The Oxford Illustrated History of Classical Art - Softcover

"A superior educational tool for bringing to life the art of the classical world."--Ann W. Norton, Providence College "The look, the feel, the noble proportions and the sheer heft of this book hark back to the great days of book production at the Oxford University Press. So does the content. The text moves along briskly, with never a word wasted. The nearly 400 plates are as attentive to findings of recent date, whether they are now in Beirut or in Malibu, as they are to the celebrated equestrian statue of Marcus Auerelius in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. In every case, moreover, the plates are keyed by number to what is, in effect, a concise and authoritative catalogue entry. Text and picture nestle under our hand. Narrative gridlock is unknown. The Oxford History goes straight to the point and sticks to it all the way from pre-classical Greece to the porphyry Tetrarchs who huddle together on the outside of St. Mark's in Venice and may have been made in Egypt around A.D. 300."--The New York Times Book Review "Most impressive....Written by a team of scholars, this lavishly illustrated book traces the origins and evolution of classical art in the Greco-Roman world. It functions as both a definitive history and a reference to all the major artworks produced by classical civilization."--The Philadelphia Inquirer "The changing forms of classical art, the differing societies and patrons for whom artifacts were produced, the roles and objectives of the artists, and the manner in which classical art was disseminated throughout the ancient world are all well analyzed and well presented....A broad choice of illustrations [including] 28 very good color plates...provide a focus and foundation for the narrative."--Library Journal "Masterful....Certainly whatever the reader thinks about classical art will be clarified and perhaps changed by consulting this authoritative book."--KLIATT "A superior educational tool for bringing to life the art of the classical world."--Ann W. Norton, Providence College "The look, the feel, the noble proportions and the sheer heft of this book hark back to the great days of book production at the Oxford University Press. So does the content. The text moves along briskly, with never a word wasted. The nearly 400 plates are as attentive to findings of recent date, whether they are now in Beirut or in Malibu, as they are to the celebrated equestrian statue of Marcus Auerelius in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. In every case, moreover, the plates are keyed by number to what is, in effect, a concise and authoritative catalogue entry. Text and picture nestle under our hand. Narrative gridlock is unknown. The Oxford History goes straight to the point and sticks to it all the way from pre-classical Greece to the porphyry Tetrarchs who huddle together on the outside of St. Mark's in Venice and may have been made in Egypt around A.D. 300."--The New York Times Book Review "Most impressive....Written by a team of scholars, this lavishly illustrated book traces the origins and evolution of classical art in the Greco-Roman world. It functions as both a definitive history and a reference to all the major artworks produced by classical civilization."--The Philadelphia Inquirer "The changing forms of classical art, the differing societies and patrons for whom artifacts were produced, the roles and objectives of the artists, and the manner in which classical art was disseminated throughout the ancient world are all well analyzed and well presented....A broad choice of illustrations [including] 28 very good color plates...provide a focusand foundation for the narrative."--Library Journal "Masterful....Certainly whatever the reader thinks about classical art will be clarified and perhaps changed by consulting this authoritative book."--KLIATT "A superior educational tool for bringing to life the art of the classical world."--Ann W. Norton, Providence College "The look, the feel, the noble proportions and the sheer heft of this book hark back to the great days of book production at the Oxford University Press. So does the content. The text moves along briskly, with never a word wasted. The nearly 400 plates are as attentive to findings of recent date, whether they are now in Beirut or in Malibu, as they are to the celebrated equestrian statue of Marcus Auerelius in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. In every case, moreover, the plates are keyed by number to what is, in effect, a concise and authoritative catalogue entry. Text and picture nestle under our hand. Narrative gridlock is unknown. The Oxford History goes straight to the point and sticks to it all the way from pre-classical Greece to the porphyry Tetrarchs who huddle together on the outside of St. Mark's in Venice and may have been made in Egypt around A.D. 300."--The New York Times Book Review "Most impressive....Written by a team of scholars, this lavishly illustrated book traces the origins and evolution of classical art in the Greco-Roman world. It functions as both a definitive history and a reference to all the major artworks produced by classical civilization."--The Philadelphia Inquirer "The changing forms of classical art, the differing societies and patrons for whom artifacts were produced, the roles and objectives of the artists, and the manner in which classical art was disseminated throughout the ancient world are all well analyzed and well presented....A broad choiceof illustrations [including] 28 very good color plates...provide a focus and foundation for the narrative."--Library Journal "Masterful....Certainly whatever the reader thinks about classical art will be clarified and perhaps changed by consulting this authoritative book."--KLIATT "A superior educational tool for bringing to life the art of the classical world."--Ann W. Norton, Providence College "The look, the feel, the noble proportions and the sheer heft of this book hark back to the great days of book production at the Oxford University Press. So does the content. The text moves along briskly, with never a word wasted. The nearly 400 plates are as attentive to findings of recent date, whether they are now in Beirut or in Malibu, as they are to the celebrated equestrian statue of Marcus Auerelius in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. In every case, moreover, the plates are keyed by number to what is, in effect, a concise and authoritative catalogue entry. Text and picture nestle under our hand. Narrative gridlock is unknown. The Oxford History goes straight to the point and sticks to it all the way from pre-classical Greece to the porphyry Tetrarchs who huddle together on the outside of St. Mark's in Venice and may have been made in Egypt around A.D. 300."--The New York Times Book Review "Most impressive....Written by a team of scholars, this lavishly illustrated book traces the origins and evolution of classical art in the Greco-Roman world. It functions as both a definitive history and a reference to all the major artworks produced by classical civilization."--The Philadelphia Inquirer "The changing forms of classical art, the differing societies and patrons for whom artifacts were produced, the roles and objectives of the artists, and the manner in which classical art was disseminated throughout the ancient world are all well analyzed and well presented....A broad choice of illustrations [including] 28 very good colorplates...provide a focus and foundation for the narrative."--Library Journal "Masterful....Certainly whatever the reader thinks about classical art will be clarified and perhaps changed by consulting this authoritative book."--KLIATT

The art and architecture of Greece and Rome lie at the heart of the classical tradition of the western world and their legacy is so familiar as to have become commonplace. The legacy may appear simple, but the development of classical art in antiquity was complex and remarkably swift. It ran from near abstraction in 8th-century BC Greece, through years of observation and learning from the arts of the non-Greek world to the east and in Egypt, to the brilliance of the classical revolution of the 5th century, which revealed attitudes and styles undreamt of by other cultures. After Alexander the Great this became the art of an empire, readily learned by Rome and further developed according to the Romans' special character and needs until it provided the idiom for the imaging of Christianity. In this book the story of this pageant of the arts over some 1500 years is told by five leading scholars.