Contesting the logic of painting : art and understanding in eleventh-century Byzantium / by Charles Barber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barber, Charles, 1964-

Series:

Visualising the Middle Ages ; v. 2.

Visualising the Middle Ages, 1874-0448 ; v. 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Icons, Byzantine.

Image (Theology).

Byzantine Empire--Church history.

Byzantine Empire.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Studies of the icon in Byzantium have tended to focus on the iconoclastic era of the eighth- and ninth-centuries. This study shows that discussion of the icon was far from settled by this lengthy dispute. While the theory of the icon in Byzantium was governed by a logical understanding that had limited painting to the visible alone, the four authors addressed in this book struggled with this constraint. Symeon the New Theologian, driven by a desire for divine vision, chose, effectively, to disregard the icon. Michael Psellos used a profound neoplatonism to examine the relationship between an icon and miracles. Eustratios of Nicaea followed the logic of painting to the point at which he could clarify a distinction between painting from theology. Leo of Chalcedon attempted to describe a formal presence in the divine portrait of Christ. All told, these authors open perspectives on the icon that enrich and expand our own modernist understanding of this crucial medium.

Contents:

Preliminary Material / C.E. Barber

Chapter One. The Synodikon Of Orthodoxy And The Ground Of Painting / C.E. Barber

Chapter Two. Symeon The New Theologian: Seeing Beyond Painting / C.E. Barber

Chapter Three. Michael Psellos: Seeing Through Painting / C.E. Barber

Chapter Four. Eustratios Of Nicaea And The Constraints Of Theology / C.E. Barber

Chapter Five. Leo Of Chalcedon, Euthymios Zigabenos And The Return To The Past / C.E. Barber

Afterword / C.E. Barber

Bibliography / C.E. Barber

Index / C.E. Barber

Illustrations / C.E. Barber.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-175) and index.

ISBN:

1-281-93989-7

9786611939892

90-474-3161-8

OCLC:

646789929

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004162716.i-206 DOI