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
Saskia Ltd.
       
       
  MIDDLE BYZANTINE ART (843-1204)

The image makers return:

Middle Byzantine art emerges in the wake of the Iconoclastic period with the renewal of image making and the need to refurbish defaced and neglected churches, including the Hagia Sophia.

Architecture and Mosaics

Undoing Iconoclasm:

In 867 the Macedonian dynasty dedicated a new mosaic in the apse of the Hagia Sophia.		    
       
  9-17: Virgin (Theotokos) and Child enthroned, apse mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, dedicated 867.
  1. mosaic
  2. mosaic
  3. mosaic
  4. mosaic
  5. mosaic
New churches for the old faith:

Beginning in the 10th century, a number of domed, central-plan monastic churches were built in Greece.

Visual drama at Hosios Loukas:

The monastery church of Theotokos at Hosios Loukas exemplifies church design during this second golden age of Byzantine art and architecture. Light stones framed by dark red bricks - the so-called cloisonné technique - make up the walls. The interplay of arcuated windows, projecting apses, and varying roof lines further enhances this surface dynamism.		  
       
  9-18: Monastery churches at Hosios Loukas, Greece (view from the east). Katholikon (left), first quarter of eleventh century, and Church of the Theotokos (right), second half of tenth century.
  1. churches
  2. churches
  3. churches
  4. churches
9-19: Plans of Church of the Theotokos (top) and Katholikon (bottom), Hosios Loukas, Greece, second half of tenth and first quarter of eleventh century.
  1. plan
  2. plan
  3. plan
  
       
  9-20: Interior of Katholikon, Hosios Loukas, Greece, first quarter of eleventh century.
  1. interior
  2. interior
  3. plan
  4. interior
  5. interior
Christ, Pantokrator:

The mosaics produced during Byzantium's second golden age at Daphni, near Athens, fared better than those of the Hosios Loukas Katholikon.

9-21: Christ as Pantokrator, dome mosaic in the Church of the Dormition, Daphni, Greece, ca. 1090-1100.
  1. mosaic
  2. mosaic
  3. mosaic
  4. mosaic
  5. mosaic
  6. detail
9-22: Crucifixion, mosaic in the Church of the Dormition, Daphni, Greece, ca. 1090-1100.
  1. mosaic
  2. mosaic plan
Venice and Byzantium:

A resurgence of religious architecture and of the mosaicist's art also occurred in areas of the former Roman empire.

Saint Mark's mosaics:

Both Byzantine and local artists worked on Saint Mark's mosaics over the course of two centuries.		  
       
  9-23: Interior of Saint Mark's (view facing east), Venice, Italy, begun 1063.
  1. interior
  2. interior
  3. interior
A Royal church in Sicily:

Though they were the enemies of Byzantium, the Normans, like the Venetians, assimilated Byzantium culture and even employed Byzantine artisans.		  
       
  9-24: Pantokrator, Theotokos and Child, angels, and saints, apse mosaic in the cathedral at Monreale, Italy, ca. 1180-1190.
  1. mosaic
  2. mosaic
  3. mosaic
  4. mosaic
  5. mosaic
Luxury Arts

An Empress at Saint Mark's:

Haloed royal images of Constantinopolitan rulers are reminders of the important role the Byzantine empresses played in both life and art and of the commercial, political, and artistic exchanges between Italy and Byzantium in the twelfth century.

9-25: Empress Irene, detail of the Pala d'Oro, Saint Mark's, Venice, Italy, ca. 1105. Gold cloisonné inlaid with precious stones, detail approx. 7" X 4 1/2".
  1. related
  2. related
Diptych to triptych:

In the Middle Byzantium period, the three-part triptych replace the earlier diptych as the standard format for ivory panels.		  
       
  9-26: Christ enthroned with saints (Harbaville Triptych), ca. 950. Ivory, central panel
  1. triptych
  2. triptych
Painting

Byzantium in the Balkans:

Once the ban against religious images was lifted, a renewed enthusiasm for picturing key New Testament figures was universal.

9-27: Lamentation over the Dead Christ, wall painting, Saint Pantaleimon, Nerezi, Macedonia, 1164.
  1. painting
  2. painting
David as Greek harpist:

The Paris Psalter reasserts the artistic values of the classical past with astonishing authority.

9-28: David composing the Psalms, folio 1 verso of the Paris Psalter, ca. 950-970. Tempera on vellum, 1' 2 1/8" X 10 1/4". Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
  1. folio
  2. folio
A miracle-working icon:

The return of the painted icon best demonstrates the rejection of the iconoclastic viewpoint.

9-29: Virgin (Theotokos) and Child, icon (Vladimir Virgin), late eleventh to early twelfth century. Tempera on wood, original panel approx. 2' 6 1/2" X 1' 9". Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
  1. icon
  2. icon
  3. icon
  
 
 
       
       
  Early Byzantine Art (527-726) :: Iconoclasm (726-843) :: Middle Byzantine Art (843-1204) :: Late Byzantine Art (1204-1453)