Guides: ART 235: Pre-Modern Art History: Early Christian & Byzantine

su: (art OR architecture OR painting) AND (byzanti* OR early christian)

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Picturing the Bible : the earliest Christian art by Jeffrey Spier, Kimbell Art Museum.
Picturing the Bible explores the origins and emergence of Christian art from its very beginnings in the third century A.D., when Christianity was an outlawed, clandestine faith, through the fourth and fifth centuries, which saw it rise to become the state religion of the Roman Empire. What images did the early Christians use to express their faith? Were they the first believers to part with Mosaic law by creating "graven images"? What Jewish and pagan sources did they look to for inspiration, and what new meanings did they invest these subjects with? When did they begin to depict the life of Jesus?
Face to face : portraits of the divine in early Christianity by Robin Margaret Jensen (Author)
"With over one hundred photographs to enhance her presentation, Jensen reveals how God and Christ were portrayed in early Christian art. In doing so, Jensen also explores questions of the relationship between art and theology, conflicts over idolatry and iconography, and how the Christological controversies affected the portrayals of Christ.
Heaven on earth : art and the Church in Byzantium by Linda Safran
This easily accessible volume, which grew out of a series of lectures presented at the Smithsonian Institution in 1991, aims to provide a coherent introduction to Byzantine culture with a focus on the interconnected realms of art and religion. The eight participants have revised their lectures into chapters on Byzantine history, theology, icons and icon theory, church architecture, monumental painting, silver church furnishings, illustrated liturgical books, and pilgrimage. In addition to presenting current research on this range of topics, the chapters each contribute original scholarship from authors who are recognized experts in their respective fields.
Early Christian & Byzantine art by John Lowden
In the 320's AD the Emperor Constantine moved the capital of his Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople, and until its fall in 1453 remained a major artistic centre. Under successive emperors and empresses for more than a thousand years, artists, architects and craftsmen produced superb and intriguing works ranging from the grandest public buildings to the smallest and most personal items. Today this art is generally termed early Christian and Byzantine. Working from the surviving material this work explains how and why early Christian and Byzantine art was made and used.
Early Christian and Byzantine architecture by Richard Krautheimer (Author), Slobodan Ćurčić (Author)
By now a classic, it presents in a single volume a coherent overall view of the history and the changing character of Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, from Rome and Milan to North Africa, from Constantinople to Greece and the Balkans, and from Egypt and Jerusalem to the villages and monasteries of Syria, Asia Minor, Armenia, and Mesopotamia.

The Apostles in Early Christian Art and Poetry by edited by Ronald Dijkstra.
ISBN: 9004309748
Publication Date: 2016
The Apostles in Early Christian Art and Poetry presents the first in-depth analysis of the origins of the representation of the apostles (the twelve disciples and Paul) in verse and image in the late antique Greco-Roman world (250-400). Especially in the West, the apostles are omnipresent, in particular on sarcophagi and in Biblical and martyr poetry. They primarily function as witnesses of Christ's stay on earth, but Peter and Paul are also popular saints of their own. Occasionally, the other apostles come to the fore as individual figures. Direct influence from art on poetry or vice versa appears to be difficult to trace, but principal developments of late antique society are reflected in the representation of the apostles in both media.
The Trophies of the Martyrs: an art historical study of early Christian silver reliquaries by Galit Noga-Banai
Publication Date: 2008-07-15
In this pioneering study, the first of its kind, Galit Noga-Banai analyses silver reliquaries decorated with Christian figurative themes. She offers a clearer and more detailed picture of the beginnings of the cult of relics, which were an essential asset to the Church in its establishment ofpilgrimage centres and local hagiographic heritage sites, first in Italy and later in other places around Europe and North Africa. At the same time, Noga-Banai highlights the identity of the objects as portable art, treating the reliquaries as visual historical testimonies. The book is illustratedwith nearly 100 finely reproduced drawings and photographs.
Byzantine Art by Charles Bayet
Publication Date: 2012-01-05
For more than a millennium, from its creation in 330 CE until its fall in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was a cradle of artistic effervescence that is only beginning to be rediscovered. Endowed with the rich heritage of Roman, Eastern, and Christian cultures, Byzantine artists developed an architectural and pictorial tradition, marked by symbolism, whose influence extended far beyond the borders of the Empire. Today, Italy, North Africa, and the Near East preserve the vestiges of this sophisticated artistic tradition, with all of its mystical and luminous beauty.