify an Eastern Christian view of matter and spirit that far exceeds national boundaries.
The quality of text and images in the catalogue is exemplary.
Excellent catalogue
An excellent catalogue to the show and a valuable work in its own right. The illustrations and descriptions of the objects are superb, and the histroical text is excellent.
