Janson's History of Art : The Western Tradition, Volume I

Rewrittenand reorganized, this new edition weaves together the most recent scholarship, the most current thinking in art history, and the most innovative online supplements, including digital art library.Experience the new Janson and re-experience the history of art. Long established as the classic and seminal introduction to art of the Western world, the Eighth Edition ofJanson's History of Artis groundbreaking. When Harry Abrams first published theHistory of Artin 1962, John F. Kennedy occupied the White House, and Andy Warhol was an emerging artist. Janson offered his readers a strong focus on Western art, an important consideration of technique and style, and a clear point of view.The History of Art, said Janson, was not just a stringing together of historically significant objects, but the writing of a story about their interconnections, a history of styles and of stylistic change. Jansonrs"s text focused on the visual and technical characteristics of the objects he discussed, often in extraordinarily eloquent language. Jansonrs"sHistory of Arthelped to establish the canon of art history for many generations of scholars. Chapters 1-13.

Penelope J. E. Davies is Associate Professor at the University of Texas, Austin. She is a scholar of Greek and Roman art and architecture as well as a field archaeologist. She is author of Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, winner of the Vasari Award.

 

Walter B. Denny is a Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  In addition to exhibition catalogues, his publications include books on Ottoman Turkish carpets, textiles, and ceramics, and articles on miniature painting, architecture and architectural decoration.

 

Frima Fox Hofrichter is Professor and former Chair of the History of Art and Design department at Pratt Institute.  She is author of Judith Leyster, A Dutch Artist in Holland’s Golden Age, which received CAA’s Millard Meiss Publication Fund Award.

 

Joseph Jacobs is an independent scholar, critic, and art historian of modern art in New York City.  He was the curator of modern art at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, director of the Oklahoma City Art Museum, and curator of American art at The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey.

 

David L. Simon is Jetté Professor of Art at Colby College, where he received the Basset Teaching Award in 2005. Among his publications is the catalogue of Spanish and southern French Romanesque sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters.

 

Ann M. Roberts, Professor of Art at Lake Forest College has published essays, articles and reviews on both Northern and Italian Renaissance topics. Her research focuses on women in the Renaissance, and her most recent publication is entitled Dominican Women and Renaissance Art:The Convent of San Domenico of Pisa.

 

H. W. Janson was a legendary name in art history.  During his long career as a teacher and scholar, he helped define the discipline through his impressive books and other publications. 

 

Anthony F. Janson forged a distinguished career as a professor, scholar, museum professional and writer.  From the time of his father’s death in 1982 until 2004, he authored History of Art.

Preface xiv

Faculty and Student Resources for Teaching and Learning with Janson’s History of Art xix

Introduction xxi

 

PART ONE: THE ANCIENT WORLD

 

Chapter 1: Prehistoric Art

PALEOLITHIC ART 2

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Cave Painting 5

Interpreting Prehistoric Painting 5

Paleolithic Carving 7

INFORMING ART: Telling Time: Labels and Periods 9

Paleolithic houses 11

NEOLITHIC ART 11

Settled Societies and Neolithic Art 11

Architecture in Europe: Tombs and Rituals 15

INFORMING ART: Dating Techniques 17

 

Chapter 2: Ancient Near Eastern Art

SUMERIAN ART 22

Temple Architecture: Linking Heaven and Earth 23

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Mud Brick 23

Sculpture and Inlay 25

PRIMARY SOURCES: The Gilgamesh Epic 25

Visual Narratives 27

Cylinder Seals 29

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Losses Through Looting 29

ART OF AKKAD 30

Sculpture: Power and Narrative 30

NEO-SUMERIAN REVIVAL 32

Architecture: The Ziggurat of Ur 32

Sculpture: Figures of Gudea 32

PRIMARY SOURCES: Texts on Gudea Figures from Lagash and Surrounding Areas, ca. 2100 33

BABYLONIAN ART 33

The Code of Hammurabi 34

ASSYRIAN ART 34

PRIMARY SOURCES: The Code of Hammurabi 35

Art of Empire: Expressing Royal Power 37

LATE BABYLONIAN ART 37

The Royal Palace 38

REGIONAL NEAR EASTERN ART 38

The Hittites 40

The Phoenicians 40

The Hebrews 41

IRANIAN ART 41

Early Iranian Art 42

The Persian Empire: Cosmopolitan Heirs to the Mesopotamian Tradition 43

Mesopotamia Between Persian and Islamic Dominion 46

Chapter 3: Egyptian Art

PREDYNASTIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC ART 50

The Palette of King Narmer 50

INFORMING ART: Egyptian Gods and Goddesses 52

THE OLD KINGDOM: A GOLDEN AGE 53

Old Kingdom Funerary Complexes 53

INFORMING ART: Major Periods in Ancient Egypt 54

The Pyramids at Giza: Reflecting a New Royal Role 55

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Building the Pyramids 56

PRIMARY SOURCES: Excerpt from the Pyramid Text of Unis (r. 2341–2311 BCE) 58

Representing the Human Figure 59

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: REASSERTING

TRADITION THROUGH THE ARTS 62

Royal Portraiture: Changing Expressions and Proportions 62

Funerary Architecture 63

THE NEW KINGDOM: RESTORED GLORY 65

Royal Burials in the Valley of the Kings 65

Temples to the Gods 67

Block Statues 70

Images in New Kingdom Tombs 71

AKHENATEN AND THE AMARNA STYLE 72

The Amarna Style 72

Tutankhamun and the Aftermath of Amarna 75

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Interpreting Ancient Travel Writers 75

