David Talbot Rice
Personal Information
Description
David Talbot Rice CBE was an English archaeologist and art historian. His name is sometimes written as Talbot-Rice. His parents were Charles Henry Talbot-Rice and Cecily Mary Talbot-Rice (née Lloyd). Born in Rugby and brought up in Gloucestershire, Talbot Rice was educated at Eton prior to reading archaeology and anthropology at Christ Church, Oxford. At Oxford his circle of friends included Evelyn Waugh and Harold Acton as well as his future wife (Elena) Tamara Abelson (1904–1993) a Russian émigré whom he was to marry in 1927. This group allegedly formed the original for Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. Elena was also an art historian, writing on Byzantine and Central Asian art, and spent much time travelling abroad with him on archaeological digs. In 1925 while he was still an undergraduate, Talbot Rice became a staff member at the Oxford Field Museum's archaeological excavation in Kish, Iraq. He was to use this experience by incorporating some of his findings when completing his B.Sc. degree gained in 1927. Developing a passion for all things Byzantine, Talbot Rice joined the expeditions of the British Academy in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1927–32 and 1952–54. In 1928, for example, he visited Trebizond (now Trabzon), which would lead to his monograph on the subject being published in 1936. Talbot Rice's fieldwork continued with expeditions to Cyprus, Asia Minor, Iraq and Iran. His academic career took off in 1934 when he was appointed to the Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, a post he held until his death in 1972. In 1937 he gave the Ilchester Lecture, later published as The Beginnings of Russian Icon Painting. World War Two interrupted his academic pursuits when he was called up as head of the Near East Section of Military Intelligence (MI3b), which was responsible for Eastern Europe including Yugoslavia but excluding Russia and Scandinavia. He later transferred to the Special Operations Executive serving in North Africa and Italy with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed Member of the British Empire in 1943. When peacetime resumed in 1945, Talbot Rice returned to his work in Edinburgh. From 1952-54, he led the excavations of the Great Palace of Constantinople in Istanbul, Turkey, and he was later involved in the uncovering and restoration of the Byzantine frescos in the Hagia Sophia in Trabzon. In 1958 he took responsibility for a major exhibition of Byzantine art for the Edinburgh International Festival. As well as continuing with research, teaching, and the responsibilities associated with his professorship, Talbot Rice served on various national committees associated with the arts, including the Arts Council, of which he was a member from 1963-68. He was an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy and a senior trustee of National Galleries Scotland. From 1967-71 Talbot Rice served as vice principal of the University of Edinburgh. His ambition to establish an arts centre in the university was realised posthumously in 1975 by his successor Professor Giles Henry Robertson when the Talbot Rice Gallery was founded and named after him. Source: [Wikipedia](
Books
L'art de l'Empire byzantin
"Something of the Hellenic Spirit was reborn in the Eastern Roman Empire - later known as Byzantium - while the Western Empire crumbled under the blows of barbarian invaders. For a thousand years thereafter its great capital, Constantinople, remained the center of a brilliant, sophisticated society, and an art of magnificence and power. We have come to know Byzantine art chiefly in examples remote from the capital; until a short time ago, for example, the glowing gold-and-colored-glass mosaics of Santa Sophia were obscured by whitewash. This book now spreads before the reader the Byzantine art of Constantinople itself in its incomparable elegance and perfection, including the fascinating buildings, mosaics, murals, and sculptures, as well as smaller treasures that cannot be moved because of their fragility or sacredness. In the introduction the author, a distinguished authority, traces the development of Byzantine art with the penetration and sensitivity born of a lifetime of scholarship. In addition, he discusses at some length each of the illustrated objects and buildings. The photographs - many reproduced in full color - were made by Max Hirmer, who is noted for his ability to bring out the qualities present in works of art. These two great authorities, between them, have created an impressive and notable contribution to art literature." --
A concise history of painting from prehistory to the thirteenth century
"This classic contains 288 plates with 80 in color of many of the greatest paintings in Western art in various medium: books, mosaics, vases, caves, altarpieces etc. An good introduction for the amateur of painting history and a pleasure to peruse." -- Amazon review.
Art of the Byzantine Era
For the people of Byzantium, their architectural works, frescoes, mosaics, ivories, chalices, bejeweled gospel covers and many other opulent works of art were the material proof of their greatness and power over the Mediterranean states.The vast range of these riches is illustrated in this complete account of Byzantine art from the reign of Justinian to the fall of Constantinople.David Talbot Rice, one of the greatest authorities on Byzantine art, traveled as far afield as the rock churches of Cappadocia and Cilicia, the tufa monuments of Armenia and Georgia, and the thirteenth-century ceramic factories of Bulgaria, now buried in the alluvial mud of the Danube. His book is a masterly survey of an art of magnificence and power that belonged to a great and sophisticated society.
The beginnings of Christian art
Here in brief compass is a survey of early Christian and early Medieval art as a whole with illustrations.