Written over nearly three decades, the fifteen essays involve the three a's of the title, art, agency, and appreciation. The first refers to the general subject matter of the book, Byzantine art, chiefly painting, of the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, the second to its often human-like agency, and the last to its historical reception. Responding to different issues and perspectives that have animated art history and Byzantine studies in recent decades, the essays have wide theoretical range from art historical formalism, iconography, archaeology and its manuscript equivalent codicology, to statistics, patronage, narratology, and the histories of science and collecting. The series begins with art works themselves and with the imagery and iconography of church decoration and manuscript illumination, shifts to the ways that objects act in the world and affect their beholders, and concludes with more general appreciations of Byzantine art in case studies from the thirteenth century to the present.

’It is a very useful volume, including some of his most important and thought-provoking essays of recent years. ... This volume makes a great case for the study of Byzantine art, and its potential when treated with subtlety and thought.’ English Historical Review ’This book, containing fifteen articles written over nearly three decades, is a valuable contribution to the study of Byzantine imagery.’ The Burlington Magazine ’As a collection of articles by a major Byzantine art historian, this is a fantastically useful book... The articles themselves are important as contributions to the field of Byzantine art history: Nelson's engagement with theoretical standpoints beyond those traditional in Byzantine art history has been significant in helping to transform the ways in which Byzantine art is studied in the English-speaking world. However, his scholarship is not simply about Byzantium. His work should be read by a wider audience for what it says about theoretical approaches and methodologies, and for ways in which art history can go beyond the artist.’ Art History

Robert S. Nelson is Robert Lehman Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, USA.