Between Constantinople and Rome: An Illuminated Byzantine Gospel Book (Paris Gr. 54) and the Union of Churches

ISBN-13: 9780367600884 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 390 str.

Kathleen Maxwell

Opis

This is a study of the artistic and political context that led to the production of Bibliothèque Nationale de France, codex grec 54, one of the most ambitious and complex manuscripts of the Byzantine era. Kathleen Maxwell's multi-disciplinary approach includes codicological and paleographical evidence together with New Testament textual criticism,

Recenzje

'Based on extensive new research, this groundbreaking study places a richly illuminated Byzantine Gospel Book between East and West at a crucial time.' John Lowden, Courtauld Institute of Art, UK ’With its bilingual text, polychrome script, and extensive Gospel cycle, Paris, gr. 54 is the most intricately planned and opulently produced manuscript of late thirteenth-century Byzantium; it is also among the most enigmatic, an unfinished effort devoid of testimony to its patron or intended purpose. Professor Maxwell offers a compelling theory about its conception in a Constantinople torn by tension over the union of the Churches. But her meticulous examination yields something yet more fundamental. Her keen visual analysis of the processes of Paris 54’s production and the codex from which its miniatures were copied is matched here by a comparably detailed analysis of its Greek Gospel text and the manuscript from which it was copied. Her demonstration that Paris 54’s text has a genealogy as independent and revealing as its codicology and illumination is a signal achievement, and it opens a challenging new chapter in the study of illuminated books.’ Annemarie Weyl Carr, Southern Methodist University, USA 'With its detailed analyses, this monograph is a scholar’s work. But it is also a coffee-table book with a well-told narrative accompanied by thirty-three colour plates and forty-eight monochrome photographs.' Times Literary Supplement ’Kathleen Maxwell has now given us a lengthy and well-researched monograph devoted to this enormously complicated manuscript.’ Bryn Mawr Classical Review 'In a short newspaper review of Maxwell's book I concluded that she is a cautious investigative reporter; her readership is the jury assessing the plausibility of the evidence about this manuscript's history. She has certainly convinced this reviewer to declare in her favour. The whole volume has been handsomely prepared and produced. Maxwell provides helpful signposting,

Spis treści

Contents: Introduction; Paris 54: codicological and paleographical considerations; Paris 54: modus operandi of scribes and artists; The Greek Gospel text of Paris 54 and New Testament textual criticism; The three artists responsible for the narrative miniatures and evangelist portraits of Paris 54; Imitation and innovation: a comparative study of the narrative cycles and evangelist portraits of Paris 54 and Athos, Iviron 5; Paris 54’s place in thirteenth-century Constantinopolitan book illumination; Art and diplomacy in late thirteenth-century Constantinople: Paris 54 and the union of churches; Epilogue: from Constantinople to Catherine de Medici; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

O autorze

Kathleen Maxwell is Professor in the Department of Art and Art History, Santa Clara University, USA.