In this interdisciplinary study, Henry Maguire examines the influence of
several literary genres and rhetorical techniques on the art of
narration in Byzantium. He reveals the important and wide-reaching
influence of literature on the visual arts. In particular, he shows that
the literary embellishments of the sermons and hymns of the church
nourished the imaginations of artists, and fundamentally affected the
iconography, style, and arrangement of their work. Using provocative
material previously unfamiliar to art historians, he concentrates on
religious art from A.D. 843 to 1453.
Professor Maguire first considers the Byzantine view of the link between
oratory and painting, and then the nature of rhetoric and its
relationship to Christian literature. He demonstrates how four
rhetorical genres and devices--description, antithesis, hyperbole, and
lament--had a special affinity with the visual arts and influenced
several scenes in the Byzantine art, including the Annunciation, the
Nativity, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Presentation, Christ's
Passion, and the Dormition of the Virgin.
Through the literature of the church, Professor Maguire concludes, the
methods of rhetoric indirectly helped Byzantine artists add vividness to
their narratives, structure their compositions, and enrich their work
with languages. Once translated into visual language, the artifices of
rhetoric could be appreciated by many.
Henry Maguire is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Originally published in 1982.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from
the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions
preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting
them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the
Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich
scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by
Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
