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Chapter 9

Byzantium

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,

14e

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Europe and the Byzantine Empire ca. 1000

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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.

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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

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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”.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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?