Post on 28-Nov-2014
description
1
Chapter 9
Byzantium
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
14e
2
Europe and the Byzantine Empire ca. 1000
3
Goals
• Understand Constantine’s move to the east and the extent of the
Roman Empire in the east.
• Understand the cultural mix of Roman, Christian, and eastern
influences in the art of Byzantium.
• Define distinct characteristics in art from various periods of the
Byzantine Empire.
• Define distinct characteristics in architecture of this period.
4
9.1 Early Byzantine
• The golden age of Early Byzantine art
began with the accession of Justinian in
537, but important Byzantine artworks
survive from the century before
Justinian’s reign, especially ivories and
illuminated manuscripts—costly,
treasured objects, as in the Late Antique
West
5
“The Golden Age of Justinian”
• Before Justinian
• Archangel Michael (fig 9-2): In the early sixth century, a master carver,
probably working in Constantinople, produced the largest extant Byzantine
ivory panel.
• The prototype of Michael must have been a classical winged Victory,
although Victory was personified as a woman in Greco-Roman art and
usually carried the palm branch of victory
• The Christian artist here ingeniously adapted a classical personification and
imbued it with new meaning.
• Historians and art historians alike regard the reign of the emperor Justinian
(r. 527–565) as Byzantium’s first golden age, during which the Christian
Roman Empire briefly rivaled the old Roman Empire in power and extent
• Justinian considered it his first duty not only to stamp out the few surviving
polytheistic cults but also to crush all those who professed any Christian
doctrine other than the Orthodox.
6
Figure 9-2 Saint Michael the Archangel, right leaf of a diptych,
early sixth century. Ivory, 1’ 5” X 5 1/2”. British Museum, London.
The sculptor who carved this largest extant
Byzantine ivory panel modeled Saint Michael on
a classical winged Victory, but the archangel
seems to float in front of the architecture rather
than stand in it.
The archangel’s flowing drapery, which reveals
the body’s shape, the delicately incised wings,
and the facial type and coiffure are other
indications the artist who carved this ivory was
still working in the classical tradition.
On the other hand, The archangel dwarfs the
architectural setting. Michael’s feet rest on three
steps at once, and his upper body, wings, and
arms are in front of the column shafts, whereas
his lower body is behind the column bases at
the top of the receding staircase.
7
Figure 9-4 Justinian as world conqueror
(Barberini Ivory), mid-sixth century. Ivory, 1’ 1
1/2” X 10 1/2”. Louvre, Paris.
Classical style and motifs
lived on in Byzantine art in
ivories such as this one.
Justinian rides a rearing
horse accompanied by
personifications of Victory
and Earth. Above, Christ
blesses the emperor.
8
Byzantine Architecture
• Hagia Sophia: The emperor’s most important project was the
construction of Hagia Sophia, the church of Holy Wisdom,
in Constantinople.
• Justinian intended the new church to rival all other churches
ever built and even to surpass in scale and magnificence the
Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. The result was
Byzantium’s grandest building and one of the supreme
accomplishments of world architecture.
9
Figure 9-5 ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES and ISIDORUS OF MILETUS, aerial view of Hagia Sophia (looking north),
Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 532–537.
Justinian’s reign was the first golden age of Byzantine art and architecture. Hagia Sophia
was the most magnificent of the more than 30 churches Justinian built or restored in
Constantinople alone.
10
Figure 9-6,7 ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES and ISIDORUS OF MILETUS, plan (top) and restored cutaway view (bottom) of
Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 532-537 (John Burge).
Hagia Sophia is a domed basilica. Buttressing the great dome are eastern
and western half-domes whose thrusts descend, in turn, into smaller half-
domes surmounting columned exedrae.
11
Figure 9-8 ANTHEMIUS OF
TRALLES and ISIDORUS OF
MILETUS, interior of Hagia
Sophia (looking southwest),
Constantinople (Istanbul),
Turkey, 532–537.
Pendentive
construction made
possible Hagia
Sophia’s lofty
dome, which
seems to ride on a
halo of light. A
contemporary said
the dome seemed
to be suspended
by “a golden chain
from Heaven.”
Figure 9-9 Dome on pendentives (left) and on squinches (right).
Pendentives (triangular sections of a sphere) make it possible to place a
dome on a ring over a square. Squinches achieve the same goal by bridging
the corners of the square to form an octagonal base. 12
13
Byzantine Mosaics• Justinian and Theodora mosaics in San Vitale
• The positions of the figures are all important.
