Saints and Sinners in the Sky: Astronomy, Religion and Art in Western Culture
SPRINGER-PRAXIS: 2022. 246PP. £24.99
Today, powerful telescopes bring us spectacular images of distant stars, galaxies and even black holes. However, through most of history the vast majority of the Universe was invisible to our eyes. Despite this, people have created visual representations of the heavens for centuries. Michael Mendillo is a space scientist who became fascinated with art history in the 1970s. In this book, he takes the reader through how the skies have been portrayed in the Western world, from early religious iconography to Renaissance star maps. The focus is mainly on paintings, but coins and architecture also feature and the book comes with an annotated bibliography for readers wanting to delve deeper.
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