PAPYRUS SCROLLS: THE BOOK OF THE DEAD 77

PRIMARY SOURCES: The Book of the Dead 77

LATE EGYPT 78

 

Chapter 4: Aegean Art

EARLY CYCLADIC ART 82

MINOAN ART 84

The “Palace” at Knossos 84

Wall Paintings: Representing Rituals and Nature 86

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Two Excavators, Legend, and Archaeology 87

Minoan Pottery 89

Carved Minoan Stone Vessels 90

Late Minoan Art 92

MYCENAEAN ART 93

Architecture: Citadels 93

Mycenaean Tombs and Their Contents 96

Sculpture 99

 

Chapter 5: Greek Art

THE EMERGENCE OF GREEK ART: THE GEOMETRIC STYLE 104

INFORMING ART: Greek Gods and Goddesses 105

Geometric Style Pottery 105

Geometric Style Sculpture 107

THE ORIENTALIZING STYLE: HORIZONS EXPAND 107

Miniature Vessels 108

ARCHAIC ART: ART OF THE CITY-STATE 109

The Rise of Monumental Temple Architecture 109

STONE SCULPTURE 113

Architectural Sculpture: The Building Comes Alive 115

Vase Painting: Art of the Symposium 119

THE CLASSICAL AGE 123

Classical Sculpture 123

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: The Indirect Lost-Wax Process 128

Architecture and Sculpture on the Athenian Akropolis 131

PRIMARY SOURCES: Aristotle (384–322 BCE) 133

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Repatriation of Cultural Heritage 134

PRIMARY SOURCES: Plutarch (ca. 46–after 119 CE) 136

THE LATE CLASSICAL PERIOD 141

Late Classical Architecture: Civic and Sacred 141

Late Classical sculpture 142

Painting in the Late Classical Age 145

THE AGE OF ALEXANDER AND THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD 147

Architecture: The Scholarly Tradition and Theatricality 148

City Planning 150

Hellenistic Sculpture: Expression and Movement 154

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: J.J. Winckelmann and the Apollo Belvedere 157

Hellenistic Painting 161

 

Chapter 6: Etruscan Art

FUNERARY ART 165

Tombs and Their Contents 166

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Etruscan Gold-Working 169

ARCHITECTURE 173

City Planning 174

SCULPTURE 175

Dynamism in Terra Cotta and Bronze 175

 

Chapter 7: Roman Art

EARLY ROME AND THE REPUBLIC 181

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Recognizing Copies: The Case of the Laocoön 183

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ARCHITECTURE 183

Sculpture 188

PRIMARY SOURCES: Cicero (106–43 BCE) 192

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Copying Greek Sculptures 193

Painting and Mosaic 194

PRIMARY SOURCES: Polybius (ca. 200–ca. 118 BCE) 194

THE EARLY EMPIRE 195

Architecture 196

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Two Pantheon Problems 202

Portrait Sculpture 203

Relief Sculpture 207

PRIMARY SOURCES: Josephus (37/8–ca. 100 CE) 210

Art and Architecture in the Provinces 213

Domestic Art and Architecture 216

THE LATE EMPIRE 222

Architecture 222

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Painted Stone in Greece and Rome 223

Architecture in the Provinces 227

Portrait Sculpture 228

Relief Sculpture 229

 

PART TWO: THE MIDDLE AGES

 

Chapter 8: Early Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine Art

EARLY JEWISH ART 237

EARLY CHRISTIAN ART 240

Christian Art before Constantine 240

INFORMING ART: The Life of Jesus 241

PRIMARY SOURCES: The Book of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) 244

Christian Art after Official Recognition of Christianity 245

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Mosaics 248

BYZANTINE ART 254

Early Byzantine Art 254

PRIMARY SOURCES: Procopius of Caesarea (Sixth Century) 258

The Iconoclastic Controversy 265

Middle Byzantine Art 265

PRIMARY SOURCES: St. Theodore the Studite (759–826 CE) 266

Late Byzantine Art 273

INFORMING ART: Biblical and Celestial Beings 273

 