• They express the formulas of precedence and rank. In the Justinian mosaic, the
emperor is at the center, distinguished from the other dignitaries by his purple robe
and halo, which connect him with the Savior in the vault above. At Justinian’s left (at
right in the mosaic) is Bishop Maximianus (r. 546–556), the man responsible for San
Vitale’s completion.
• The artist divided the figures into three groups: the emperor and his staff; the clergy;
and the imperial guard, bearing a shield with the chi-rho-iota monogram of Christ.
Although the emperor appears to be slightly behind the bishop, the golden paten he
carries overlaps the bishop’s arm. Thus, symbolized by place and gesture, the
imperial and churchly powers are in balance.
• The figures in the Theodora mosaic exhibit the same stylistic traits as those in the
Justinian mosaic. The empress stands in state beneath an imperial canopy, waiting to
follow the emperor’s procession. The fact she is outside the sanctuary in a courtyard
with a fountain and only about to enter attests that, in the ceremonial protocol, her
rank was not quite equal to her consort’s. But her very presence is significant.
• John the Lydian, a civil servant at Constantinople at the time, described her as
“surpassing in intelligence all men who ever lived.”
14
Figure 9-13 Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants, mosaic on the north wall of the apse, San Vitale, Ravenna,
Italy, ca. 547.
San Vitale’s mosaics reveal the new Byzantine aesthetic. Justinian is foremost among the
weightless and speechless frontal figures hovering before the viewer, their positions in space
uncertain.
15
Figure 9-14 Theodora and attendants, mosaic on the south wall of the apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 547.
Justinian’s counterpart on the opposite wall is the powerful Empress Theodora. Neither
she nor Justinian ever visited Ravenna. San Vitale’s mosaics are proxies for the absent
sovereigns.
16
Figure 9-16 Transfiguration of Jesus, apse mosaic, Church of the Virgin, monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt, ca.
548–565.
In this apse mosaic the artist swept away all traces of landscape for a depthless
field of gold. The prophets and disciples cast no shadows even though bathed
in divine light.
17
Figure 9-18 Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints
Theodore and George, icon, sixth or early seventh century.
Encaustic on wood, 2’ 3” X 1’ 7 3/8”. Monastery of Saint
Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt.
Icons figured prominently in private
devotion. Eastern Christians considered
icons a personal, intimate, and
indispensable medium for spiritual
transaction with holy figures.
Unfortunately, few early icons survive.
Two of the finest examples come from
Saint Catherine’s monastery at Mount
Sinai.
Byzantine icons are the heirs to the
Roman tradition of portrait painting on
small wood panels, but their Christian
subjects and function as devotional objects
broke sharply from classical models.
9-18A Christ blessing, icon, Monastery of Saint
Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt, sixth century.
Encaustic on wood, 2’ 9” X 1’ 6”.
18
Iconoclasm• Opposition to icons became especially strong in the eighth century, when the
faithful often burned incense and knelt before the icons in prayer to seek
protection or a cure for illness. Although their purpose was only to evoke the
presence of the holy figures addressed in prayer, in the minds of many, icons
became identified with the personages represented.
• The consequences of iconoclasm for the early history of Byzantine art are
difficult to overstate. For more than a century, not only did the portrayal of
Christ, the Virgin, and the saints cease, but the iconoclasts also destroyed
countless works from the first several centuries of Christendom. For this
reason, writing a history of Early Byzantine art presents a great challenge to
art historians.
• For more than a century, Byzantine artists produced little new religious
figurative art. In place of images of holy figures, the iconoclasts used symbolic
forms already familiar in Early Christian art, for example, the cross or throne.
19
20
Art of the Middle Byzantine Period• In the late eighth and ninth centuries, a powerful reaction against
iconoclasm set in.
• Two female regents in particular led the movement to restore image-
making in the Byzantine Empire: the empresses Irene in 780 and
Theodora in 843, after the death of her husband Theophilos (r. 829–
842). Unlike Irene’s short-lived repeal of the prohibition against icons,
Theodora’s opposition proved to be definitive and permanent and led to
the condemnation of iconoclasm as a heresy.
• The triumph of the iconophiles over the iconoclasts meant Byzantine
mural painters, mosaicists, book illuminators, ivory carvers, and
metalworkers once again received plentiful commissions. Basil I and his
successors also undertook the laborious and costly task of refurbishing
the churches the iconoclasts defaced and neglected.
21
Figure 9-19 Virgin (Theotokos) and Child enthroned,
apse mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul),
Turkey, dedicated 867.
