The art that will be discussed in this volume, though there are
numerous variations of style due to epoch or locality, is broadly of
a very distinct and basically uniform character. It was firstly essenti-
ally a Christian art, dedicated to the service of the Church and to
the illustration and expression of that faith, and to a greater or lesser
extent, controlled by the rulings of the Church. It was, secondly,
an art where a certain degree of abstraction prevails, and where the
rhythmical or spiritual basis of a composition was more important
than resemblance to Nature. It was nevertheless a figural art and
owed a considerable debt to the motifs and ideas that were prevalent
at an earlier date in the classical world; indeed the classical heritage
was never lost sight of, in spite of the penetration of new and distinct
ideas from the East. It was, thirdly, a sophisticated and a complex
art, where profound meaning underlay the form, and not a primitive
art, depending for its appeal principally on the attraction of colour
or intuitive qualities of design. But as it was an art which extended
over a very long period of time--the years between about 550 and
1450 are covered in this book, though the styles that are here dis-
cussed existed in embryo before and survived till much later--and
which was produced over a very extended area in space, there were
naturally wide variations not only of style, but also of character.

The finest work, the most elegant, and the most accomplished
technically, was, naturally enough, associated with the Byzantine
capital, Constantinople, which was the very hub of the civilized
world from the foundation of the city as capital around 330 till its
conquest by the Turks in 1453. But there were other great centres
too. In Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and elsewhere in the West works
of the greatest importance that were in no way provincial were
executed in the early years of Christendom, though little of quality
was produced there that belongs to the period covered by this

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