Writing in Gold: Byzantine Society and is Icons
by: Robin Cormack

Hardcover. London, George Philip, 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 270 pages, illustrated in b&w. Writing in Gold is a bold and challenging statement about the importance of the visual arts in a largely illiterate society. Exploring the height of Byzantine society from the 6th to the 12th centuries through a survey of the period's surviving paintings, mosaics, and metalware, the book shows how these art objects molded attitudes and beliefs in the medieval world. The examples chosen cover the full range of Byzantine society from the sophisticated urban environment of Constantinople, where emperors used art to maintain loyalty and support for the system, to the life of a small community on Cyprus, where a recluse used art to glorify himself to his disciples. Written in a lively style, and drawing on new and original material throughout, Writing in Gold illuminates an intriguing period in art history. Small name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.