After the repeal of iconoclasm,
Basil I dedicated a huge new
mosaic in the apse of Hagia
Sophia depicting the Virgin and
Child enthroned. An inscription
says it replaced one the
iconoclasts destroyed.
Most significant about the images
in the Hagia Sophia apse is their
very existence, marking the end
of iconoclasm in the Byzantine
Empire.
22
Figure 9-22 Interior of the Church of the
Dormition (looking into the dome), Daphni,
Greece, ca. 1090-1100
Gazing down from on high in
the dome is the fearsome image
of Christ as Pantokrator (literally
“ruler of all” in Greek but usually
applied to Christ in his role as
last judge of humankind).
23
Figure 9-23 Christ as Pantokrator, dome
mosaic in the Church of the Dormition,
Daphni, Greece, ca. 1090–1100.
The Daphni Pantokrator
is like a gigantic icon
hovering dramatically in
space. The image serves to
connect the awestruck
worshiper in the church
below with Heaven
through Christ. The
Pantokrator theme was a
common one in churches
throughout the Byzantine
Empire.
24
Byzantium in the West• The Middle Byzantine revival of church building and of figural
mosaics extended beyond the Greek-speaking East in the 10th
to 12th centuries. The marriage of Anna, the sister of Basil II
(r. 976–1025), to the Russian prince Vladimir (r. 980–1015) in
989, marked the introduction of Orthodox Christianity to
Russia.
• A resurgence of religious architecture and of the mosaicist’s
art also occurred in areas of the former Western Roman
Empire where the ties with Constantinople were the strongest.
25
Figure 9-26 Interior of Saint Mark’s (looking
east), Venice, Italy, begun 1063.
Modeled on a church in
Constantinople, Saint Mark’s has a
central dome over the crossing,
four other domes over the arms of
the Greek cross, and 40,000 square
feet of Byzantine-style mosaics.
Light enters through a row of
windows at the bases of all five
domes, vividly illuminating a rich
cycle of mosaics. Both Byzantine
and local artists worked on Saint
Mark’s mosaics over the course of
several centuries. Most of the
mosaics date to the 12th and 13th
centuries.
26
Byzantine Luxury• Middle Byzantine artists also produced costly carved ivories in large
numbers.
• The three-part triptych replaced the earlier diptych as the standard format
for ivory panels.
• One example of this type is the Harbaville Triptych, a portable shrine with
hinged wings used for private devotion. Ivory triptychs were very
popular—among those who could afford such luxurious items—and
they often replaced icons for use in personal prayer.
• This more natural, classical spirit was a second, equally important
stylistic current of the Middle Byzantine period. It also surfaced in mural
painting and book illumination.
27
Figure 9-28 Christ enthroned with saints (Harbaville Triptych), ca. 950. Ivory, central panel 9 1/2” X5 1/2”. Louvre, Paris.
In this small three-part shrine with hinged wings used for private devotion, the ivory carver
depicted the figures with looser classical stances, in contrast to the frontal poses of most
Byzantine figures.
28
Figure 9-29 Lamentation over the dead Christ, wall painting, Saint Pantaleimon, Nerezi, Macedonia, 1164.
When the emperors lifted the ban against religious images and again encouraged religious
painting at Constantinople, the impact was felt far and wide. Byzantine painters embellished the
church of Saint Pantaleimon with murals of great emotional power.
Mary presses her cheek against her dead son’s face. Saint John clings to Christ’s left hand.
In the Gospels, neither Mary nor John was present at the entombment of Christ. Their inclusion
here, as elsewhere in Middle Byzantine art, intensified for the viewer the emotional impact
of Christ’s death.
29
9.3 Late Byzantine
• When rule passed from the Macedonian to the Comnenian
dynasty in the later 11th and 12th centuries, three events of
fateful significance changed Byzantium’s fortunes for the
worse. The Seljuk Turks conquered most of Anatolia. The
Byzantine Orthodox Church broke finally with the Church
of Rome. And the Crusades brought the Latins (a generic
term for the peoples of the West) into Byzantine lands on
their way to fight for the Christian cross against the Saracens
(Muslims) in the Holy Land.
• But despite the state’s grim political condition during this
period, the arts flourished well into the 14th century.
30
The Byzantine Icon• Icon painting may most intensely reveal Byzantine
spirituality. In the Late Byzantine period, the Early
Byzantine templon developed into an iconostasis (icon
stand), a high screen with doors.
