The luxury of Byzantine art, with its excessive use of gold and silver, is widely known. Skilled craftsmen created powerful representations that reflect and promote this society and its values through icons, splendid manuscripts, mosaics, and frescoes placed in domed churches and public buildings. This complete introduction to the period and the range of Byzantine art combines the immense breadth with historical details that are interesting.

Robin Cormack debunks the myth that Byzantine art remained unchanged from the founding of Constantinople, its artistic center, in 330 until the fall of the city to the Ottomans in 1453. He shows how the many political and religious upheavals of this period produced a wide range of styles and developments in art. This updated, colored edition includes new discoveries, revised bibliography, and, in a new epilogue, a new approach to Byzantine art for today.

Pages: 272, Dimensions: 16.8x16.8cm