Chapter 9: Islamic Art

Religious Architecture 280

PRIMARY SOURCES: Muhammad Ibn Mahmud Al-Amuli (Iran, 14th Century) 280

THE FORMATION OF ISLAMIC ART 281

INFORMING ART: Islam and Its Messenger 283

Secular Architecture 284

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC STYLE 285

Religious Architecture 285

Luxury Arts 287

ISLAMIC ART AND THE PERSIAN INHERITANCE 287

Architecture 287

Figural Art Forms in Iran 288

THE CLASSICAL AGE 290

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Spanish Islamic Art and Europe in the Middle Ages 290

The Fatimid Artistic Impact 291

The Ayyubids and the Seljuk Turks of Asia Minor 292

LATER CLASSICAL ART AND ARCHITECTURE 294

Mongol Patronage 295

Timurid Patronage 295

Mamluk Patronage 296

Nasrid Patronage: The Alhambra 299

THE THREE LATE EMPIRES 300

PRIMARY SOURCES: The Ottoman Sultan Selim II (1524–1574) 300

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: The Oriental Carpet 301

The Ottomans in Europe and Asia 302

The Safavid Period in Iran 304

The Mughal Period in India 308

PRIMARY SOURCES: Abd Al-Hamid Lahori (d. 1654) 309

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN ISLAMIC ART 310

 

Chapter 10: Early Medieval Art

ANGLO-SAXON ART 314

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Metalwork 315

The Animal Style 316

HIBERNO-SAXON ART 318

Manuscripts 318

PRIMARY SOURCES: Lindisfarne Gospels 320

VIKING ART 322

CAROLINGIAN ART 324

Sculpture 324

Illuminated Books 325

Architecture 328

PRIMARY SOURCES: Hariulf (ca.1060–1143) 331

PRIMARY SOURCES: St. Angilbert (ca. 750–814) 332

OTTONIAN ART 333

Architecture 333

Metalwork 336

Ivories and Manuscripts: Conveyors of Imperial Grandeur 340

Sculpture 343

 

Chapter 11: Romanesque Art

FIRST EXPRESSIONS OF ROMANESQUE STYLE 349

Architecture 349

Monumental Stone Sculpture 350

MATURE ROMANESQUE 351

Pilgrimage Churches and Their Art 351

PRIMARY SOURCES: The Pilgrim’s Guide 352

Cluniac Architecture and Sculpture 356

PRIMARY SOURCES: St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) 359

Cluniac Wall Painting 365

Cistercian Architecture and Art 366

Other Benedictine Architecture and Wall Painting 367

Book Illustration 368

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Preserving and Restoring Architecture 369

OTHER REGIONAL VARIANTS OF ROMANESQUE STYLE 372

Western France: Poitou 372

Southeastern France: Provence 373

The Holy Land 374

Tuscany 375

Germany 378

The Meuse Valley: Mosan Style 379

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Vaulting 380

Normandy and England 381

THE PARADOXICAL MEANING OF ROMANESQUE 386

 

Chapter 12: Gothic Art

EARLY GOTHIC ART IN FRANCE 391

Saint-Denis: Suger and the Beginnings of Gothic Architecture 391

PRIMARY SOURCES: Suger of Saint-Denis (1081–1151) 393

Chartres Cathedral 395

Laon Cathedral 397

Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris 398

HIGH GOTHIC ART IN FRANCE 399

The Rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral 400

PRIMARY SOURCES: Theophilus Presbyter (12th Century) 402

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Stained Glass 405

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: Modules and Proportions 406

Amiens Cathedral 408

Reims Cathedral 408

RAYONNANT OR COURT STYLE 413

Sainte-Chapelle 413

Saint-Urbain in Troyes 415

Manuscript Illumination 416

LATE GOTHIC ART IN FRANCE 418

Manuscript Illumination 418

Sculpture 420

Architecture: The Flamboyant Phase 422

THE SPREAD OF GOTHIC ART 423

Spain 423

England 426

Germany 430

 

PART THREE: THE RENAISSANCE THROUGH ROCOCO

 

Chapter 13: Art in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Italy

THE GROWTH OF MENDICANT ORDERS AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN ITALY 438

The Franciscans at Assisi and Florence 438

Churches and Their Furnishings in Urban Centers 441

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Fresco Painting and Conservation 441

Pulpits in Pisan Churches 442

Expanding Florence Cathedral 445

Building for the City Government: The Palazzo della Signoria 448

PAINTING IN TUSCANY 449

Cimabue and Giotto 449

Siena: Devotion to Mary in Works by Duccio and Simone 453

PRIMARY SOURCES: Agnolo di Tura del Grasso 454

THE ART HISTORIAN’S LENS: The Social Work of Images 455

Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti 458

Artists and Patrons in Times of Crisis 461

PRIMARY SOURCES: Inscriptions on the Frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena 461

NORTHERN ITALY 465

Venice: Political Stability and Sumptuous Architecture 465

Milan: The Visconti Family and Northern Influences 465

 

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Credits