Chapter 8: Byzantine Art

Key Notes

Time Period
  * Early Byzantine : 500–726
  * Iconoclastic Controversy : 726–843
  * Middle and Late Byzantine : 843–1453, and beyond
Culture, beliefs, and physical settings
  * Byzantine art is a medieval tradition.
  * Byzantine art is inspired by the requirements of Christian worship.
  * Byzantine art avoids naturalism and incorporates text into its images.
Art Making
  * Works of art were often displayed in religious and royal settings.
  * Surviving architecture is mostly religious.
  * Often there were reactions against figural imagery.
Theories and Interpretations
* The study of art history is shaped by changing analyses based on scholarship, theories, context, and written records.
* Contextual information comes from written records that are religious or civic.

Historical Background

The Byzantine Empire was born from a split in the Roman world that occurred in the fifth century, when the size of the Roman Empire became too unwieldy for one ruler to manage effectively.
* The fortunes of the two halves of the Roman Empire could not have been more different.
* The western half dissolved into barbarian chaos, succumbing to hordes of migrating peoples.
The eastern half, founded by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great at Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), flourished for one-thousand years beyond the collapse of its western counterparts.
* Byzantines spoke Greek instead of Latin and promoted orthodox Christianity instead of western Christianity, which was centered in Rome.
* The porous borders of the Empire expanded and contracted during the Middle Ages, reacting to external pressures from invading armies, seemingly coming from all directions.
The Empire had only itself to blame: The capital, with its unparalleled wealth and opulence, was the envy of every other culture.
* Its buildings and public spaces awed ambassadors from around the known world.
Constantinople was the trading center of early medieval Europe, directing traffic in the Mediterranean and controlling the shipment of goods nearly everywhere.
Icon production was a Byzantine specialty.
* Devout Christians attest that icons are images that act as reminders to the faithful; they are not intended to actually be the sacred persons themselves.
However, by the eighth century, Byzantines became embroiled in a heated debate over icons; some even worshipped them as idols.
  * In order to stop this practice, which many considered sacrilegious, the emperor banned all image production.
  * Iconoclasts also destroyed images.
  * Iconoclasts may have been inspired by Judaism and Islam, which forbade images of sacred figures for similar reasons.
The unfortunate result of this activity is that art from the Early Byzantine period (500–726) is almost completely lost.
  * The artists themselves fled to parts of Europe where iconoclasm was unknown and Byzantine artists welcome.
  * This so-called Iconoclastic Controversy serves as a division between the Early and Middle Byzantine art periods.
    * Iconoclastic controversy: the destruction of religious images in the Byzantine Empire during the eighth and ninth centuries.
  * Despite the iconoclasts' early successes, it became harder to suppress images in a Mediterranean culture like Byzantium that had a long history of painting and sculpting gods before the Greeks.
In 843, iconoclasm was repealed and images were reinstated.
* This meant that every church and monastery had to be redecorated, causing a burst of creative energy throughout Byzantium.
Medieval Crusaders, some more interested in the spoils of war than the restoration of the Holy Land, conquered Constantinople in 1204, setting up a Latin kingdom in the east.
* Eventually the Latin invaders were expelled, but not before they brought untold damage to the capital, carrying off to Europe precious artwork that was simultaneously booty and artistic inspiration.
* The invaders also succeeded in permanently weakening the Empire, making it ripe for the Ottoman conquest in 1453.
Even so, Late Byzantine artists continued to flourish both inside what was left of the Empire and in areas beyond its borders that accepted orthodoxy.
A particularly strong tradition was established in Russia, where it remained until the 1917 Russian Revolution ended most religious activity.
Even rival states, like Sicily and Venice, were known for their vibrant schools of Byzantine art, importing artists from the capital itself.

Patronage and Artistic Life

In the Byzantine Empire, church and state were one, therefore many of the finest works of art were commissioned by both.
* Monasteries commissioned several private works. Religious works competed for space in Byzantine structures.
Luxury-loving royals built a powerful court atelier.
* Luxury ivory, manuscript, and precious metal crafts were this atelier's specialty.
Artists believed they were creating works for God. Pride was a sin, thus they seldom signed their names.
* Many painters were monks, priests, or nuns whose work reflected their faith.

