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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• Empress Theodora repealed iconoclasm in 843 and in 867, Basil I dedicated a new mosaic depicting the Theotokos (Mother of God) in Hagia Sophia.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?