Byzantine art and archaeology / by O.M. Dalton ; with 457 illustrations.

  • Ormonde Maddock Dalton
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Byzantine art and archaeology / by O.M. Dalton ; with 457 illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE The purpose of this book is to provide something in the nature of a general introduction to the art and antiquities of the Christian East, which, until the publication of Prof. Diehl’s admirable Manuel dart byzantin, had not been treated in a single volume incorporating the results of recent investigation.1 The work was almost finished when the Manuel appeared, and had it not been that the arrangement which I had adopted was different from that of Prof. Diehl, I might have hesitated to proceed further. But, upon consideration, it seemed that there was still room for a volume like the present, in which the attempt has been made, by means of copious references, to indicate exact sources and acquaint English readers with the latest Continental research. At one time I had contemplated including Architecture, the exclusion of which is assuredly a matter for regret. But, on the one hand, the material most nearly connected with my own studies alone bade fair to exceed the limits of a single volume; on the other, it seemed clear that the Mistress Art could only; be treated in an adequate manner by one brought up in her tradition or admitted to it in virtue of a wide practical experience. I can lay claim to neither advantage, and therefore abstain from a task beyond my powers, hoping that the issue of this book may suggest to some qualified scholar a volume restating those architectural problems of which the importance is paramount to the study of Byzantine art. The bulk of the book consists of plain descriptions based upon the work of the chief authorities and intended for reference rather than for continuous reading. Two introductory chapters have however been placed at the beginning, and two chapters on special subjects at the end, while each main division has a short introduction of its own. It is hoped that these additions may make the contents of the several sections more intelli- gible, and perhaps mitigate in some degree the austerity of a method which follows the unbending lines of a directory. The period covered is that between the fourth century and the close of the fifteenth; it is, roughly, the duration of the Byzantine Empire. But the limits have not been very strictly drawn; many things have been considered which are not ‘ Byzantine ’, some which are not even East- 1 M. Ch. Bayet’s Art byzantin is favourably known to all students of Byzantine art, but it is restricted in size and in the number of its illustrations. M. Gabriel Millet’s chapters on Byzantine Art in A. Michel’s Histoire de VArt have not been separately printed.