Byzantine Architecture

Byzantine architecture shows great innovation, beginning with the construction of the Hagia Sophia in 532 in Istanbul.
The architects, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus examined the issue of how a round dome, such as the one built for the Pantheon in Rome could be placed on flat walls.
Their solution was the invention of the pendentive, a triangle-shaped piece of masonry with the dome resting on one long side, and the other two sides channeling the weight down to a pier below.
  * A pendentive supports the dome on four corner piers.
  * Since the walls between the piers do not support the dome, they can be opened for more window space.
  * The Hagia Sophia has windows on each side, unlike the Pantheon, which has only an oculus in the dome.
Middle and Late Byzantine architects introduced a variation on the pendentive called the squinch.
* Squinch: the polygonal base of a dome that makes a transition from the round dome to a flat wall
The Hagia Sophia’s dome is composed of a set of ribs meeting at the top.
* The spaces between those ribs do not support the dome and are opened for window space.
* The Hagia Sophia's forty windows form a halo over the congregation.
Churches in the Early Christian era concentrate on one of two forms: the circular building containing a centrally planned apse and the longer basilica with an axially planned nave facing an altar.
* The Hagia Sophia's dome emphasizes a central core and the long nave draws attention to the apse.
Buildings in the Early period (500–726) have plain exteriors made of brick or concrete.
In the Middle and Late periods (843–1453), the exteriors are richly articulated with a provocative use of various colors of brick, stone, and marble, often with contrasting vertical and horizontal elements.
* The domes are smaller, but there are more of them, sometimes forming a cross shape.
Interiors feature mosaics or frescoes on upper floors and marbles of various colors on lower floors.
  * Windows surround dome bases, making them low.
  * Half-lights and shimmering mosaics create mysterious spaces inside arches.
  * These buildings usually set the domes on more elevated drums.
Greek Orthodox tradition dictates that important parts of the Mass take place behind a curtain or screen.
* In some buildings this screen is composed of a wall of icons called an iconostasis.
* Iconostasis: a screen decorated with icons, which separates the apse from the transept of a church
Cathedral: the principal church of a diocese, where a bishop sits
Icon: a devotional panel depicting a sacred image

➼ Hagia Sophia

Details
  * By Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus,
  * 532–537
  * Made of brick and ceramic elements, with stone and mosaic veneer,
  * Found in Constantinople (Istanbul)
Form Exterior: plain and massive with little decoration.
Form Interior:
  * Combination of centrally and axially planned church.
  * Arcade decoration: walls and capitals are flat and thin and richly ornamented.
  * Capitals diminish classical allusions; surfaces contain deeply cut acanthus leaves.
  * Cornice unifies space.
    * Cornice: a projecting ledge over a wall
  * Large fields for mosaic decoration; at one time there were four acres of gold mosaics on the walls. –Many windows punctuate wall spaces.
  * Dome: the first building to have a dome supported by pendentives.
    * Altar at end of nave, but the emphasis placed over the area covered by the dome.
    * Large central dome, with 40 windows at base symbolically acting as a halo over the congregation when filled with light.
Function
  * Originally a Christian church; Hagia Sophia means “holy wisdom.”
  * Built on the site of another church that was destroyed during the Nike Revolt in 532.
  * Converted to a mosque in the fifteenth century; minarets added in the Islamic period.
  * Converted into a museum in 1935; reconverted into a mosque in 2020.
Context
* Marble columns appropriated from Rome, Ephesus, and other Greek sites.
* Patrons were Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, who commissioned the work after the burning of the original building in the Nike Revolt.
Image

➼ San Vitale

Details
  * Early Byzantine Europe
  * 526–547
  * Made of brick, marble, and stone veneer
  * Found in Ravenna, Italy
Form
  * Eight-sided church.
  * Plain exterior; porch added later, in the Renaissance.
  * Large windows for illuminating interior designs.
  * Interior has thin columns and open arched spaces.
  * Dematerialization of the mass of the structure.
  * Combination of axial and central plans.
  * Spolia: bricks taken from ruined Roman buildings reused here.
  * Martyrium design: circular plan in an octagonal format.
    * Martyrium: a shrine built over a place of martyrdom or a grave of a martyred Christian saint
Function: Christian church.
Context
* Mysterious space symbolically connects with the mystic elements of religion.
* Banker Julianus Argentarius financed the building of San Vitale.
Image

