Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 030010278X ISBN 13: 9780300102789

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004

Synopsis

During the last centuries of the "Empire of the Romans," Byzantine artists created exceptional secular and religious works that had an enduring influence on art and culture. In later years, Eastern Christian centers of power emulated and transformed Byzantine artistic styles, the Islamic world adapted motifs drawn from Byzantium's imperial past, and the development of the Renaissance from Italy to the Lowlands was deeply affected by Byzantine artistic and intellectual practices. This spectacular book presents hundreds of objects in all media from the late thirteenth through mid-sixteenth centuries. Featured in full-color reproductions are sacred icons, luxuriously embroidered silk textiles, richly gilded metalwork, miniature icons of glass, precious metals and gemstone, and elaborately decorated manuscripts. In the accompanying text, renowned scholars discuss the art and investigate the cultural and historical interaction between these major cultures-the Christian and Islamic East and the Latin West. Continuing the story of the critically acclaimed The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261, this book-the first to focus exclusively on the last centuries of the Byzantine era-is a highly anticipated publication that will not be superceded for generations.

About this title

About the Author

Helen C. Evans is Curator for Early Christian and Byzantine Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Reviews

Covering an eponymous Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition that runs from March to July 2004, this massive catalogue examines almost 300 years of history. It begins in 1261—when Christianity and remnants of the Roman Empire’s power structure were brought back to dominance in Constantinople—and ends in 1557, when the region formerly known as basileia ton Rhomaion (Greek for "The empire of the Romans") was changed to Byzantium. Evans, curator at the Met’s department of medieval art and The Cloisters, has brought together a stellar collection of scholars and works for the volume. There are 17 essays in all, covering everything from liturgic instruments to the reach of byzantine icons into northern Europe. The layout is text-heavy. The 150 b&w photos and 450 colorplates are clear, and represent the works without ostentation or ornament, but they are also often reproduced at a scale that seems designed not to overwhelm the arguments being waged around them. Yet some piece, like Simon Marmion’s The Mass of Saint Gregory or the early 14th century Two-Sided Icon with the Virgin Psychosostria and the Annunciation, come through in a way that approximates the depth and beauty of the originals. As catalogues go, this one is rather less accessible to laypeople, but for scholars, it will be a feast.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 030010278X
• ISBN 13: 9780300102789
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 680
• Editor: Evans Helen C.