The Origins of Christian Art

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PRAEGER WORLD OF ART PAPERBACKS $5.95 The Origins of Christian Art
Michael Gough
The story of the first eight centuries of Christian art covers the period of the Church's growth from a gathering of 120 people in Jerusalem to a massive organization that influenced every facet of life in the new Holy Roman Empire. Yet it would be a mistake to think of Christianity in its formative years as forging an entirely new artistic language appropriate to its own purposes ; in its humble and sometimes cryptic beginnings it drew upon the art traditions prevailing at the time.
The distinguished art historian and archaeologist Michael Gough has here given a full and lucid account of the development of Christian art until the coronation of Charlemagne. He covers the art of the primitive Church, in which pagan traditions were strong and a new Christian iconography was struggling to assert itself; the art of vital and expanding Christian communities during the two centuries separating... Tovább

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PRAEGER WORLD OF ART PAPERBACKS $5.95 The Origins of Christian Art
Michael Gough
The story of the first eight centuries of Christian art covers the period of the Church's growth from a gathering of 120 people in Jerusalem to a massive organization that influenced every facet of life in the new Holy Roman Empire. Yet it would be a mistake to think of Christianity in its formative years as forging an entirely new artistic language appropriate to its own purposes ; in its humble and sometimes cryptic beginnings it drew upon the art traditions prevailing at the time.
The distinguished art historian and archaeologist Michael Gough has here given a full and lucid account of the development of Christian art until the coronation of Charlemagne. He covers the art of the primitive Church, in which pagan traditions were strong and a new Christian iconography was struggling to assert itself; the art of vital and expanding Christian communities during the two centuries separating Constantine the Great and Justinian 1 and culminating in the first Golden Age of Byzantium; and, finally, the art of Western and Northern Europe before the Carolingian period. Professor Gough discusses not only the major art forms—wall paintings, mosaics, and sculpture—but also more intimate art, including manuscripts, ivories, metalwork, and jewelry.
His comprehensively illustrated text puts into perspective the varied and fascinating achievement of early Christian art—the modest paintings of the Roman catacombs, the lavish splendors of Constantinople and Ravenna, and, from the edge of the Christian world, the rich decorative style of Irish art. the author Michael Gough was born in 1916 and educated at Dragon School, Oxford, Stonyhurst College, and Petcrhouse, Cambridge, where he was awarded first class honors in classics and a diploma in classical archaeology. He was Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, 1951-61, and Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1961-68. In 1968-69, Professor Gough was a member ot the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and he is currently Professor of Chrisnan Archaeology at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, University of Toronto. Among his many distinctions is the OBE, awarded in 1968; he is the author of The Early Christians {\()G\) and a contributor to The Birth oj Western C.iviligation: Greece and Rome (1964).
ON THt-: CdVliR : Head of Christ, from the Catacomh of Ciimmodilla, Rome. I ourth centurx.
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