{"product_id":"the-icons-of-their-bodies-9780691050072","title":"The Icons of Their Bodies","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Byzantines surrounded themselves with their saints  invisible but constant companions  who were made visible by dreams  visions  and art. The composition and presentation of this imagined gallery followed a logical structure  a construct that was itself a collective work of art created by Byzantine society. The purpose of this book is to analyze the logic of the saints image in Byzantium  both in portraits and in narrative scenes. Here Henry Maguire argues that the Byzantines gave to their images differing formal characteristics of movement  modeling  depth  and differentiation  according to the tasks that the icons were called upon to perform in the all-important business of communication between the visible and the invisible worlds.  The book draws extensively on sources that have been relatively little utilized by art historians. It considers both domestic and ecclesiastical artifacts  showing how the former raised the problem of access by lay men and women to the supernatural and fueled the debates concerning the role of images in the Christian cult. Special attention is paid to the poems inscribed by the Byzantines upon their icons  and to the written lives of their saints  texts that offer the most direct and vivid insight into the everyday experience of art in Byzantium. The overall purpose of the book is to provide a new view of Byzantine art  one that integrates formal analysis with both theology and social history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45666404958261,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691050074","price":62.81,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691050072.jpg?v=1782430794","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-icons-of-their-bodies-9780691050072","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}