Rome in the East: The Art of Byzantium
  
       
  Early Byzantine Art (527-726) :: Iconoclasm (726-843) :: Middle Byzantine Art (843-1204) :: Late Byzantine Art (1204-1453)   Images courtesy of
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  EARLY BYZANTINE ART (527-726)

In 324, Constantine I founded the city Constantinople on the site of the ancient city of Byzantium to serve as the new capital of the Roman Empire. After the collapse of the empire in the west in the 5th century, Constantinople and the eastern portion of the empire continued to flourish artistically for another thousand years, until the 15th century when it was finally defeated and occupied by the Ottoman Turks.

Church and state united:

Under the rule of Justinian, Orthodox Christianity became Constantinople's only lawful religion. The Byzantine emperors were believed to be the earthly vicars of Jesus Christ, whose imperial will was God's will.

A thrice glorious empire:

Art historians divide the history of Byzantine art into the three periods of its greatest glory-Early, Middle, and Late.

The Golden Age of Justinian: A distinctive Byzantine style emerged during the reign of Justinian in the sixth century.

Luxury Arts

Justinian the Conqueror:Relief carvings on ivory panels reveal sources in late antique art used to express the unique character of Eastern Christian culture.		    
       
  9-1: Justinian as world conqueror (Barberini Ivory), mid-sixth century. Ivory, 1' 1 1/2" X 10 1/2". Louvre, Paris.
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Victory becomes an Archangel:

An ivory panel depicting Saint Michael the Archangel shows significant divergences from the rules of naturalistic representation.

9-2: Saint Michael the Archangel, right leaf of a diptych, early sixth century. Ivory, approx. 1' 5" X 5 1/2". British Museum, London.
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Architecture and Mosaics

Byzantium's greatest church:

The domed church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is one of the supreme accomplishments of world architecture.

Churches built in Constantinople and Ravenna and the fortress monastery built at Mount Sinai in Egypt are typically plain on the exterior but lavishly decorated with mosaics on the inside.		  
       
  9-3: ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES and ISIDORUS OF MILETUS, Hagia Sophia (view facing north), Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 532-537.
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9-4: ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES and ISIDORUS OF MILETUS, longitudinal section and plan of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 532-537 (after drawings by Van Nice and Antoniades).
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  9-5: ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES and ISIDORUS OF MILETUS, interior of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, 532-537.
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The mysticism of light:

What distinguishes Hagia Sophia from the equally lavishly revetted and paved interiors of Roman building such as the Pantheon is the special mystical quality of the light that floods the interior.

Pendentives:

Justinian's architects used pendentives to transfer the weight from the great dome to the piers beneath, rather than to the walls.

The domed basilica:

By placing a hemishperical dome on a square base instead of a circular base, Anthemius and Isidorus fused two architectural traditions: the vertically oriented central-plan building and the longitudinally oriented basilica.

Byzantine liturgy:

The ingenious design of Hagia Sophia provided the illumination and the setting for the solemn liturgy of the Orthodox faith.

Ravenna, sacred fortress:

Ravenna enjoyed its greatest cultural and economic prosperity during Justinian's reign.

San Vitale, martyr's shrine:

San Vitale is the most spectacular building in Ravenna.		  
       
 
 
       
       
  9-6: Aerial view of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, 526-547.
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9-7: Plan of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, 526-547.
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9-8: Interior of San Vitale (view from the apse into the choir), Ravenna, Italy, 526-547.
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The second coming:

The mosaics that decorate San Vitale's choir and apse, like the building itself, must be regarded as one of the climatic achievements of Byzantine art.

9-9: Choir and apse of San Vitale with mosaic of Christ between two angels, Saint Vitalis, and Bishop Ecclesius, Ravenna, Italy, 526-547.
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Justinian and Maximianus:

The mosaics that decorate the apse and choir of San Vitale proclaim the triumph of Justinian and of the Orthodox faith.		  
       
  9-10: Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants, mosaic from the north wall of the apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 547.
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The new Byzantine aesthetic:

Byzantine art is an art without solid bodies or cast shadows, with blank golden spaces.

Theodora at San Vitale:

The presence of Theodora at San Vitale is significant as neither she nor Junstinain ever visited Ravenna.		  
       
  9-11: Theodora and attendants, mosaic from the south wall of the apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 547.
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Saint Apollinaris:

Until the ninth century, the Church of Sant'Apollinare in Classe housed the body of Saint Apollinaris, who suffered his martyrdom in Classe, Ravenna's port.		  
       
  9-12: Saint Apollinaris amid sheep, apse mosaic, Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 533-549.
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Byzantine art and dogma:

Flat silhouettes with linear details became the Byzantine style to convey the symbolism of Christian dogma.

Monasticism in Egypt:

The monastic movement began in Egypt in the third century and spread rapidly to Palestine and Syria in the East and as far as Ireland in the West.

Transfiguration at Mount Sinai:

Justinian rebuilt the monastery at Mount Sinai between 548 and 565 and enclosed it within protective walls. The churches apse mosaic depicts the Transfiguration.

9-13: Transfiguration of Jesus, apse mosaic, Church of the Virgin, monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt, ca. 548-565.
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Anicia Juliana and the Arts:

The physical world was the focus of one of the rare secular books to survive from the early Middle Ages, either in Byzantium or the West. In the mid-first century, a Greek physician named Dioskorides compiled an encyclopedia of medicinal herbs called De materia medica. A copy of this medical manual, called the Vienna Dioskorides, was a gift from the people of Honoratai, near Constantinople, to Anicia Juliana, daughter of the short-lived emperor of the West, Anicia Olybrias.

9-14: Anicia Juliana between Magnanimity and Prudence, folio 6 verso of the Vienna Dioskorides, from Honoratai, near Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, ca. 512. Tempera on parchment, approx. 1'3" X 1'11". Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.
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Mary at the Ascension:

The Ascension is the subject of a full-page painting in a manuscript known as the Rabbula Gospels.

9-15: Ascension of Christ, folio 13 verso of the Rabbula Gospels, from Zagba, Syria, 586. Approx. 1' 1" X 10 1/2". Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence.
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Icons for the devout:

Some of the finest early icons come from Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai.

9-16: 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.
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  Early Byzantine Art (527-726) :: Iconoclasm (726-843) :: Middle Byzantine Art (843-1204) :: Late Byzantine Art (1204-1453)