Byzantine Art!!

Early Byzantine Age 527 726 (Justinian 527 -

565)
Iconoclasm 730 787 and 814 - 842
Middle 843 1204 (restoration of icons)
Break from the Western Church 1054
Constantinople Falls to Venetian Invaders in
the 4
th
Crusade - 1203
Late Period 1261 1453
The fall of Constantinople to Mehmed II of
the Ottoman Empire - 1453
Justinian
reigned 527 - 565
In the late Fifth and early Sixth Centuries, the Western half of The
Roman Empire fell into a shambles. Even Italy was under the
control of feuding barbarians.The Emporer Justinian rallied his
forces and Recoverred Ravenna. For a short time Ravenna became
the Byzantine capital in the West and a number of important early
Byzantine monuments are preserved there today. The church of San
Vitale in Ravenna is one of these monuments. SanVitale's humble
exterior protects a glistening interior full of glass mosaics and
sumptuous decorative marble.

Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547
Built during the citys
rebuilding after riots of
532


Purple makes a fine
shroud attributed to
Theodora
Pendentive vs. Squinch
Hagia Sophia Holy Wisdom
Designed by 2 scholar-theoreticians:
Anthemius of Tralles (geometry and optics) & Isisorus
of Miletus (physics)
Rumored to have been constructed by angels in 5
years (532 537)
Massiveness of piers and walls disguised by mosaics
Dome has a band of 40 windows around the top
making it appear to float (first one fell in 558)
Early Byzantine Art
in the Age of Justinian
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
Combination of central plan and
axial plan
Exterior: plain and massive, little
decoration
Altar at far end, but emphasis
placed over the area covered by
the dome
Dome supported by pendentives
Powerful central dome, with forty
windows at base
Cornice unifies space
Arcade decoration: wall and
capitals are flat and thin but richly
ornamented
Great fields for mosaic decoration
At one time had four acres of gold
mosaics on walls
Many windows punctuate wall space
Minarets added in Islamic period
Apse mosaic (detail) hagia
sophia, 867
Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547
Justinian and Attendants
To his left the clergy, to his right the
military
Dressed in royal purple and gold
Symmetry, frontality
Holds a plate for the host, or perhaps
a golden bowl
Slight impression of procession
forward
No volume of figures, seem to float,
and yet step on each others feet
No background to set the figures in
space
No landscape, gold background
indicates timelessness
Maximianus identified, patron of San
Vitale
Halo indicates saintliness
Pictorial space not depicted as a
window to the natural world (i.e.
Romans)
Theodora and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547
Theodora and Attendants
Hieratic composition
Slight displacement of
absolute symmetry with
Theodora
Sumptuously executed
She holds a chalice for
the ceremony and is
about to go behind the
curtain
Altar boys and ladies at
court accompany her

Mosaics
More abstract than Roman Paintings

Used as narrative illustrations to instruct the faithful

Bright colors, small bits of stone, glass tesserae
S. Vitale, c. 525 -547

Commisioned by Bishop Ecclesius
Column Capitals, San Vitale
Column Capitals, Hagia Sophia
Santa Costanza, Rome

Ambulatory
Early Byzantine Art
in the Age of Justinian
San Vitale, Ravenna (c. 547)
Byzantine forces capture
Ravenna in 540
8 sided structure
Plain exterior except porch
added later in Renaissance
Large windows for illuminating
interior designs
Interior has thin columns and
open arched spaces, complex
spatial system
Sense of mystery in the space

Transfiguration of Christ with
SantApollinare, 1
st
Bishop of
Ravenna (549)
Revelation of Christs divinity
12 sheep surround Christ
Expressing essential spiritual
meaning rather than the material
world
Apostles Peter,
James and John
Moses and
Elijah
Bishop Appolinaris
Byzantine Icons
How Icons Are Made
Made of rectangular wooden panels
Painters were monks and worked with humility, rarely signing anything
Wood prepared by covering the surface with fish glue and then a layer of
putty
Cloth placed on top and successive layers of stucco are laid over the cloth
Paper sketch is placed over and lines are traced on the surface
Gilded, then painted
Varnish applied last to make it shine and protect the surface
Icons were often handled and kissed
Byzantine Icons
Iconoclastic
Controversy: icons
prohibited as
sacrilegious and pagan
between 726-843
Pronounced by Leo III
and caused
widespread
destruction,
destroying most icons

Thought to have miraculous
powers
Jesus sent a portait to King Abgar
of Edessa, known as the Mandylion.
In Constantinople and taken by
Crusaders in 10
th
century
Church at first was uneasy about
the power of images, but accepted
as aids to meditation and prayer
Created a need for more
immediate and personal religion
Monastery of St. Catherine,
Mount Sinai, built by Justinian,
ca. 550
Virgin of Vladimir
c. 11
th
or 12
th
century
Virgin of Compassion

The spread from Constantinople to
Kiev
Virgin and Child Enthroned between
Saints Theodore and George (c.
600)
Theodore and George, two military
saints, have rigid frontal poses, as
befits the military
Archangels painted with free open
brushwork
Devoid of depth
Virgin relatively solid and three-
dimensional, her knees to the right
Virgins head frontal, but eyes
averted
Christ convincingly rendered as a
child
Perhaps executed by three
different artists in different styles

Byzantine Icons
Annunciation (c. 1300)
Classical looking angel with
heavy modeling
Strong line surfaces
Mary sits enthroned
Realistic setting contrasts with
golden background
Small squashed figures hold up
canopy

Rblev, Old Testament Trinity
(Three Angels Visiting Abraham)
c. 1410 - 25

Byzantine affinity for repeating
forms from older art
Forms of angels are traditional
Heads of angels nearly identical
Poses are mirror images
Luminous appeal of colors
Deep color harmonies of
draperies
Extensive use of gold
Nearly spaceless background