byzantine art 2

8/11/2019 Byzantine Art 2

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Byzantine Art!!


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Early Byzantine Age 527726 (Justinian 527 -

565) Iconoclasm 730787 and 814 - 842

Middle8431204 (restoration of icons)

Break from the Western Church1054

Constantinople Falls to Venetian Invaders in

the 4thCrusade - 1203

Late Period 12611453

The fall of Constantinople to Mehmed II of

the Ottoman Empire - 1453


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Justinianreigned 527 - 565

In the late Fifth and early Sixth Centuries, the Western half of TheRoman Empire fell into a shambles. Even Italy was under the

control of feuding barbarians.The Emporer Justinian rallied hisforces and Recoverred Ravenna. For a short time Ravenna becamethe Byzantine capital in the West and a number of important earlyByzantine monuments are preserved there today. The church of SanVitale in Ravenna is one of these monuments. SanVitale's humbleexterior protects a glistening interior full of glass mosaics and

sumptuous decorative marble.


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Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547


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Built during the citys

rebuilding after riots of

532

Purple makes a fine

shroud attributed toTheodora


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Pendentive vs. Squinch


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Hagia SophiaHoly Wisdom

Designed by 2 scholar-theoreticians:

Anthemius of Tralles (geometry and optics) & Isisorusof Miletus (physics)

Rumored to have been constructed by angels in 5years (532537)

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)


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Early Byzantine Art

in the Age of Justinian

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul Combination of central plan and

axial plan

Exterior: plain and massive, littledecoration

Altar at far end, but emphasis

placed over the area covered bythe dome

Dome supported by pendentives

Powerful central dome, with fortywindows at base

Cornice unifies space

Arcade decoration: wall andcapitals are flat and thin but richlyornamented

Great fields for mosaic decoration

At one time had four acres of goldmosaics on walls

Many windows punctuate wall space

Minarets added in Islamic period


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Apse mosaic (detail) hagia

sophia, 867


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Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547


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Justinian and Attendants

To his left the clergy, to his right themilitary

Dressed in royal purple and gold Symmetry, frontality

Holds a plate for the host, or perhapsa golden bowl

Slight impression of processionforward

No volume of figures, seem to float,and yet step on each others feet

No background to set the figures inspace

No landscape, gold backgroundindicates timelessness

Maximianus identified, patron of SanVitale

Halo indicates saintliness

Pictorial space not depicted as a

window to the natural world (i.e.

Romans)


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Theodora and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547


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Theodora and Attendants

Hieratic composition Slight displacement of

absolute symmetry withTheodora

Sumptuously executed

She holds a chalice forthe ceremony and isabout to go behind thecurtain

Altar boys and ladies atcourt accompany her


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Mosaics

More abstract than Roman Paintings

Used as narrative illustrations to instruct the faithful

Bright colors, small bits of stone, glass tesserae


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S. Vitale, c. 525 -547

Commisioned by Bishop Ecclesius


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Column Capitals, San Vitale


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Column Capitals, Hagia Sophia


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Santa Costanza, Rome

Ambulatory


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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 andopen arched spaces, complex

spatial system

Sense of mystery in the space


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Transfiguration of Christ with

SantApollinare, 1stBishop of

Ravenna (549)

Revelation of Christs divinity

12 sheep surround Christ

Expressing essential spiritual

meaning rather than the material

world

M d


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Apostles Peter,

James and John

Moses and

Elijah

Bishop Appolinaris


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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 ofputty

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


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Byzantine Icons

Iconoclastic

Controversy:icons

prohibited as

sacrilegious and pagan

between 726-843

Pronounced by Leo III

and causedwidespread

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 10thcentury

Church at first was uneasy about

the power of images, but accepted

as aids to meditation and prayerCreated a need for more

immediate and personal religion


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Monastery of St. Catherine,

Mount Sinai, built by Justinian,

ca. 550
http://www.udel.edu/ArtHistory/nees/209/images/8-05.jpghttp://www.udel.edu/ArtHistory/nees/209/images/8-05.jpg


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Virgin of Vladimir

c. 11thor 12thcentury

Virgin of Compassion

The spread from Constantinople to

Kiev


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Virgin and Child Enthroned betweenSaints Theodore and George (c.

600) Theodore and George, two military

saints, have rigid frontal poses, asbefits the military

Archangels painted with free openbrushwork

Devoid of depth Virgin relatively solid and three-

dimensional, her knees to the right

Virgins head frontal, but eyesaverted

Christ convincingly rendered as a

child

Perhaps executed by threedifferent artists in different styles

Byzantine Icons


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Annunciation (c. 1300)

Classical looking angel withheavy modeling

Strong line surfaces

Mary sits enthroned

Realistic setting contrasts with

golden background Small squashed figures hold up

canopy


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byzantine art 2

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