Middle Byzantine Art

Transfiguration of Jesus, apse mosaic, Church at the monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai,

Egypt, 565

Christ between two angels, Saint Vitalis and Bishop Ecclesius, apse mosaic of San Vitale, Ravenna, ca. 547

Icons: art and personal devotion

Icons of Christ and the Virgin Theotokos, Sinai, 6th cent.Height: ca. 1’7”Material: encaustic paint on wood panel

Byzantine Iconoclasm(8th-9th centuries)

Icons of Christ and the Virgin Theotokos, Sinai, 6th cent.Height: ca. 1’7”

Iconoclasm = “destruction of images”

Issues:- Traditional Old Testament prohibition of images- Icon veneration confused with ido worship- Arab conquest of Byzantine territories

Constatinople (Istanbul), church of Hagia Sophia,6th century

Church of Hagia Sophia, apse mosaic of the Virgin Theotokos, 9th century

Monastery of Hosios Loukas, near Stiris, southern Greece, 10th and early 11th century

Monastery of Hosios Loukas, near Stiris, southern Greece, Left: Katholikon (11th century)Right: Church of the Panagia (10th century)

Monastery of Hosios Loukas, near Stiris, southern Greece, Katholikon, early 11th century

Monastery of Hosios Loukas, near Stiris, southern Greece, Dome of Panhagia church , 10th century

Hagia Sophia

Hosios Loukas

Hosios Loukas, Baptism of Christ, 11th century

Monastery of Hosios Loukas, near Stiris, southern Greece, Katholikon, early 11th century

Monastery church at Daphni, Greece. Katholikon, ca. 1100

Monastery church at Daphni, Greece.Mosaic of Christ Pantokrator in the dome of the Katholikon, ca. 1100

Monastery church at Daphni, Greece.Mosaic of the Crucifixion in the Katholikon, ca. 1100