Byzantium: de Byzantijnse kunst in de Middeleeuwen (van de 8ste tot de 15de eeuw)

by André Grabar

The expression of Byzantine art in the Middle Ages (8th-15th century) and its historical, societal and religious background.

Original title:
'Byzance. L'art byzantin au Moyen Age'
(publisher: P.Albin Michel, 1963)

Translated into dutch by: J.Kooy.

Genres: Art, Medieval

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is the case with all the works in the "Art of the World" series, the author of the "The Art of the Byzantine Empire", André Grabar had impeccable academic credentials having been at different times a professor at the University of Strasbourg and Harvard University. Unfortunately his approachis both earnest and dull.
Grabar divides the history of byzantine art into 4 periods:
-1- the Iconolast Crisis (726 A. D. to 843 A.D.)
-2- the Macedonian Dynasty (867 A.D. to 1056 A.D.)
-3- the Comneni Dynasty (1056 A.D. to 1185 A.D.)
-4- the Palaelogi Dynasty (1261 A.D. to 1453 A.D.)
Grabar's framework thus has gaps due in certain degree to the fact that there are stretches of time from which no art has survived. What disconcerted me at first was that he excluded the Early Byzantine period where the great mosaics at Ravenna were created. However, as these mosaics are a very popular tourist attraction and appear in many television documentaries perhaps nothing is lost. Grabar essentially omits a group of works that have received and will receive more than adequate attention elsewhere.
Grabar has very high praise for the mosaic tradition of the Byzantines. In his view it was the Byzantine mosaics that showed Catholic artists how to control colour and tone when at a later date they began producing fresco murals. He also notes that the Byzantines were great innovators with enamel cloisonné and in fixing colours on metal in general.
While acknowledging the greatness of the Byzantine mosaics, Grabar does not devote an inordinate number of pages to it. He goes out of the way to show wall paintings and illustrated manuscripts. He also dutifully discusses Byzantine architecture which he concedes had very little variety.
Grabar cannot discuss any of the artists because they are unknown. He insists that there were no regional schools of Byzantine art.
At several points Grabar laments that almost all of the Byzantine art and architecture that has survived is religious. Secular buildings and art works are almost non-existent. Grabar believes that there must have been a tradition in secular painting similar to what was found in the Roman town of Pompei but has no examples to point to.
Unfortunately Grabar's text while very thorough makes Byzantine art remarkably unexciting. The joy in the book comes solely from the colour illustrations.

[Petra · Rating 3 out of 5]

U početku je tok misli više manje razumljiv, ali od pregleda arhitekture autor vrluda i samo skače s teme na temu i to ne nužno kronološki. Puno mu je bolji opći pregled.

[Bart Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very user-friendly: Large pieces of text, a complex structure, not many images to accompany the text and usually printed on a different page than the text (in the sideline it is written where the pictures can be found).