FA: $10.00 Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantime & Medieval Art HC Pub 1958

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Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantime & Medieval Art
General Editor René Huyghe

Hard Cover, no jacket, Prometheus Press, 1958, 416 Pages
Originally published in french as "L'art Et L'Homme
Pages are slightly yellow but not brittle, spine is in good condition. Lettering worn on
spine.

INTRODUCTION

Our aim in compiling this book has been to achieve a synthesis. CONCEPTION This synthesis
will be carried out in three ways:
i. The many different art forms created in a certain place at a certain time are simply the
adaptation, to specific means of expression, of the single spirit that gives unity to
an age or school. They are merely the various expressions of one basic constant that it is
essential to uncover. The Gothic cathedral, from its soaring facade and spires to
the glittering silver reliquaries on the altar, has an undeniable unity not only of style in
the forms employed, but of the underlying motives that inspired them. 2. Art, in its
turn, is only one of a number of ways in which man expresses himself, a reflection of the
spirit of the age that characterises and gives life to everything produced in a
certain period. So we are led to wonder, for example, whether the movement from Augustinian
to Thomist philosophy in the Middle Ages was not echoed by a similar
change in art. Thus we shall have to relate each philosophy to the art of its time viewed as
a whole, and the art itself to the whole culture of which it is an expression. 3.
Every culture, similarly, forms a whole which it is tempting to consider in isolation. Now,
art more than anything else reveals the strong ties linking mankind: like men,
though with more facility, forms and techniques make their way through the world. A
foreigner may not understand a language, but he can immediately appreciate an
image.
Human beings have always been anxious to preserve and enrich their own repertoire of forms
and images. They also absorb others, passed on to them by means of the
most fragile and infrequent examples; these they incorporate, transform and adapt to the
needs of their own culture, but they never neglect them or allow them to be
wasted. When a form emerges from the right conjunction of material and psychological
circumstances, it travels over enormous distances and lives for thousands of years.
Thus, in three separate stages, we shall outline a synthesis of the techniques of which art
is comprised, a synthesis of the art and the other phenomena which make up
cultures, and, lastly, a synthesis of the cultures which form the history of the world. PLAN
These considerations have determined the plan of this work: the sections on
India, China and Japan are not grouped in neat sections at the end of the book. Whatever
their contribution to the history of world art, it will be set in its proper place in the
story of human development.
By taking this faceted view, we hope to point a truth — namely, that art, created by
men, belongs to the entire world. For in spite of the many reasons, both natural
and artificial, why men have divided themselves up into separate groups, in art they
proclaim a magnificent singleness of purpose as they strive towards a goal which may
be unknown but which, is the same for them all. In attempting to look at art from a more
universal standpoint, we have had to modify the usual conventional position. We
have grown used to a self-centred viewpoint that makes the traditions derived from Greece
and Rome the nucleus of art history, but this attitude is no longer good enough.
In the last fifty years, there has been
a growing and universal need for knowledge of things unfamiliar and outside ourselves in
order to reach a better understanding of ourselves as we find our proper place in
the relative scale. Modern man clearly feels that he needs to widen his horizons, and here,
too, we hope that this volume will provide some satisfaction. An unusual amount
of emphasis has been given to areas that until only recently were unexplored or else were
the jealously guarded preserve of a few experts.
These were some of the considerations that were kept in mind during the planning of this
work.
METHOD This book is divided into five chapters, each corresponding to an essential stage in
the development of art. i. We thought that first of all it was important to
show in a few introductory pages (Art Forms and Society) how these stages were related to
each other and what place they occupied in the development as a whole. For
the rest, I have tried to relate the work of all those who have collaborated in the writing
of this book and to forge an essential link between them. I have especially tried to
stress the way in which the repertoire of forms and images of which art is comprised has
been continually built up and enriched. I have also attempted to show how these
forms and images of a period reflect both the social development and the main preoccupations
of that period, which are, in another way, explicitly stated in the thought of
the time.
After this article, which prefaces every chapter, come sections written by the most
knowledgeable authorities from all over the world. They have all
undertaken a survey of works of art and the available facts in order to present a clear
picture of the general forces of inspiration at work and of causes that
might offer some explanation. They have been more concerned with understanding than with
cataloguing facts. In addition to this, they have tried to supply
the most up-to-date information on their particular subjects rather than repeat established
facts that are generally known; they have not hesitated to include
theories still being tested
— theories of the kind referred to by scientists as 'working hypotheses' — at
least where they seem to be valuable and productive. There can
never be a single static view of history, no matter how much school text books would make it
appear otherwise;' the picture is a constantly changing one.
Here the reader will find history growing and developing and he should not be surprised if
by chance two scholars put forward different solutions to a
question.
3. But in order that readers should not sometimes be too confused, it was essential to
provide a concise account of what might be called the body of facts.
Each chapter is therefore followed by a brief memorandum (Historical Summary) where events,
schools, artists and works of art are listed in normal
chronological and geographical order.
But it is hardly necessary to spend so long upon the plans of a building; it has been built
by hands far abler than mine, by all those people who have made
this book what it is. Before I make way for them I should like to offer my deepest thanks
for their valuable cooperation.

