The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture. The key to western art's most potent symbolism by Peter Murray

by Peter Murray

The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture is a unique and fascinating exploration of the art and architecture that has been influenced and inspired by Biblical stories and Christian history and beliefs. Richly illustrated and with a Glossary of Architectural Terms and an extensive Bibliography, the Companion combines important general essays on the periods and styles important in the history of Christian art with hundreds of shorter entries that describe specific works, artists, themes, and visual images and which give the reader practical guidance on where in Europe to locate the works described. The most comprehensive reference work on Christian art and architecture available * Detailed essays on periods and styles in art and Anglo- Saxon, Byzantine, Carolingian, Coptic, Early Christian, Gothic, Irish, Ottonian, Renaissance, Rococo, Romanesque; Mannerism, Neoclassicism, * General background on Christian doctrine, beliefs, and liturgical year, colours, vessels, and vestments; the Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins, and the Two Trinities; Candlemas, Holy Week, Stations of the Cross, and religious orders * Forms of art influenced by Christian altarpieces, tombs, and caskets; illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, frescoes, and brasses; stained glass, portal sculpture, and standing crosses; fonts, fountains, and rose windows * Specific references to individual artists and sculptors and to their Fra Angelico, Bernini, and Botticelli; Marc Chagall, Eric Gill, and Stanley Spencer; the great painters of the Italian Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci * Places, buildings, and Assissi, Ravenna, Venice, and Sistine Chapel; baptistery, belfry, cloister, chapter house, and twentieth century, centrally planned, abbey, collegiate; Bentley, Brunelleschi, Wren, and Gibbs * Biblical themes, stories, and people as the subject of from the Old Testament Adam and Eve, Abraham, and Tower of Babel; the Nativity, Circumcision, Baptism, Life, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ from the Gospels; Miracle at Bolsena, Good Samaritan, parables, Apocalypse * Descriptions and explanations of images, icons, and allegory, attribute, emblem, and type; angels and archangels, symbolic beasts, birds, dove, serpent, and dragon; Signs of the Zodiac, rainbow, labyrinth, and Wheel of Fortune * Significant saints, popes, rulers, and saints Agnes, Agatha, and Catherine of Siena; saints Peter, Paul, Francis, and Jerome; Charlemagne and Emperor Constantine the Great; popes Clement VII, Urban VIII and Leo X; Doctors of the Church, St Augustine, Erasmus, and Knights Templar

Genres: Art, Reference

Paperback

First published November 14, 1996

About the author

Librarian's Note: This is Peter^^Murray, with each ^ symbol signifying a space.

Born Peter John Murray in London in 1920, he died in 1992 in Farnborough (near Banbury), Warwickshire, United Kingdom.

Peter Murray was Professor of History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London, from 1967 to 1980, and one of the principal founder members of the Association of Art Historians.

He was responsible for establishing history of art as an undergraduate discipline in the College, following Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's teaching of the subject outside a departmental structure.

When he died in 1992, his widow Linda Murray (a distinguished art historian in her own right) established a Bequest to provide funds for student support, research travel and other activities in the then Department of History of Art.

One of these activities has been the biennial Murray Memorial Lecture, which has been delivered by such notable figures as Jonathan Miller, Simon Schama, Neil Macgregor and Christopher Fraying.

The Murray Bequest also supports the Murray Research Studentship.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucid and, when needed, extensive, entries on everything related to Christian art and architecture, including styles, periods, people, liturgical objects, saints and symbols.