Byzantine Painting

The most characteristic work of Byzantine art is the icon, a religious devotional image usually of portable size and hanging in a place of honor either at home or in a religious institution.
  * An icon has a wooden foundation covered by preparatory undercoats of paint, sometimes composed of such things as fish glue or putty.
  * Cloth is placed over this base, and successive layers of stucco are gently applied.
  * A perforated paper sketch is placed on the surface, so that the image can be traced and then gilded and painted.
  * The artist then applies varnish to make the icon shine, as well as to protect it, because icons are often touched, handled, and embraced.
  * Icons have been blackened by candle soot and incense, and their frames burned by votive candles.
  * Thus, many icons have been repainted and lost their texture.
Icons were displayed on city walls during invasions and paraded on feast days.
* Byzantine worshippers revered them as spiritual beings.
Byzantine painting combines classical Greece and Rome with a hieratic medieval style.
  * Many artists work on the same piece, some inspired by classical tradition and others by medieval formalism.
  * The Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George shows both traditions.
    * Theotokos: the Virgin Mary in her role as the Mother of God
Classically trained artists depicted figures from unusual angles with painterly brushstrokes.
* These artists used soft color transitions and relaxed figure stances.
Those trained in the medieval tradition favored frontal poses, symmetry, and almost weightless bodies.
  * The drapery is emphasized, so there is little effort to reveal the body beneath.
  * Perspective is unimportant because figures occupy a timeless space, marked by golden backgrounds and heavily highlighted halos.
  * Whatever the tradition, Byzantine art, like all medieval art, avoids nudity whenever possible, deeming it debasing.
  * Nudity also had a pagan association, connected with the mythological religions of ancient Greece and Rome.
One of the glories of Byzantine art is its jewel-like treatment of manuscript painting.
  * The manuscript painter had to possess a fine eye for detail, and so was trained to work with great precision, rendering minute details carefully.
  * Byzantine manuscripts are meticulously executed; most employ the same use of gold seen in icons and mosaics.
  * Because so few people could read, the possession of manuscripts was a status symbol, and libraries were true temples of learning.
  * The Vienna Genesis is an excellent example of the sophisticated court style of manuscript painting.
Byzantine art continues the ancient traditions of fresco and mosaic painting, bringing the latter to new heights.
* Interior church walls are covered in shimmering tesserae made of gold, colored stones, and glass.
* Each piece of tesserae is placed at an odd angle to catch the flickering of candles or oblique sunlight, creating a glittering world of floating golden shapes that may have resembled heaven to the Byzantines.
Court customs play an important role in Byzantine art.
  * Purple, the color usually reserved for Byzantine royalty, can be seen in the mosaics of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora.
  * However, in an act of transference, purple is sometimes used on the garments of Jesus himself.
  * Custom at court prescribed that courtiers approach the emperor with their hands covered as a sign of respect.
  * As a result, nearly every figure has at least one hand covered before someone of higher station, sometimes even when he or she is holding something.
  * Justinian himself, in his famous mosaic in San Vitale, holds a paten with his covered hand.
  * Paten: a plate, dish, or bowl used to hold the Eucharist at a Christian ceremony
Facial types are fairly standardized.
  * There is no attempt at psychological penetration or individual insight: Portraits in the modern sense of the word are unknown.
  * Continuing a tradition from Roman art, eyes are characteristically large and wide open.
  * Noses tend to be long and thin, mouths short and closed.
  * The Christ Child, who is a fixture in Byzantine art, is more like a little man than a child, perhaps showing his wisdom and majesty.
  * Medieval art generally labels the names of figures the viewer is observing, and Byzantine art is no exception.
Most paintings have flat backgrounds with one gold layer to symbolize eternity.
* In the Middle and Late Byzantine periods, figures stand before a monochromatic of golden opulence, suggesting a heavenly world.
Codex (plural: codices): a manuscript book

➼ Justinian Panel

Details
  * c. 547
  * A mosaic
  * From San Vitale, Ravenna
Content
  * Emperor Justinian, as the central image, dominates all; emperor’s rank indicated by his centrality, halo, fibula, and crown.
  * To his left the clergy, to his right the military.
  * Dressed in royal purple and gold.
  * Divine authority symbolized by the halo; Justinian is establishing religious and political control over Ravenna.
Form
  * Symmetry, frontality.
  * Slight impression of procession forward.
  * Figures have no volume; they seem to float and yet step on each other’s feet.
  * Minimal background: green base at feet; golden background indicates timelessness.
Function
  * Justinian holds a paten, or plate, for the Eucharist; participating in the service of the Mass almost as if he were a celebrant—his position over the altar enhances this reference.
    * Eucharist: the bread sanctified by the priest at the Christian ceremony commemorating the Last Supper
  * Justinian appears as head of church and state; regent of Christ on earth.
Context
  * Archbishop Maximianus is identified; he is the patron of San Vitale.
  * XP or Chi Rho, the monogram of Christ, on soldier’s shield shows them as defenders of the faith, or Christ’s soldiers on earth.
    * XP: the Christian monogram made up of the Greek letters khi and rho, the first two letters of Khristos, the Greek form of Christ’s name
Image

