Painting the Soul

Icons are among the most elusive subjects in the history of art, but at the same time their study constitutes possibly its fastest expanding field, and with the opening-up of the former Soviet Union many new objects are being discovered, studied and exhibited. In this book, Robin Cormack considers the icon as an integral document of society and gives us new insights into the nature of Byzantine art. Painting the Soul explores both the creation and the development of the icon. After the early Christians - like the pagans before them - had come to expect their god to be visually present among them, endless questions confronted both the artist and the Church. What did Christ look like? How should Christ be represented? Should Christ be represented (as he is for example on the Turin Shroud)? Appropriately, Cormack's study ends with Venetian Crete, where the icon underwent its final development and transformation into the art of the Renaissance. Here, established Byzantine forms of religious art confronted developing Renaissance modes of expression: the first 'icons' of El Greco were painted in Crete. Painting the Soul is beautifully illustrated, featuring many little-known works of art. Even so, Cormack treats the icon not as a mere artistic product, but as the symbolic face of medieval Europe. He shows how this new field within the history of art - the study of the icon - will transform our understanding of European art and culture.

ISBN 186189001X   Pages 248 ISBN13 9781861890016 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Reaktion Books   Weight (grammes) 610 Imprint Reaktion Books   Published in London Format Paperback   Series title Essays in Art & Culture S. Publication date 23 Apr 1997   Height (mm) 234 Library of Congress 97216979   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 704.9482   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly, General

		Preface		7
		Chronology of Byzantine History		11
1		Conception		15
2		Birth		32
3		God/Man		89
4		Maturity and Identity		133
5		Rebirth		167
		References		219
		General Bibliography		237
		List of Illustrations		245

Winner of The Runciman Award 1998. 'This book is a firework display. It sets off scores of explosions which light up the sky over-arching our field, terrain that is normally traversed nose down and too mindful of the footsteps of our predecessors. Burlington Magazine deserves to be read and pondered TLS ambitiously panoramic and highly accessible Anglo-Hellenic Review

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