Studies in Classical and Byzantine Manuscript Illumination

Arts & Photography

Weitzmann, Kurt

Other Media

Univ of Chicago Pr

Age of spirituality: A symposium

In 1977 The Metropolitan Museum of Art presented Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, the largest exhibition ever to focus on the period that spans the transition between the classical and medieval ages. In keeping with the didactic spirit of the exhibition, the Museum held a symposium in November 1977 to provide the public with a broad background for appreciation of this little-known field and to offer art historians the provocative speculations and conclusions of their colleagues. In addition to art history, the distinguished scholars who participated in the symposium discussed the theology, literature, politics, economics, and architecture of the first centuries of the Christian Era. With its treatment of this complex period in scope and depth, Age of Spirituality: A Symposium is an ideal companion volume to the comprehensive exhibition catalogue, published by the Metropolitan Museum in association with Princeton University Press.Appearing in this book are the nine papers delivered by guest lecturers, as well as an introduction by editor Kurt Weitzmann, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and, as Consultative Curator at the Metropolitan Museum, principal organizer of the exhibition. [This book was originally published in 1980 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

Age of Spirituality: A Symposium

History & Criticism

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century

The first centuries of the Christian Era were ones of extraordinary upheaval: the great traditions of the classical world were transformed by dramatic changes in the political and social structure, by continual warfare against invaders, and by the growing influence of then-nascent religion Christianity. The trend of this period has been interpreted by some historians as the decline of civilization, but it is represented by its art as a time of cultural experimentation. Although they abandoned some of the realism of the classical mode, artists of the post-antique world continued to borrow from the repertoire of images of pagan and imperial Rome, ultimately creating works distinguished by spiritual grace and an abstraction of form. The innovative style that resulted from the coexistence of the Eastern and Western Empires, of the pagan, mystery, Jewish, and Christian religions, and of the urban and provincial societies was to determine the development of the Byzantine, and then the medieval, artistic traditions.
Over five years in preparation when it opened to the public in November 1977, Age of Spirituality was not only the largest exhibition ever to focus on the period of Late Antique and Early Christian art, it was also hailed as one of the most important didactic exhibitions ever assembled by an art museum. The group of 450 objects, lent by over 110 institutions and private individuals from some fifteen countries, presented this little-known period to the public in five realms—the Imperial, the Classical, the Secular, the Jewish, and the Christian—which provided a historical context for the variety of works. Ranging from delicate jewelry of gold and silver, carved ivory diptychs, and rare manuscripts to monumental portraits in stone, wall paintings, and floor mosaics, the exhibition showed the period's diversity of material, style, subject matter, and technique. Architectural monuments, represented in photomontage, contributed information about the public and private lives of the emperors as well as the middle class.
This outstanding exhibition is comprehensively documented and illustrated in the present catalogue, edited by the principal organizer of the exhibition, Kurt Weitzmann, Professor Emeritus of Princeton University and Consultative Curator, The Cloisters and the Department of Medieval Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The thirty-nine authors, chosen to write from their particular areas of expertise, here publish the results of original research in twenty essays and 599 catalogue entries. [This book was originally published in 1979 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Church and Fortress of Justinian.

Forsyth, George H.

Architecture

Univ of Michigan Pr

Studies in the Arts at Sinai (Princeton Series of Collected Essays)

The description for this book, Studies in the Arts at Sinai, will be forthcoming.

Religion & Spirituality

Princeton University Press

This extraordinary two-volume work--the culmination of decades of research--presents the dazzling array of miniatures that appear in the six extant Byzantine Octateuchs (the first eight books of the Old Testament) and the Vatican Joshua Roll. Each of the 1,552 miniatures in these tenth- to thirteenth-century manuscripts is reproduced at close to actual size on 464 large-format plates. The illustrations are organized by Old Testament episode, so that the various depictions of each biblical scene can be easily studied and compared. An annotated catalogue describes all of the miniatures in each of the Octateuch manuscripts, from the creation of the world to the story of Ruth, and provides a full bibliography of every scene. Three analytical chapters investigate the origin of the iconography of the Octateuchs, the formation and later development of the cycle of the illustrations, and the codicology, history, and style of each of the extant Byzantine manuscripts.
 Kurt Weitzmann and Massimo Bernabò draw on their many years of study of illustrated biblical texts to demonstrate that the Octateuch miniatures stem from a wide variety of sources--including Christian and Jewish manuscripts and monumental paintings--and that a surprising number of them follow the parallel but more highly colored narratives of Early Christian and Jewish literature, rather than the canonical texts of the Octateuchs themselves. The authors also reveal that these illustrations provide a pictorial commentary on the Scripture that is at times completely independent from the text of the catena and reflects unorthodox interpretations of biblical passages drawn primarily from the intellectual milieu of Early Christian Syria.

The Byzantine Octateuchs

Bernabò, Massimo

At the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai is preserved the one Byzantine monastic library that antedates those on Mount Athos, and the only one that retains something like its medieval profile. Kurt Weitzmann and George Galavaris present a catalogue of the sixty-nine illuminated manuscripts from the period between the ninth century and about 1200. The visual documentation amounts to over 700 illustrations, including ornamental decorations, many never before published. The discussions of the manuscripts include palaeographical and codicological data, and information on the history and condition, bindings, illustrations, and iconography and style of each item. A bibliography is also included for each.
 The introduction gives a survey of the history and vicissitudes of the library, which is now housed in a fireproof building. Some of the manuscripts were certainly produced on Sinai, while others may be attributed to the eastern or western provinces of the Empire. The finest are Constantinopolitan works of outstanding quality and merit.
 A second volume, to appear later, will include the manuscripts written between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.

The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai. The Illuminated Greek Manuscripts. Volume One: From the Ninth to the Twelfth Century.

GALAVARIS, GEORGE

The description for this book, Illustrations in Roll and Codex: A Study of the Origin and Method of Text Illustration, will be forthcoming.

Illustrations in Roll and Codex: A Study of the Origin and Method of Text Illustration (Studies in Manuscript Illumination)

Reference

The description for this book, The Miniatures of the Sacra Parallela: Parisinus Graecus 923, will be forthcoming.

The Miniatures of the Sacra Parallela: Parisinus Graecus 923 (Studies in Manuscript Illumination)

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Books by Weitzmann, Kurt

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weitzmann, Kurt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Studies in Classical and Byzantine Manuscript Illumination

Age of Spirituality: A Symposium

Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century

The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Church and Fortress of Justinian.

Studies in the Arts at Sinai (Princeton Series of Collected Essays)

The Byzantine Octateuchs

The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai. The Illuminated Greek Manuscripts. Volume One: From the Ninth to the Twelfth Century.

Illustrations in Roll and Codex: A Study of the Origin and Method of Text Illustration (Studies in Manuscript Illumination)

The Miniatures of the Sacra Parallela: Parisinus Graecus 923 (Studies in Manuscript Illumination)

Studies in the Arts at Sinai (Princeton Series of Collected Essays)