René Huyghe

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION René Huyghe

1 THE FIRST CENTURIES OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA
ART FORMS AND SOCIETY René Huyghe
CHRISTIAN ART FROM THE CATACOMBS TO BYZANTIUM
Henri Stern
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot
PERSIAN ART IN PARTHIAN AND SASSANIAN TIMES
Roman Ghirshman
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Jeannine Auboyer
EGYPT AND COPTIC ART Etienne Driozon
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot
CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND AND NORTHUMBRIA Rend Huyghe
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot and Rend Huyghe
A LATE SCHOOL: ETHIOPIA Wilhelm Staude
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Wilhelm Staude

2 THE GREAT INVASIONS AND THE FALL OF BYZANTIUM
ART FORMS AND SOCIETY Rend Huyghe
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
Raymond Lantier
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot
THE VIKINGS Ole Klindt-Jensen
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot
ISLAM AND MOHAMMEDAN ART Gaston Wiet
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Sophie Essad-Arseven
THE LATER BYZANTINE EMPIRE Sirarpie Der Nersessian
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot

3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORIENTAL ART
ART FORMS AND SOCIETY Philippe Stern
THE CLIMAX OF INDIAN ART Jeannine Auboyer
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Jeannine Auboyer
CHINA DURING THE SUNG AND YUAN DYNASTIES
Madeleine Paul-David
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Madeleine Paul-David
KOREA AND JAPAN Madeleine Paul-David
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Madeleine Paul-David

4 THE FLOWERING OF MEDIEVAL ART IN THE WEST
ART FORMS AND SOCIETY René Huyghe
THE ART OF THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES Jean Hubert
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot Evelyn King and Lydie Huyghe
ROMANESQUE ART Jean Hubert
HISTORICAL SUMMARY Joséphe Jacquiot and Evelyn King

5 THE GOTHIC MIDDLE AGES
ART FORMS AND SOCIETY René Huyghe
THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF GOTHIC ART
Marcel Aubert
THE MATURITY AND THE SPREAD OF GOTHIC ART
Louis Grodecki
CONTACTS WITH THE NEAR EAST Paul Desehamps HISTORICAL SUMMARY Lydie Huyghe, Adeline
Hulftegger and Evelyn King
INDEX

COLOUR PLATES
Half title

EARLY CHRISTIAN Virgin and Child. Fresco from Sta Maria Antiqua, Rome

Frontispiece

BYZANTINE Soldiers in the court of Justi nian. Mosaic in S. Vitale, Ravenna

Facing page

16 BYZANTINE Ship. Mosaic in S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

17 BYZANTINE The Empress Theodora and her court. Mosaic in S. Vitale, Ravenna

17 BYZANTINE Madonna and Child. Mosaic in S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

48 SASSANIAN Gold cup with reliefs of glass and rock crystal

49 COPTIC Tapestry

64 NORTHUMBRIAN Page from the Lindis fame Gospels
65 IRISH The Arrest of Christ. Page from the Book of Kells

96 ITALIAN Christ in Majesty. Fresco from Monte Cassino

97 NORWEGIAN The month of April. Tapestry
112 PERSIAN A game of polo. Miniature from a manuscript

113 ISLAMIC The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

113 ISLAMIC El Azhar mosque, Cairo

144 BYZANTINE Virgin and Child. Icon from Mount Athos
145 RUSSIAN Virgin of Vladimir. Icon

160 RUSSIAN The cathedral of St Basil, Moscow

161 INDIAN Temple at Soninathpur
161 INDIAN Chenna Kesava temple, Belur

208 CHINESE Bird on a branch. Painting attri buted to Hui Tsung

209 CHINESE Sung celadon ware

224 JAPANESE Myoe the monk meditates in a tree. Painting by Jonin

225 JAPANESE Shukongojin in the Hokkedo

256 SPANISH Adoration. Catalan painting in Sta Maria, Tahull

257 CAROLINGIAN Reliquary statue of Ste Foy

272 CAROLINGIAN The Gospel cover of St Gaucelin

273 ROMANESQUE The Ascension. Stained glass window in the cathedral of Le Mans

288 ROMANESQUE St Savin and St Cyprian converting Ladisius. Fresco in St Savin sur Gartempe

288 ROMANESQUE The Ark upon the waters. Fresco in St Savin sur Gartempe

289 FRENCH The Abbot Suger cup

304 ROMANESQUE St John's chapel, Tower of London

305 GOTHIC Wells cathedral

336 GOTHIC The Coronation of Charlemagne. Page from the Grandes Chroniques de France
337 GOTHIC The Adoration of the Beast. Detail from the tapestry of the Apocalypse of Angers

352 FRANCO-FLEMISH The month of De cember. Page from the Tr&s Riches Heures of the Duke of
Berry

353 GOTHIC Virgin and Child. Painted stone statue