For more than a thousand years, until its fall in 1453, the Byzantine Empire, the Christian successor to the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean, stretched across large areas of Europe, North Africa and the Near East. Under successive emperors, the artists, architects and craftsmen of Byzantium (Constantinople, modern Istanbul) worked within a long-established tradition to produce superb buildings and art works of great expressive power. Churches were planned around a central, domed space, and their walls were covered in mosaics showing mysterious, stylized figures set against a shimmering gold background. Subsequent centuries tended to view Byzantine art as stagnant and corrupt, and the style was all but forgotten. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, the Eastern city once more began to inspire artists, architects and writers to produce not only palaces and churches, but also paintings, jewellery, interiors and art criticism. Byzantium was revitalized as a new source of inspiration, free from the associations of the other, ubiquitous styles of the nineteenth century: the Gothic and the Classical. Professor Bullen's original and pioneering interdisciplinary study presents the first coherent account of the varied manifestations of the revival of Byzantinism in Germany, Austria, France, Britain and America. The book is richly illustrated not only with original Byzantine models and the works that they inspired, but also with reproductions from the finely illustrated publications that played an important role in their own right by promoting Byzantium as an ideal. Covering the themes of politics, religion and literature as well as the arts, this book serves as an exemplary study in cultural history, providing real insight into the interplay of ideas and forms, in addition to being a fascinating account of an influential but little-known artistic movement.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
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)
About the Author
B 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)
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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!,
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,
By
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?
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
