Description
By (author) Treuherz Julian
Art and Architecture of Sicily is the first book to cover the richartistic heritage of Sicily from prehistory up to the late 20th century. Sicily’sstrategic position in the centre of the Mediterranean led to settlement orconquest by a succession of different peoples – Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans,Byzantines, Muslims, Normans, Germans, French, Spanish – each one leaving itstraces on Sicilian culture.
The book provides a chronological survey, each section opening with abrief historical overview which is followed with an authoritative and engagingaccount of the development of the period’s art and architecture. The leadingarchitects, artists and stylistic currents are all discussed and outstandingindividual buildings and works of art are analysed, some famous, others whichmay be unfamiliar to readers. While architecture is the principal startingpoint for the understanding of each period, paintings and sculpture are treated in some detail; archaeology, urban development, patronage anddecorative arts are also covered.
The development ofart and architecture in Sicily not interpreted as a story of artisticconquests, but as one of acculturation and creative transformation. The author insteadreveals that successive layering of different cultures, and the way each oneinteracted with its predecessors produced art and architecture quite distinctfrom anywhere else in Europe. He thus challenges the commonly held viewthat Sicilian art and architecture is provincial and derivative, merelyimitating the art of others.
Table of contents
Introduction; Prehistoric Sicily; The Greeks come to Sicily: the Archaic Period; The Greeks in Sicily: the Classical Period; Punic Sicily; The Greeks in Sicily: the late Classical and Hellenistic periods; Sicily, province of Rome; Early Christian, Byzantine and Arabic Sicily; The Normans in Sicily: a new architectural style; The Normans in Sicily: the royal workshops, the pleasure pavilions and the later cathedrals; Sicily under the Hohenstaufen Emperors; Late medieval Sicily: German, French and Aragonese rule; Sicily under the Spanish Viceroys: the 15th century; Sicily under the Spanish Viceroys: the 16th century; The coming of the Baroque to western Sicily; The earthquake of 1693 and the rebuilding of eastern Sicily; Late Baroque architecture in western Sicily; Baroque painting, sculpture and decorative arts; Neo classicism in Sicily; The search for a new style: Sicily 1840-1918; Sicily after 1918
Biographical note
Julian Treuherz is an art historian who was Keeper of Art Galleries for National Museums Liverpool between 1989 and 2007. He has written many books, articles and exhibition catalogues, and over the last twenty years he has spent part of each year in Sicily studying its art and architecture.
Endorsement
‘A marvellous book full of treasures and splendid images, a journey across time through the art and architecture of Sicily. These pages reveal a succession of cultures, each intermingling with the previous ones and creating new styles celebrating all the different peoples who have lived in and loved the land of Sicily.’ – Francesco da Mosto, architect, author and broadcaster of proud Sicilian descent
Endorsement
‘I can’t recommend this book too highly. It is a masterful survey of the sense-stunningly multicultural art and architecture of Sicily, which also makes a compelling case for Sicilian civilisation itself as a unique and distinct force – not only shaped by a multitude of outside invaders, whether Greek or Norman or Arab, but also shaping them with its own irresistible energies. Every page makes me want to go back to Sicily!’ – Andrew Graham-Dixon, Art Critic, Author and Broadcaster
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