Full Description
Bucolic imagery—of shepherds with flocks in idyllic surroundings—has barely been studied in Byzantine art history. These images elude our usual analytical categories of imperial, sacred, and secular art, and challenge our assumptions about visual narrative. This book demonstrates that a "bucolic mode" existed in Byzantium in diverse media, such as textiles, sculpture, mosaics, silver, and manuscripts. Through a close reading of a select group of images, this book argues that bucolic themes were deployed to reflect concerns about the salvific effects of sound, the vagaries of the weather, and the contingency of imperial rule at different moments in the Byzantine era.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Shepherd and His Sheep
Chapter 2. The Winds and the Weather
Chapter 3. The Emperor and the Idyll
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
