The Art of Constantinople

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THE ART OF CONSTANTINOPLE by John Beckwith with 200 illustrations
Constantinople was the centre of civilization for eight hundred years. Politically, the city regarded herself as the heiress of Rome; throughout the Near East the citizens of the Byzantine Empire were called Romans. Culturally, the heritage was Roman and Greek. To this was added the force of Christianity, and from the begiiming the Byzantine Emperors proclaimed themselves Vicars of God.
Byzantine art was to become an integral part of the palatine rites and the liturgy of the Church. For many centuries, however, grave doubts over the propriety of representing God, the Virgin, and the Saints as graven and painted images disturbed the Byzantine Empire. After this controversy was concluded by a Council of the Church summoned by an Empress, a new religious style was evolved, austere, remote, to which time and the foibles of humanity were... Tovább

Fülszöveg

lii'^irH
¦ IV




.¦^.'("i.'ll
: ' f
¦ I

i t .' ''ll
11 ¦. 1 i
THE ART OF CONSTANTINOPLE by John Beckwith with 200 illustrations
Constantinople was the centre of civilization for eight hundred years. Politically, the city regarded herself as the heiress of Rome; throughout the Near East the citizens of the Byzantine Empire were called Romans. Culturally, the heritage was Roman and Greek. To this was added the force of Christianity, and from the begiiming the Byzantine Emperors proclaimed themselves Vicars of God.
Byzantine art was to become an integral part of the palatine rites and the liturgy of the Church. For many centuries, however, grave doubts over the propriety of representing God, the Virgin, and the Saints as graven and painted images disturbed the Byzantine Empire. After this controversy was concluded by a Council of the Church summoned by an Empress, a new religious style was evolved, austere, remote, to which time and the foibles of humanity were irrelevant. This style, one of the most important developments in the history of medieval art, exercised a marked influence throughout the western world. In its purest tradition, Byzantine art reveals a deep awareness of classical antiquity, religious devotion without sentimentality, loftiness of aesthetic conception, supreme elegance of form, and perfection of technique. In the course of this century much new light has been shed on the development of Byzantine style and new discoveries continue to be made in the churches and ruins of Constantinople and in the provinces. In its widest sense the term Byzantine has been used to describe a motley artistic output throughout the Mediterranean area. This book, synthesizing much recent research, is an introduction to Byzantine art in the narrower sense. By limiting the study to the art of the capital it is hoped that the metropolitan style over more than a thousand years of creative activity may be more clearly defined.
PHAIDON Vissza