Byzantine ArtChristianity in the Orthodox East

DISCLAIMER

This presentation is an overview of the material in your text. It is not comprehensive, nor is it meant to be. This presentation allows you to introduce yourself to concepts and images in the respective chapter. Best practice says to view this presentation with your book open, as many of the images in this presentation are small or incomplete.

Guiding Questions

• How does Christian art reflect a dominant political power over a sustained, 1,000 year period?

Hagia Sophia with interior pendatives, Istanbul, Turkey. The Hagia Sophia is such a

powerful Orthodox symbol of power that it will later be converted to an Islamic mosque when

Arabic power comes to rule the region.

Guiding Historical Periods

• Early Byzantine Period 527—726 CE

• Middle Byzantine Period 843—1204 CE

• Late Byzantine Period 1261—1453 CE

Byzantium is the New Rome—prospering from trade with Asia and Europe and connecting The Black Sea with the Mediterranean. At the time, the Empire holds northern Africa, Sicily, much of Italy, and part of Spain. Ravenna is the Emperor’s capital in the West—an important port. It ends when iconoclasm becomes popular.

Begins when Empress Theodora reinstates the veneration of icons and ends in 1204, when Christian crusaders, on a mission to stamp out Islam, from the west occupy Constantinople and its wealth. The Empire is reduced to Turkey, Greece, and Southern Italy, and Venice but extends into Russia and Ukraine.

Begins in 1261, when Byzantine (eastern) rule is reestablished after the Christian Crusaders are ousted and ends in 1453, when the Ottoman Turks take over the Empire and Russia succeeds Constantinople as the Third Rome and the center of Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite the dwindling Empire in terms of size, there is a period of resurgence in the arts—the Paleologue Renaissance.

5

Medieval Regions

Byzantine

Regions

Where in the world are we? While the Byzantine world is growing, the Medieval region is developing. We will explore that region in a later chapter.

San Vitale: A Distinct Architecture

Justinian and Attendants

View of Apse

Theodora and Attendants

Self Study:The octagonal shape of San Vitale is meant to distinguish Orthodox architecture from Roman West (Catholic) architecture. The mosaics there are meant to give Justinian and Theodora a presence in a location they likely never visited.

Orthodoxy

Cathedral of Santa Sophia, Kiev, Russia

Orthodoxy does not recognize the power of the Roman Catholic Pope, and allows bishops to marry. But most importantly, it disagrees with the Catholic Church about the nature of Christ as so splits from Catholic doctrines in the Late Antiquity period.Orthodox churches will be ornamented according to a liturgical standard—the Theotokos will be in the apse, the Pantokrator will be in the Dome surrounded by the Apostles.

Mosaics

Saint Mark’s, Venice, Italy

Though influenced by Roman techniques, Byzantine mosaics present Christian agendas for those initiated in the faith. With reflected light from candles, from sunlight, the mosaics can appear to glow, adding an ethereal element to worship.Byzantine mosaics are especially renown for the use of gold, creating an otherworldly location for religious and political figures to reside in. Through the mosaics, these figures are connected to divine worlds that rule over the earthly world.

Introducing the Major Figures of Byzantine Worship

Theotokos (God Bearer)

Pantokrator, Monastery at Daphni, Greece

The Pantokrator is known for his halo, hand gesture and book; he is the Divine Judge. The Theotokos is known for her mantle and the man-baby Christ she holds. Remember: Mary is not worshipped but rather revered as a mediator on behalf of Christian believers.

The Monastic Life

Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt

Folio from Vienna Genesis, first known illuminated

scripture, Syria or Palestine

Self Study:The role of monasteries will change and will be different in various regions of the Christian world. Compare the role of monasteries in the Byzantine world with those of the Medieval world.

Monasteries are isolated and run on ascetic ritual. Monasteries the primary producers of illuminated manuscripts and devotional objects. Art is a religious practice; it is not expressive

Monasteries are responsible for the manufacturing of illuminated manuscripts—bound books of pages (vellum or parchment) decorated with miniatures of religious iconography.

Icons and Iconoclam

Painter removing religious icon, from the Chludov

Psalter

Icons are devotional aids created in spiritual practice; they could and can be personal, portable objects or large screens that were used in processions to separate laity from clergy

Iconoclasm is a movement of erasing or destroying religious icons. It is present throughout Christian history as a preemptive move to eliminate “idolatrous” worship, in keeping with the 2nd Commandment, though iconoclasm has not always been accurate in its view of what it considered idolatrous.

Review

• As Christianity is legitimized by political power, Byzantine emperors seek to connect themselves to divine power. This is what political leadership has done since the time of the Sumerians.

• Christian symbols become instruments of political messaging—architectural plans, Emperor portraits, etc…

• We can see that Christianity experiences periods of iconoclasm

• Throughout 1,000 years of Christian history, we move more and more toward naturalism (this will be true in Medieval art as well).