Byzantium Rediscovered [Hardcover]

J. B. Bullen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2003

The subject of this book is the Byzantine revival of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in architecture, fine art, the decorative arts and literature. Neglected and vilified for centuries, Byzantium came to exercise a potent influence on groups and individuals, who each interpreted its legacy in different ways and used it to promote different aims. Ludwig I and Ludwig II of Bavaria, and Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia retreated into Byzantine fantasy to express their ideal of divine kingship. French and German patriots claimed that the early medieval churches of southwest France and the Rhineland were directly inspired by Byzantine models. French High Catholics were attracted by the severe and hieratic figures in the mosaics at Ravenna, adapting them as symbols of authority, while at the other extreme the Symbolists responded to Byzantium's supposed decadence, and the scandalous Empress Theodora was made the subject of a sensational stage play. John Ruskin was seduced by the "voluptuous chastity" of St Mark's, Venice; William Morris, on the other hand, pressed Byzantium into the service of democracy and socialism. Architects turned to the Byzantine dome as an antidote to the ubiquitous Gothic. Artists and designers were attracted by the anti-naturalistic style of Byzantine ornament, and in America Louis Comfort Tiffany used Byzantine motifs and inspiration for purely secular ends. The early theorists of modernism also looked to Byzantium for inspiration, and the poet W.B. Yeats felt its otherworldly and mysterious power. The Byzantine revival was never widely popular; it attracted extremists, outsiders and visionaries. Nevertheless, it was important and influential. Professor Bullen's interdisciplinary study presents a coherent account of the varied manifestations of Byzantinism in Germany, Austria, France, Britain and America, and unravels the early confusion that failed to distinguish between Byzantine and Romanesque styles. The book is illustrated, not only with original Byzantine models and the works they inspired, but also with reproductions from the finely illustrated publications that played an important role in their own right in promoting Byzantium as an ideal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Brilliant. This book is a model of how history should be written.' (The Good Book Guide) 'An explosive, luscious book, with sparkling gold walls on almost every page; and it is also an extremely useful one, making sense of the work of, say, Klimt and Tiffany by placing in a fresh historical context.' (Timothy Brittain-Catlin, World of Interiors) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Barrie Bullen is Professor of English at the University of Reading. He has a long-standing interest in interdisciplinary studies, and his books include The Expressive Eye: Vision and Perception in the Work of Thomas Hardy (1986), The Myth of the Renaissance in Nineteenth-Century Writing (1995) and The Pre-Raphaelite Body: Fear and Desire in Painting, Poetry and Criticism (1998). Author's Residence: Oxford, UK

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (November 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714839574
• ISBN-13: 978-0714839578
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,161,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What's the Point, if you can't get it right!, June 2, 2004

By 

Joseph F. Bille (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Byzantium Rediscovered (Hardcover)

As an ardent reader of Byzantine history, political, military, artistic and architectural, I was thrilled that someone had taken up the gauntlet and attempted to present a lucid exposition of the greatness of Byzantium's contribution to architecture.

On the face of it, this book is beautifully illustrated and clearly written....but don't pay too close attention to the text.

What, for instance does the purported homosexuality of Ralph Adams Cram have to do with his later post-gothic Byzantine phase in architectural design. What does it have to do with anything in this book?!

Now Ludwig II of Bavaria was also purported to be homosexual, and I honestly didn't realize he had a "unconventional,close and sentimental relationship" with Richard Wagner....not an image anyone interested in Byzantinism needs in their head....but aside from the fact that he was also likely quite out of his mind....again, what has that got to do with his architect's expression of later 19c romantic Byzantine Revival architecture. There may be a more substantial connexion here, but I think the author fails to make it.

I have always felt that errors in a text, outside of the occasional "spell-check" transgression say something about the authors thoroughness and attention to detail. What does one say to "Henry HOBHOUSE Richardson". Even if I didn't work for the firm that Henry HOBSON Richardson founded in the 1870's, as a student of architectural history, I'd never make that glaring a mistake or let it past my review and into print. That begs the question.....what else has J. B. Bullen misinterpreted or gotten totally wrong? Where are the other less glaring errors?

The pictures are great, but BEWARE OF THE TEXT!!!!

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great Photographs, August 4, 2006

By 

Christopher Jenks "Br. Christopher Stephen Jenks" (Yonkers, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Byzantium Rediscovered (Paperback)

This book has wonderful photographs, and introduced me to some buildings that I didn't know about. That's about all I can say about the book that is in any way positive. As an amateur architectural historian I found many errors - including consistently misnaming Henry HOBHOUSE Richardson. How could the author and the editors not find such an obvious mistake? This is not an insignificant "typo." Henry Hobson Richardson was one of the most important architects of the nineteenth century. Anyone with the slightest interest in architectural history knows his name and his major works. If the author made such an obvious error, what other errors did he make that I didn't pick up?