English description: Christians in Lebanon have been painting their churches ever since the time of Christ but their work is largely unknown. Presently, the larger study of Byzantine painting has barely touched upon medieval Lebanon and very little has been published on a closely connected group of paintings in medieval Syria. Most, but not all of the paintings that have survived to the present day in Lebanon and also in Syria belong to the 12th and 13th centuries during the Crusades, a period when the greatest historical developments were taking place. As long as this region remained unexamined, an understanding of the cultural history of the Mediterranean basin was incomplete. This study approaches Lebanese paintings from two aspects. In the first place, it describes 26 monuments still visible today. The main body of the text then discusses the paintings as a group, including chapters on history, architecture, iconography and style. These chapters explore and attempt to explain relationships between Lebanese painting and other paintings in contemporary, Christian communities. Ideas moved with great rapidity across the Mediterranean during the 12th and 13th centuries and the Lebanese frescoes reflect the vigorous and colourful society of Outremer. Among all historical circumstances since the fall of the Roman Empire, the Crusades had the most far-reaching impact on European history and culture. Arab history was not unaffected by the Crusades but the greater impulse was from the East to the West. There were momentous impulses that reached across the seas at this time, not the least of them being the burgeoning commerce of the silk route and the approach of the Mongols. Lebanese painting reflects changes of this kind during this period. They not only illumine our understanding of medieval history in the Mediterranean basin, but also our understanding of the East and the West we experience today. German description: Das Werk unternimmt eine Bestandsaufnahme aller erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Wandmalereien im Libanon und ist damit ein Standardwerk zum Thema. Seit dem fruhen Christentum wurden libanesische Kirchen mit Fresken ausgestattet, und auch wahrend der islamischen Zeit setzten die Maler ihre Tatigkeit fort. Aus der Zeit der Kreuzzuge stammen jedoch die meisten der im Libanon noch vorhandenen Wandmalereien. Nach einer einleitenden Darstellung der Monumente und ihres Zerfalls seit Beginn der Katalogisierungsarbeiten wird jedes Fresko und die ggf. zugehorige Inschrift detailliert beschrieben und mit mindestens einer Abbildung dokumentiert. Die folgenden Kapitel uber Geschichte, Architektur, Ikonographie und Stil setzen die Malerei des Libanon zu gleichzeitiger christlicher Kunst in anderen Gegenden in Beziehung. Wechselseitige Einflusse aus Zypern, Byzanz, Kappadokien, Palastina, Agypten und Syrien sind nachzuweisen.
About the Author: Contributor Biography - English "This book is a considerable achievement, the result of very difficult fieldwork."In: Speculum. Jul 2006. S. 837-838. Contributor Biography - English Erica Cruikshank Dodd Education: B.A. Wellesley College, 1951 History of Art, concentration in Classical Art.Ph.D. Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, 1958. Byzantine Art.Post Doctoral training: 1960-1963, Center for Middle East Studies, Harvard University, in Islamic Art.Employment History: 1997- present, Fellow and now Associate Fellow, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria.1997- present. Adjunct Professor, Department of History in Art University of Victoria, Victoria, BC 1989-1996 Unpaid assistant to the Fulbright Program in Pakistan1992-1993 Lecturer, Center for Intensive English Language Studies, Islamabad.1987-1989 Visiting Professor of Islamic and Byzantine Art Department of History in Art, University of Victoria,1986-1987 Senior Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies Harvard Univ., Washington, D.C.Publications: Books: - Byzantine Silver Stamps, Dumbarton Oaks Studies, VII, l962- Byzantine Silver Treasures, Mongraphien der Abegg-Stiftung, Bern, l973 - (with Shereen Khairallah), The Image of the Word, American University of Beirut, l982.- The Frescoes of Mar Musa al-Habashi, AStudy of Medieval Painting in Syria, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto, 2001Articles In addition to various book reviews, Congress reports, abstracts, etc. not mentioned: - with Andrew Alfoldi) "A Sassanian Silver Phalera," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XI, 1957, 237-245. - "Piatti di Largizione" and "Tesori," Enciclopedia dell'art antiqua e classica, 1962-l970.- "Byzantine Silver Stamps: Supplement I," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XVIII, 1964, 239-248.- "Byzantine Silver Stamps: Supplement II," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XXII, 1968, 143-149.- "On the Origins of Medieval Dinanderie: the Equestrian Statue in Islam," Art Bulletin, LI, 1969, 220-232. - "The Image of the Word," Berytus, XVIII, 1969, 35-6l.- "On a Fatimid Rabbit," Kunst des Orients, VIII, 1973, 60-76, 160.- Sections on Abbasid art for Die Kunst des Islam, Porpylaen Verlag, ed. J. Sourdel Thomine and B. Spuler, with Klaus Brisch, etc. l974.- "Notes on the Wall Paintings of Mart Schmuni," Archeologie au Levant, Receuil R. Saidah, CMO, l2, Arch. 9, Lyon, 1982, 451-462.- "Notes on the Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, Near Nebek, Syria," British Archaeological Reports, BAR International Series, 152, 1982, 167-189.- "A Sassanian Bowl in the Collection of Elie Borowski," Okeanos, A Tribute to Ihor Sevcenko, Harvard Ukranian Studies, VII, 1983, 145-157.- "The Mosaic of the Fruit and the Knife in Khirbet al-Mafjar, Studies in the History and Archaeology of Palestine, I, Aleppo, 1984, pp. 320-327.- "Three Byzantine Silver Crosses," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XLI (1987), 165-179.- "Aquamanile (Islam)," " Amioun," Encyclopedia del 'arte medieval, Vol. 1, 1991 - "The Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, near Nebek, Syria," Arte medievale, 2nd Ser., VI (1992), pp. 61-144.- "The Question of Workshop: Evidence of the Stamps on the Sion Treasure" and " The Location of Silver Stamping: Evidence from Newly Discovered Stamps," Ecclesiastical Silver Plate in Sixth-Century Byzantium, eds., Susan A. Boyd and Marlia Mundell Mango, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 1993, pp. 57-63, 217-223.- "Bahdeidat," "Baalbek," "Lebanon/Syria," Encyclopedia del 'arte medieval, forthcoming. -"Inscriptions in the Mosque of Wazir Khan, Lahore," International Conference of Islamic Architecture, Lahore, March, 1993.- "More Inscriptions in the Mosque of the Wazir Khan, Lahore," The Word as Image in Islamic Art, Conference at Hofstra University, April 1996. - "Offering," "Light," and "Word-Logos," Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography, Helen Roberts (ed.), Fitzroy Dearborn.- "Christian Arab Painting under the Mamluks," ARAM, 9-10 (1997-1998), pp. 257-288.- "Christian Arab Sources for the Ceiling of the Palatine Chapel, Palermo," Studi in ornore di Angiola Maria Romanini, Enciclopedia dell'Art Medievale, Edizioni sintesi Informazione, Rome, 2000, pp. 823-831.- "The Three Patriarchs of Mar Musa al-Habashi: Syrian Painting and its Relationship with the West," Al-Masaq, Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, 12 (2000), pp. 99-139.- "Mar Tadros, Bahdeidat. Paintings in a Lebanese Church from the Thirteenth Century, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies, 1 (2001), pp. 61-84.- "Christian Arab sources for the Madonna Allatante in Italy," Memorial volume for Prof. Maria Angelo Romanini, Enciclopedia Italia