Early Medieval

Style and Civilisation

by George Henderson

Early Medieval (Style and Civilization)

Genres: History, Medieval, Art

Paperback

First published March 30, 1978

About the author

George Henderson is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Art at the University of Cambridge. A specialist on the Insular tradition, his publications include Vision and Image in Early Christian England and From Durrow to Kells (1987).

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photos & illustrations, very well researched, and dense packed with what appears to be very solid info & analysis, but the writing style is a really tough slog. I spent almost as much time on Google looking up his references as I did reading this book. So the book raised so many questions that I pursued further, that would have been easy to ignore due to the ponderously pedantic text. I think this is the first time I have ever thought this would make a better documentary movie than a book.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable art history book where by necessity the subject matter has to contain historical contexts in about an equal footing with the art. Henderson chooses themes that he organizes the art and history around - such as Barbarians, Storytelling, and Roman/Byzantine influences.

Henderson must have done a lot of research on Celtic/Goth art and history since the emphasis is strong in these areas - which is a good thing. I remember my medieval art class was biased towards the Renaissance view of things which favors a Classical viewpoint on medieval art.