Byzantine Art

Sandrine Le Bail AP Art History

Objectives

• Survey the variety of stylistic sources and development that characterized the long history of Byzantine art.

• Understand the principal theme and subjects -secular as well as sacred- used by Byzantine artists.

Objectives

• Assess the central role of images in the devotional practices of the Byzantine world and explore the reasons for and impact of the brief interlude of iconoclasm.

• Trace the growing Byzantine interest in conveying human emotions and representing human situations when visualizing sacred stories.

Tetrarchs

330 - Foundation of Constantinople

Constantine founded Constantinople (now Istanbul) on the site of the ancient Greek city of

Byzantium in 324 and dedicated this “New Rome” to the Christian God in 330.

476 – Disparition of the Western Empire

Iconoclastic Controversy

(8th -9th

century)From 726 to 758

andFrom 815 to 843

Iconoclastic Controversy

• In 726, Leo III (r.717-741) enacted a ban against picturing the divine, initiating the era of iconoclasm and the destruction of countless Early Byzantine artworks.

• Empress Theodora repealed iconoclasm in 843 and in 867, Basil I dedicated a new mosaic depicting the Theotokos (Mother of God) in Hagia Sophia. It marked the triumph of the iconophiles over the iconoclasts.

1054 – East West Schism

West East

• Roman Catholic Church• Pope• Rome• Latin

• Eastern Orthodox Church • Patriarch of Constantinople• Constantinople• Greek

1204 – Siege of Constantinople

1204 – Siege of Constantinople

• In 1204, Latin crusaders sacked Constantinople, bringing to an end the Middle Byzantine era.

• In 1261, Michael VIII Palaeologus succeeded in recapturing the city. Constantinople remained in Byzantine hands until its capture by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Byzantine Architecture

Justinian (r.527-565)

• The first golden age of Byzantine art was the result of the lavish patronage of Justinian.

• Wanted to conquer lost western territories and revive elements of the classical Roman Empire

Justinian and Ravenna

The seat of Byzantine power in Italy was Ravenna, which prospered under Justinian. San Vitale is Ravenna’s greater church.Its mosaics, with their weightless, hovering, frontal figures against a gold background, reveal the new Byzantine aesthetic.

San Vitale, Ravenna, 540-547

Emperor Justinian

Apsidial chapel

sanctuary

Apse mosaic, San Vitale, Ravenna, 540-547

Apse mosaic, San Vitale, Ravenna, 540-547

• Jesus = early Christian style (young and clean-shaven)

• Sphere = world

• 4 rivers of paradise

• Still naturalism but stiffer

• Frontality

• Golden background - spirituality

Court of Justinian, San Vitale, Ravenna, c. 547

Court of Theodora, San Vitale, Ravenna, c. 547

Characteristics

• Golden background

• Hierarchy

• No perspective

• The folds of the clothes hide the body

• Flat

• Spatial representation not realistic

Justinian and Constantinople

In Constantinople alone, Justinian built or restored more than 30 churches. The greatest was Hagia Sophia, which rivaled the architectural wonders of Old Rome.

Hagia Sofia, Costantinople, 532-537

Architects: Isodoros of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles

• For almost 1000 years = seat of the Orthodox patriarch of Constantine.

• Became a mosque when the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks

• Now a museum

Approximate reconstruction of how the Church appeared in the 12th century

lunette

Roman:

Pendentives

Capital

Justinian’s imperial church –Shows the power and the willingness to unit all Christian

A brilliant fusion of central and longitudinal plans, Hagia Sophia’s 180 foot-high dome rests on pendentives but seemed to contemporaries to be suspended “ by a golden chain from Heaven”

Middle Byzantine Art

843-1204

Middle Byzantine Art

• End of iconoclasm

• Importance of ivory carving and manuscript painting

• Churches: Highly decorative exterior walls and domes resting on drums above the center of the Greek cross.

• Climax of the interior mosaic program: Christ as Pantokrator in the dome.

Hosios Loukas, Greece, 10-11th century

Hosios Loukas, Greece, 10-11th century

Highly decorative exterior walls / Domes above the center of the Greek cross.

Large windows with little holes

Squinch

Baptism of Christ

Crucifixion

St. Mark cathedral, Venice, Italy, 1063

St. Mark Cathedral, Venice, Italy, 1063

St. Mark Cathedral, Venice, Italy, 1063

Iconostasis

Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, 1555-1561

Byzantine Painting

Volumen vs Codex

Volumen Codex (pl. codices)

Parchment or vellum

David composing the Psalms, from the Paris Psalter, c.950-970

Psalter: a book of the psalms from the Hebrew scriptures.

Icons

Icon: devotional panel depicting a sacred image.

Icon of the Virgin and

Child between

Saints Theodore and George from the

Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai,

Egypt, 6th or early 7th

century

Mary

• Very strong codification

• Hieratic

• Body concealed beneath a blue robe

• Large eye

• Small mouth

• Theodokos “God Bearer”

• Throne of wisdom

Theotokos, apse mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, 867

Vladimir Virgin, 12th

century

TheotokosVirgin Eleusa(Tenderness)

Monreale, Sicily, c.1172-1176

Pantocrator, 1180-1190, Cathedral, Monreale, Sicily

Pantocrator: litterally “ruler of the world”, a term that alludes to a figure of Christ placed above the altar or in the center of a dome in a Byzantine church.

Evolution of Byzantine painting

• Importance of icons

• Less Realistic

• More Symbolic

• Priority: spiritual rather than the natural

• Same traditions for several hundred years.

Byzantine Sculpture

Byzantine Sculpture

• No large scale statues

• No in the round statues

• Ivory and precious metal

• Small size

• Reliefs

• Ivory carving flourished during the Middle Byzantine period. Hinged ivory shrines, such as the Harbaville Triptych, were popular for use in private prayer.

Harbaville Triptych, c.950

Triptych:A three-paneled painting or sculpture

Questions

• Characterize the role of the Classical tradition, already notable in the Early Christian period, in the developing history of Byzantine art. When was it used? In what sorts of contexts? Develop your discussion in relation to two specific examples from two different periods of Byzantine art.

Questions

• How were images used in Byzantine worship? Why were images suppressed during iconoclasm?