Author
Carolyn L. Connor
Book Format
Hardback
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published
April 2016
Today's Price
£137.74
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Saints and Spectacle
Today's Price £137.74
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Author
Carolyn L. Connor
Book Format
Hardback
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published
April 2016
£137.74
Free UK Delivery
Available - Usually dispatched within 5 days
Saints and Spectacle
Today's Price £137.74
Add both to basket for £149.14
Saints and Spectacle examines the origins and reception of the Middle Byzantine program of mosaic decoration. This complex and colorful system of images covers the walls and vaults of churches with figures and compositions seen against a dazzling gold ground. The surviving eleventh-century churches with their wall and vault mosaics largely intact, Hosios Loukas, Nea Moni and Daphni in Greece, pose the challenge of how, when and where this complex and gloriously conceived system was created. Using an interdisciplinary approach, Connor explores the urban culture and context of church-building in Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, during the century following the end of Iconoclasm, of around 843 to 950. The application of an innovative frame of reference, through ritual studies, helps recreate the likely scenario in which the medium of mosaics attained its highest potential, in the mosaiced Byzantine church. For mosaics were enlisted to convey a religious and political message that was too nuanced to be expressed in any other way.
At a time of revival of learning and the arts, and development of ceremonial practices, the Byzantine emperor and patriarch were united in creating a solution to the problem of consolidating the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire. It was through promoting a vision of the unchallengeable authority residing in God and his earthly representative, the emperor. The beliefs and processional practices affirming the protective role of the saints in which the entire city participated, were critical to the reception of this vision by the populace as well as the court. Mosaics were a luxury medium that was ideally situated aesthetically to convey a message at a particularly important historical moment-a brilliant solution to a problem that was to subtly unite an empire for centuries to come. Supported by a wealth of testimony from literary sources, Saints and Spectacle brings the Middle Byzantine church to life as the witness to a compelling and fascinating drama.
Author
Carolyn L. Connor
Book Format
Hardback
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published
April 2016
Weight
576g
Page Count
216
Dimensions
178 x 257 x 18 mm
ISBN
9780190457624
ISBN-10
0190457627
Eden Code
4560710
More Information
Author/Creator: Carolyn L. Connor
ISBN: 9780190457624
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date: April 2016
Weight: 576g
Dimensions: 178 x 257 x 18 mm
Eden Code: 4560710