➼ Theodora Panel

Details
  * c. 547
  * A mosaic
  * From San Vitale, Ravenna
Content
* Empress Theodora stands in an architectural framework holding a chalice for the Mass and is about to go behind the curtain.
* Chalice: a cup containing wine, used during a Christian service
Form
  * Slight displacement of absolute symmetry with Empress Theodora; she plays a secondary role to her husband.
  * She is simultaneously frontal and moving to our left.
  * Figures are flattened and weightless; barely a hint of a body can be detected beneath the drapery.
Function
* She holds a chalice for the wine; participating in the service of the Mass almost as if she were a celebrant.
* She is juxtaposed with Emperor Justinian on the flanking wall; both figures hold the sacred items for the Mass.
Context
  * Richly robed empress and ladies at court.
  * The three Magi, who bring gifts to the baby Jesus, are depicted on the hem of her dress.
  * This reference draws parallels between Theodora and the Magi.
Image

➼ Vienna Genesis

Details
  * Early Byzantine Europe
  * Early 6th century
  * An illuminated manuscript, tempera, gold, and silver on purple vellum, Austrian National Library, Vienna
  * Genesis: first book of the Bible that details Creation, the Flood, Rebecca at the Well, and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, among other episodes
  * Illuminated manuscript: a manuscript that is hand decorated with painted initials, marginal illustrations, and larger images that add a pictorial element to the written text
Form
  * Lively, softly modeled figures.
  * Classical training of the artists: contrapposto, foreshortening, shadowing, perspective, classical allusions.
  * Shallow settings.
  * Fluid movement of decorative figures.
  * Richly colored and shaded.
  * Two rows linked by a bridge or a pathway.
  * Text placed above illustrations, which are on the lower half of the page.
  * Continuous narrative.
Context
  * First surviving illustrations of the stories from Genesis.
  * Genesis stories are done in continuous narrative with genre details.
  * Written in Greek.
  * Partial manuscript: 48 of 192 (?) illustrations survive.
Materials and Origin
  * Manuscript painted on vellum.
  * Written in silver script, now oxidized and turned black.
  * Origin uncertain: a scriptorium in Constantinople? Antioch?
  * Perhaps done in a royal workshop; purple parchment is a hallmark of a royal institution.
Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well
  * Genesis 24: 15–61.
  * Rebecca, shown twice, emerges from the city of Nahor with a jar on her shoulder to go down to the spring.
  * She quenches the thirst of a camel driver, Eliezer, and his camels.
  * Colonnaded road leads to the spring.
  * Roman water goddess personifies the spring.
Jacob Wrestling the Angel
  * Genesis 32: 22–31.
  * Jacob takes his two wives, two maids, and eleven children and crosses a river; the number of children is abbreviated.
  * At night Jacob wrestles an angel.
  * The angel strikes Jacob on the hip socket.
  * Classical influence in the Roman-designed bridge, but medieval influence in the bridge’s perspective: i.e., the shorter columns are placed in the nearer side of the bridge and the taller columns behind the figures.
Images

Vienna Genesis

➼ Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George

Details
  * Early Byzantine Europe
  * 6th or early 7th centuries
  * Encaustic on wood
  * Found in Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt
  * Encaustic: a type of painting in which colors are added to hot wax to affix to a surface.
Function
* Icon placed in a medieval monastery for devotional purposes.
Content and Form
  * Virgin and Child centrally placed; firmly modeled.
    * Mary as Theotokos, mother of God.
    * Mary looks beyond the viewer as if seeing into the future.
    * Christ child looks away, perhaps anticipating his crucifixion.
  * Saints Theodore and George flank Virgin and Child.
    * Warrior saints.
    * Stiff and hieratic.
    * Directly stare at the viewer; engage the viewer directly.
  * Angels in background look toward heaven.
    * Painted in a classical style with brisk brushwork in encaustic, a Roman tradition.
    * Turned toward the descending hand of God, which comes down to bless the scene.
  * Because the three groups are in very different styles, it has been assumed that they were painted by three different artists.
Context
* Pre–Iconoclastic Controversy icon, located in the Sinai and encaustic places it near Roman-Egyptian encaustic painted portraits.
Image

Chapter 9: Islamic Art