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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherThames & Hudson
ISBN-100500289638
ISBN-139780500289631
eBay Product ID (ePID)109189904
Product Key Features
Book TitleArt of the Picts : Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland
Number of Pages256 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2011
TopicSculpture & Installation, Metal Work, History / Medieval
IllustratorYes
GenreArt, Crafts & Hobbies
AuthorIsabel Henderson, George Henderson
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height0.9 in
Item Weight46.6 Oz
Item Length11 in
Item Width8.7 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
Dewey Edition0
TitleLeadingThe
Dewey Decimal709.4/11/09021
SynopsisGeorge and Isabel Henderson's acute analysis reveals an art form that both interacted with the currents of "Insular" art and was produced by a sophisticated society capable of sustaining large-scale art programs. The illustrations include specially commissioned drawings that help one understand the mysterious symbols found in the art., Drawing on their extensive research and expertise, renowned historians George and Isabel Henderson illuminate one of the great enigmas of medieval art: the unique metalwork and sculpture of the Picts. Tribal Celtic-speaking warriors and farmers in what is now Scotland, the Picts were one of the major peoples of early medieval Britain, but their culture and their beautiful art have puzzled historians for centuries. George and Isabel Henderson's acute analysis reveals an art form that both interacted with the currents of "Insular" art and was produced by a sophisticated society capable of sustaining large-scale art programs. The illustrations include specially commissioned drawings that help one understand the mysterious symbols found in the art., Using art-historical tools and drawing upon two lifetimes' experience and expertise in the field, George and Isabel Henderson dissect and scrutinize one of the great genuine enigmas of early medieval art: the sculpture and metalwork of the Picts, inhabitants of north-east Britain. Marginalized and dismissed for many years by art historians as inchoate and provincial, the large surviving Pictish corpus of cross-slabs, incised stones and metalwork remained until recently the territory of archaeologists and those bewitched by the mysterious, unfathomable symbols found in so much of the art. Through the careful comparison and skilful observations, however, the authors show how the art of the Picts both interacted with the currents of 'Insular' art, and - contrary to received wisdom - was produced by a sophisticated society capable of sustaining large-scale art programmes. A masterpiece of scholarship and deduction, the book is organized around eight thematic chapters dealing with the characteristics of Insular art, the 'Pictishness' of Pictish art, Pictish metalwork, themes and programmes in Pictish art, the form and function of the sculpture and a discussion of the impact of losses, illustrated with over three hundred photographs, six maps and specially commissioned line drawings. Throughout, the Hendersons give strong consideration to the formal qualities and the iconography of the works, throwing new light onto some of the more intractable problems associated with the Picts - not least the meaning of the supposedly 'pagan' symbols. In its acute analysis of Insular art, and its relentless questioning of the function and meaning of Pictish art, this book will be of great value to art historians, archaeologists, those interested in the history of the early Church, and medievalists of all disciplines, and is arguably the most important publication on this subject for over a century.
LC Classification NumberN6774
