{"product_id":"byzantine-art-and-diplomacy-in-an-age-of-decline-paperback-9781316631980","title":"Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline (Paperback \/ softback) 9781316631980","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eByzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis book questions how political decline refigures the visual culture of empire, examining the imperial image and the gift in later Byzantium.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eCecily J. Hilsdale (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781316631980, Cambridge University Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 1 December 2016\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e424 pages, 99 b\/w illus.  14 colour illus.\u003cbr\u003e24.5 x 17 x 2.2 cm, 0.73 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e'Cecily J. Hilsdale's important volume … is a major contribution to the field. She asks essential questions and provides a rich and deep context for consideration of later Byzantine art … Her discussion of objects leads to questions not otherwise asked and thus to new insights about the function of images. Almost every scholar interested in this period of Mediterranean history will come away with something for his or her own work.' The Medieval Review\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eThe Late Byzantine period (1261–1453) is marked by a paradoxical discrepancy between economic weakness and cultural strength. The apparent enigma can be resolved by recognizing that later Byzantine diplomatic strategies, despite or because of diminishing political advantage, relied on an increasingly desirable cultural and artistic heritage. This book reassesses the role of the visual arts in this era by examining the imperial image and the gift as reconceived in the final two centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In particular it traces a series of luxury objects created specifically for diplomatic exchange with such courts as Genoa, Paris and Moscow alongside key examples of imperial imagery and ritual. By questioning how political decline refigured the visual culture of empire, Cecily J. Hilsdale offers a more nuanced and dynamic account of medieval cultural exchange that considers the temporal dimensions of power and the changing fates of empires.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIntroduction: the Imperial image as gift\u003cbr\u003e Part I. Adventus: the Emperor and the City: 1. The imperial image and the end of exile\u003cbr\u003e 2. Imperial thanksgiving: the commemoration of the Byzantine restoration of Constantinople\u003cbr\u003e 3. Imperial instrumentality: the serially struck Palaiologan image\u003cbr\u003e Part II. 'Atoms of Epicurus': the Imperial Image as a Gift in an Age of Decline: 4. Rhetoric as diplomacy: imperial word, image and presence\u003cbr\u003e 5. Wearing allegiances and the construction of a visual oikoumene\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion: the ends of empire.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450\/1500 [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Early history: c 500 to c 1450\/1500\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Early%20history:%20c%20500%20to%20c%201450\/1500%20%5BHBLC%5D%22\"\u003eHBLC\u003c\/a\u003e], European history [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on European history\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22European%20history%20%5BHBJD%5D%22\"\u003eHBJD\u003c\/a\u003e], History of art \/ art \u0026amp; design styles [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on History of art \/ art \u0026amp; design styles\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22History%20of%20art%20\/%20art%20\u0026amp;%20design%20styles%20%5BAC%5D%22\"\u003eAC\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45913143410968,"sku":"9781316631980","price":33.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/products\/9781316631980i_29c06125-3ea7-46a6-9108-65a86ad106b9.jpg?v=1696708812","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/byzantine-art-and-diplomacy-in-an-age-of-decline-paperback-9781316631980","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}