• Late Byzantine icons often have paintings on two
sides because they were carried in processions. When
the clergy brought the icons into the church, they did
not mount them on the iconostasis but exhibited
them on stands so they could be viewed from both
sides.
31
Figure 9-33 Christ as Savior of Souls, icon from
the church of Saint Clement, Ohrid, Macedonia,
early 14th century. Tempera, linen, and silver on
wood, 3’ 1/4” X 2’ 2 1/2”. Icon Gallery of Saint
Clement, Ohrid.
Notable for the lavish use of
finely etched silver foil, this
icon typifies Byzantine
stylistic complexity. Christ’s
fully modeled head and neck
contrast with the schematic
linear folds of his garment.
32
Figure 9-34 Annunciation, reverse of two-sided
icon from Saint Clement, Ohrid, Macedonia, early
14th century. Tempera and linen on wood, 3’1/4” X 2’ 2 3/4”. Icon gallery of Saint Clement,
Ohrid.
33
Figure 9-35 ANDREI RUBLYEV,
Three angels (Old Testament Trinity),
ca. 1410. Tempera on wood, 4’ 8” X
3’ 9”. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Icon painting flourished also in
Kievan Rus'. Russian icons
usually have strong patterns,
firm lines, and intense
contrasting colors, which serve
to heighten the legibility of the
icons in the wavering
candlelight and clouds of
incense worshipers
encountered in church interiors.
This exceptionally large icon
featuring subtle line and vivid
colors is one of the
masterworks of Rus’ painting.
It depicts the three angels who
appeared to Abraham,
prefiguring the Trinity.
• Early Byzantine Art 324–726
• Constantine founded Constantinople on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium in 324 and dedicated this “New
Rome” to the Christian God in 330.
• The first golden age of Byzantine art was the result of the lavish patronage of Justinian (r. 527–565). In Constantinople alone,
Justinian built or restored more than 30 churches. The greatest was Hagia Sophia, which rivaled the architectural wonders of
Old Rome. A brilliant fusion of central and longitudinal plans, its 180-foot-high dome rests on pendentives but seemed to
contemporaries to be suspended “by a golden chain from Heaven.”
• The seat of Byzantine power in Italy was Ravenna, which also prospered under Justinian. San Vitale is Ravenna’s greatest
church. Its mosaics, with their weightless, hovering, frontal figures against a gold background, reveal the new Byzantine
aesthetic.
• Justinian also rebuilt the monastery at Mount Sinai in Egypt. The preserved Sinai icons—portable devotional paintings
depicting Christ, the Virgin, and saints—are the finest of the Early Byzantine period.
• In 726, Leo III (r. 717–741) enacted a ban against picturing the divine, initiating the era of iconoclasm (726–843) and the
destruction of countless Early Byzantine artworks.
• Middle Byzantine Art 843–1204
• Empress Theodora repealed iconoclasm in 843, and in 867, Basil I (r. 867–886) dedicated a new mosaic depicting the
Theotokos (Mother of God) in Hagia Sophia. It marked the triumph of the iconophiles over the iconoclasts. Ivory carving and
manuscript painting flourished during the Middle Byzantine period, as during the preceding era. Hinged ivory shrines, such as
the Harbaville Triptych, were popular for use in private prayer. The Paris Psalter is noteworthy for the conscious revival of
classical naturalism.
• Middle Byzantine churches, such as those at Hosios Loukas and Daphni, have highly decorative exterior walls and feature
domes that rest on drums above the center of a Greek cross. The climax of the interior mosaic programs was often an image
of Christ as Pantokrator in the dome.
• Late Byzantine Art 1261–1453
• In 1204, Latin Crusaders sacked Constantinople, bringing to an end the Middle Byzantine era. In 1261, Michael VIII
Palaeologus (r. 1259–1282) succeeded in recapturing the city. Constantinople remained in Byzantine hands until its capture by
the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
• Important mural paintings of the Late Byzantine period are in the Church of Christ in Chora. An extensive picture cycle
portrays Christ as redeemer. In the apse, he raises Adam and Eve from their tombs.
• Late Byzantine icons were displayed in tiers on an iconostasis or on individual stands so that the paintings on both sides could
be seen. Christ or the Virgin usually appeared on the front. The reverse depicted a narrative scene from the life of Christ.34
35
Discussion Questions
What influences from Imperial Roman art are seen in
Early, Middle, and Late Byzantine? How does the context
change?
What are some specific ways that spiritual ideas are
expressed in Byzantine art?
What do you think are the most significant qualities of
Byzantine art?