Byzantium: Faith and Power

by Helen C. Evans (Editor)

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 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to focus exclusively on the last centuries of the Byzantine era-is a highly anticipated publication that will not be superceded for generations.

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction, Church

680 pages, Hardcover

First published March 11, 2004

About the author

Helen C. Evans is the Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art Emerita in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Reviews

[Ned]

that's an icon of archangel Gabriel on the cover kept at the monastery of St Catherine at the foot of Mt Sinai in Egypt. That one piece dates from the 13th century.