BALTRUŠAITIS (Jurgis). — Sumerian Art, Romanesque Art. - Lot 46

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BALTRUŠAITIS (Jurgis). — Sumerian Art, Romanesque Art. - Lot 46
BALTRUŠAITIS (Jurgis). — Sumerian Art, Romanesque Art. Paris, Librairie Ernest Leroux, 1934. “Form and Style: Essays and Papers on Art and Archaeology” series. Small quarto, 94 pp., 40 illustrations in the text, paperback with a black-and-green printed cover. Contemporary bibliographies confirm the 1934 Paris edition, the 94 pages, and the 40 illustrations. First edition. This work is among the early major works of Jurgis Baltrušaitis (1903–1988), following his *Studies on Medieval Art in Armenia and Georgia* (1929) and *Ornamental Stylistics in Romanesque Sculpture* (1931). In this work, Baltrušaitis examines the survival and transformation of Sumerian and Eastern motifs in Western Romanesque art. His aim is not merely to draw parallels between images; he seeks to trace the mechanisms of transmission and metamorphosis of forms between the ancient East and the Middle Ages. In particular, the book compares Mesopotamian representations with Romanesque motifs: figures facing each other around a tree, heraldic animals, eagles, monsters, hybrid figures, Adam and Eve, Daniel among the lions, and so on. The review published as early as 1934 in the *Bulletin monumental* specifically highlights Baltrušaitis’s ambition to trace certain distant origins of medieval iconography back to Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Sumer. It is therefore an important work in the development of Baltrušaitis’s thinking, foreshadowing his later research on the migrations, transformations, and resurgence of artistic forms. Paperback copy in its original cover, with its characteristic green border.
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