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Description: Early Christian and Byzantine Art
An attempt has been made to present Early Christian and Byzantine Art as a panoramic story which is meant to be read rather than consulted. It is emphasized that the book is neither dictionary nor encyclopedia, neither catalogue nor hand-list. It would have been impossible to include everything even if that were desirable in a work directed at a general educated public as well as students and specialists. Byzantine studies are still in their infancy and there is much that needs careful …
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00042.001
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Foreword
An attempt has been made to present Early Christian and Byzantine Art as a panoramic story which is meant to be read rather than consulted. It is emphasized that the book is neither dictionary nor encyclopedia, neither catalogue nor hand-list. It would have been impossible to include everything even if that were desirable in a work directed at a general educated public as well as students and specialists. Byzantine studies are still in their infancy and there is much that needs careful appraisal and reassessment, frequently in the light of new excavations and discoveries which have not yet reached final publication. The author is conscious that his work is only a stage in the gradual rediscovery of the facts, the influences, and the tendencies which, when placed in proper perspective, should lead to a full and profound understanding of Early Christian and Byzantine Art. At the same time he has tried to be up to date in matters of research and he hopes that the story that he has told gives a true picture in the light of our knowledge today.
It would be impossible, also, to thank individually the innumerable friends, colleagues, and institutions who have helped during the preparation of this book and the author hopes that they will accept this quite inadequate gesture of gratitude. In cases of help over details of scholarship I have made acknowledgements in the notes. There are, however, a few close friends who have watched anxiously over my work, given constant advice, and made useful suggestions on different levels: Professor Hugo Buchthal, the Rev. Gervase Mathew, O.P., Mademoiselle Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Sir Steven Runciman, and Professor Francis Wormald. Before them, here and now, in thanks for their benevolence I make proskynesis.
JOHN BECKWITH
London, 1968
For the second edition it has proved necessary to make only one or two changes in the text, but the Notes and Bibliography have been extensively amplified.
Description: f0010-01
Description: f0011-01
Foreword
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