29 Thematic Essays on Byzantine Art
with images and bibliographies. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.)

Oxford Art Online

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium

A Companion to Byzantium

The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312-1453;  Sources and Documents. /  [compiled by] Cyril Mango.  Oversize: N6250 .M25

A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. / John Skylitzes ; introd., text and notes translated by John Wortley. Bookstacks: DF553 .S36 2010

Byzantine Art. / Robin Cormack. Oversize: N6250 .C656 2000

Subjects and Symbols in Art

Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. N7560 .H34 2008
Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography. N7560 .E53 1998
Dictionary of Symbols in Western Art. N7740 .C29 1995
The Dent Dictionary of Symbols in Christian Art. N7825 .S68 1994
Symbolism in Liturgical Art. N7825 .A7

 

A. Use Library Catalogs to find books

1. Tufts Libraries Catalog

2. WorldCat (beyond Tufts)

B. Searches & Results

(note the search pattern; modify to your own needs)

The Broader Context:

Art, Byzantine.

Art, Byzantine -- History.

Architecture Byzantine.

Narrower Focuses:

Art objects, Byzantine

Mosaics, Byzantine.

Christian art and symbolism -- Byzantine Empire.

Types of Document:

Art, Byzantine -- Exhibitions.

These exhibition and museum catalogues are uniquely valuable sources, which may include:

*Fundamental data on each work of art;

*Official images of the artworks;

*Curatorial statements/essays;

*essays by art critics/historians;

*list of scholarly publications on the art,

*and more.

Here is an example:

Byzantium, 330-1453/ edited by Robin Cormack and Maria Vassilaki. N6250 .B99 2008
Googlebooks limited preview

Published to accompany exhibition of same name, held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 25th October 2008 - 22 March 2009.

A historical introduction / Cyril Mango -- The art of Byzantium: 330-1453 / Robin Cormack and Maria Vassilaki -- The beginnings of Christian art / Thomas F. Mathews -- From Constantine to iconoclasm / Henry Maguire -- At court / Anthony cutler -- At home: Pt. 1: Ceramics of everyday life /Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi -- At home: Pt. 2: Metalwork of everyday life / Marlia Mundell Mango -- At home: Pt. 3: Jewellery and adornment / Aimilia Yeroulanou -- At church / Liz James -- Icons / Nano Chatzidakis -- Byzantium and the West / Michele Bacci -- Beyond Byzantium / Antony Eastmond -- The monastery of St. Catherine at Sinani / Maria Vassilaki and Robin Cormack .

Path of Discovery in the Catalogs

1. Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.

3. Use that language in further searches

e.g. Click on subject/author in the record to see further results and related topics.

ARTstor

More than one million images with contributions from outstanding museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates from all over the world.

 

(including SAHARA Project by the Society of Architectural Historians)

 

Illuminated Manuscripts

Index of Christian Art (Princeton University)

---

Books and journals with color plates, photographs, and other visuals are excellent sources; these illustrations are usually done professionally and/or are commissioned works serving as the official records of the built works.

Courtauld Institute Illustration Archives
Oversize: NA5461 .C75.

More searches:

monuments and pictorial works

cathedral* and pictorial

"stained glass" and (catalog* or exhibition*)

"notre dame" and (photo* or exhibition*)

A. Use Subject Databases for Journal Articles:

1 & 2. JSTOR and Project Muse

JSTOR is a favorite with its full texts in core journals of all disciplines. Project Muse does not include exactly the same JSTOR journals, but it has more recent and current articles on many topics.

 

3. Period Studies

International Medieval Bibliography (400-1500).

Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400 -1700).

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

 

4. International Bibliography of Art & Architecture (the Avery Index)

 

5. History, Religion, and Women's Studies

 

6. When use GoogleScholar, set your Library Links to access Tufts full texts.

B. Review Articles

Reviews of recent books and other types of review articles in major journals in a discipline are likely to summarize the current state of research in an area.

An Example of reviews of a Book:

James, L., "Art and Splendour by Robert S. Nelson, Ann Terry and Henry Maguire.". Art History, 31 (2008), 395?399.

 

 

A Few Core Journals:

Dumbarton Oaks Papers

Early Medieval Europe

Essays in Medieval Studies

Gesta

Medieval Encounters

Speculum

Studies in Iconography. (Tisch oversize: NX1 .S84)

 

The Art Bulletin.

Art History

 

Architectural History

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

C. More Articles like this "perfect" one

How:

Search, in Arts and Humanities Citation Index, for the article you have read.

For example:

Maguire, Henry. "Style and Ideology in Byzantine Imperial Art." Gesta 82: 2 (1989), 217-231.
References: 65 Times Cited: 5

You can, then, look up, in the record, the 65 references that Maguire cited for his article and, in turn, 5 articles that cited his. The assumption is that these articles address related issues.

 

Note:

1. Not every single article is cited;
2. Influential authors are cited more often;
3. More recent publications take time to be cited.

1. Click on the button in your search results screen to a window of three sequential options:

a. link to the digital full text when available;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the print journal;

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a. Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)

b. Electronic journals list

c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

Set up for your ILliad account

Use ILLiad, our Interlibrary Loan Service, to request articles, books and other materials that are not available at Tufts.

Chicago Style Manual (for citing sources)

RefWorks