Mosaics, Empresses and Other Things in Byzantium

Liz James is Professor of Art History at the University of Sussex. She is interested in all things to do with Byzantine art and especially, at the moment, mosaics. Her publications include Light and Colour in Byzantine Art (1996) and Empresses and Power in Early Byzantium (2001), as well as several edited books. Her most recent book is Mosaics in the Medieval World (2017), which contains some great pictures of mosaics.

Part 1 Light, Colour and Mosaics

1 What Colours Were Byzantine mosaics?

Medieval mosaics: light, color, materials, eds. E. Borsook, F. Superbi, G. Pagliarulo, (Harvard University Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence, 2000), 35–46

2 Mosaic Matters. Questions of Manufacturing and Mosaicists in the Mosaics of San Marco, Venice

San Marco, Byzantium and the myths of Venice, eds. H. Maguire and R. S. Nelson, (Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 2010), 227–243

3 Made in Byzantium? Mosaics After 1204

Cross-cultural interaction between Byzantium and the West, 1204–1669, ed. A. Lymberopoulou, (Routledge, London, 2018), 258–271

4 Matters of Materiality in Byzantium: The Archangel Gabriel in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople

Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History 86, 3 (2017), special issue on Matter and Materiality in the Study of Medieval Art, ed. L.Liepe

Part 2 Empresses

5 Good Luck and Good Fortune to the Queen of Cities: Empresses and Tyches in Byzantium

Personification in the Greek world, eds. E. J. Stafford and J. Herrin, (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005), 293–308

6 Making a Name: Reputation and Imperial Founding and Refounding in Constantinople

Female founders in Byzantium and beyond, eds. L. Theis, M. Mullett and M. Grünbart, Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 60/61 (2011/12), 63–72

7 The Empress and the Virgin in Early Byzantium: Piety, Authority and Devotion

Images of the Mother of God, ed. M. Vassilaki, (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005), 145–152

8 Ghosts in the Machine. The Lives and Deaths of Constantinian Imperial Women

Questions of gender in Byzantine society, eds. B. Neil and L. Garland, (Ashgate, Farnham, 2013), 93–112

Part 3 Materiality, Senses and Other Things

9 Monks, Monastic Art, the Sanctoral Cycle and the Middle Byzantine Church

The Theotokos Evergetis and eleventh-century monasticism, Belfast Byzantine Texts and Translations 6.1, eds. M. Mullett and A. Kirby, (Belfast Byzantine Texts and Translations, Belfast, 1994), 162–175.

10 Dry Bones and Painted Pictures: Relics and Icons in Byzantium

Eastern Christian relics, ed. A. Lidov, (Research Centre for Eastern Christian Culture, Moscow, 2002), 45–55

11 Art and Lies: Text, Image and Imagination in the Medieval World

Icon and word. The power of images in Byzantium, eds. A. Eastmond and L. James (Ashgate, Aldershot 2003), 59–72.

12 Seeing is Believing but Words Tell No Lies: Captions Versus Images in the Libri Carolini and Byzantine Iconoclasm

Negating the image: case studies in iconoclasm, eds. A. L. McClanan and J. Johnson, (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005), 97–112

13 ‘And Shall These Mute Stones Speak?’ Text as Art

Art and text in Byzantium, ed. L. James, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007), 188–206

14 Seeing’s Believing but Feeling’s the Truth: Touch and the Meaning of Byzantine Art

Images of the Byzantine world: visions, messages and meanings, ed. A. Lymberopoulou, (Ashgate, Farnham, 2011), 1–15

15 Things: Art and Experience in Byzantium

Experiencing Byzantium, eds. M. Jackson and C. Nesbitt, (Ashgate, Farnham, 2013), 17–34

Additional Notes and Comments