The Frick Collection

THE MOSAICS OF ST. SOPHIA

Author(s): STANLEY CASSON
Source: The American Magazine of Art, Vol. 27, No. 12 (DECEMBER 1934), pp. 634-640
Published by: The Frick Collection
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23933254
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THE MOSAICS OF ST. SOPHIA

By STANLEY CASSON

of Holy Wisdom, commonly known as are formal patterns. But for the historian of
The cleaning
of the mosaics of the Church only, contains figure scenes. The remainder
St. Sophia, at Constantinople, will in all Byzantine art it is every bit as important to
probability cause students of Byzantine art to analyze Byzantine design as Byzantine repre
make a complete revision of their views on sentation.
Byzantine painting and the art of mosaic work. The formal patterns in the narthex exem
For the great church contains a corpus of plify the severe formalism of the original deco
mosaics which must have been commissioned ration of the church. Indeed, we have no evi
by the greatest of the many princes of Con- dence as yet to prove that, as originally built,
stantinople and made by the foremost artists the church contained any figure scenes at all.
of the metropolitan center of all Christendom. The Cherubim below the main dome are gen
Consequently the information which scholars erally thought by many to be the work of
have patiently accumulated from the study of Justinianthese are the only mosaics which
Byzantine mosaics must inevitably be revised : have never at any time been covered with paint

for their work has of necessity been based or whitewashbut many scholars attribute
mainly on work of the Byzantine provinces them to the tenth or eleventh century. The
and not on the work done in the metropolis, formal patterns on the main vaulting of the
Ravenna, Sicily, Attica, and North Greece narthex are severe and simple, comprised of
have provided the bulk of such material and patterns largely found in contemporary sixth
now, at last, after many centuries, we can go century textiles and pottery. In the arches by

direct to the fountain-head. the windows and in the lunettes are shown

St. Sophia is known to hold more or less crosses. These, as Mr. Whittemore points out,
intact a number of mosaic panels of different are of the utmost elegance and simplicity,
periods. In the dome is a Pantokrator, the rep- mostly on a background of gold. They thus
resentation of the Almighty in His most im- stand out as the great symbol of Christianity,
pressive shape; in the apse is the Virgin and greeting the visitor to the church as the first
Child enthroned, and elsewhere are figures of and the last symbol in his creed. There is a
saints, a portrait of the Emperor Palaeologus conscious austerity about the crosses which
and other unidentified figures. All these are stand, unearthly and transcendental, floating
detected beneath their covering of whitewash in a golden lambience. Their shape, with

and paint. jewelled ends and delicate proportions, is es

Mr. Whittemore and the American Byzan- sentially that of the period of Justinian. The
tine Institute have begun the cleaning, prop- only similar crosses in Constantinople are in
erly enough, in the outer portion of the church, the as yet uncleaned church of St. Eirene, the

In the narthex, or antechapel, as it might be oldest in the city, now used as a military mu
called, of the church is a series of mosaics in seum.
splendid preservation which have been methodi- In the lunettes which faced the spectator as
cally cleaned of overpainting and the accumu- he entered the narthex were crosses, as in the
lations of time. The method of cleaning has window-arches. But at some later date the
been of the simplest, merely to scrape with in- whole of the original mosaic of one of the
finitesimal patience the paint and whitewash lunettes, the central of all, was cut out and re
from the surface of the tesselae of the mosaic placed by the great figure scene which consti

by means of fine knives and scalpels, in the tutes the main triumph of the work of clean
manner in which a painting is cleaned by mod- ing and recovery.

ern cleaning methods. After one season's work This major scene shows Christ enthroned in
the Byzantine Institute is thus able to show a a rich and jewelled throne, holding in his left
superb series of mosaics of which one, but one hand an open book on the pages of which is
635

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DETAIL OF
MOSAIC

CROSS IN
LUNETTE

(BAY C),
ST. SOPHIA,
CONSTANTI
NOPLE

written in Greek, "Peace be unto you : I am was known as Leo the Wise or Leo the Philos
the light of the world." His right hand is held opher, not for any real gift of learning, but
up in the attitude of benedictionstrangely mainly because the populace conceived the no
enough in the manner of the Western Church, tion that he was a notable astrologer. We
not of the Eastern. On each side of the Christ have no historical record of his having been
is a medallion. That on the left shows the either a great patron of the arts or of having
Virgin, that on the right an angel or archangel actually contributed to the embellishment of
holding a wand in his left hand. In each case, St. Sophia. But his importance, and the im
the bust only is shown. On the left of the portance of the mosaic for which he was re
figure of Christ, prostrate at His feet in the sponsible, lie in the fact that he was the
attitude of veneration, is the figure of a hu- second emperor to rule after the strange period

man. It is identified by Mr. Whittemore, as known as that of the Iconoclasts, during which
it was identified many years ago by Mr. Dal- all figure-painting, all icons and mosaics which
ton, as the figure of the Emperor Leo VI who showed representations of the human or divine

reigned from 886 to 912, A.D. This emperor forms were forbidden by law. Into the origins

636

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of this movement it is unnecessary to go here, tion from reality, as are all true masterpieces

but the effects of such a theological-aesthetic of abstract art.

movement upon the development of art were The position of this mosaic in Byzantine art
bound to be deep and lasting. Leo VI and his is, as I have said above, transitional. We are
predecessor were pronounced opponents of at the point of divergence between painting
iconoclasm, and the making of a mosaic in one and mosaic which drew from Hellenistic
of the most important positions in the great sources, and that which aimed at greater ab
church may well have been a deliberate act of straction and simplicity. The Iconoclastic
policy as well as an indication of piety. The movement had at least served the purpose of
period of Iconoclasm was a long one, lasting driving out or underground all hankerings for
from 726 to 843, and to the activities of the the "fleshly school" of Alexandria and of the
Iconoclasts we owe much of our ignorance of dying pagan centers. Asia was once more
the early period of Byzantine artistic develop- exerting its profound influence in the direc
ment. Iconoclasts at this time, Latin Cru- tion of abstract art. But the complete turn of
saders in 1204, and Turks in 1453, have left the wheel had not yet come around. There are
only disjecta membra of the art of a mighty vague hints even in this mosaic of the old pic

metropolis. torial style. In another respect the mosaic is

A glance at the mosaic of Leo shows at once surprising. In all Byzantine painting the most
that we are in the presence of a transitional striking element after the tenth century, and
period of Byzantine art. The technical skill of the most essentially Byzantine, is the way in
the mosaic-workers is beyond all cavil. Here is which faces and figures are always lit by a dim

a perfected art. Examination of the mosaics of light that shines upon them from outside. Al
the sixth century in S. Apollinare Nuovo at most all Byzantine icons after 1000 have the
Ravenna, or of those of the more delicately light thus touching the outer lines and forms
done scenes in S. Vitale, proves that the mak- of the figures, leaving the remainder in dark
ers of the Ravenna scenes were comparative ness. It is as though the figures were painted
bunglers, or at least that they were entirely un- in a monk's cell, with the light striking athwart

able to render features with the medium at them from a cell window. Italian primitive
their disposal with any kind of real skill. The painting in profound contrast is a painting
face of the Christ, seen in an enlarged photo- done out of doors in the open light under the
graph, shows at once how the artist has de- sky, so that the figures are bathed in light with
lineated facial lines, surface molding of the faint shadows where the light does not fall,
face, expression of the eyes and mouth and El Greco is a Byzantine in this respectper
the full shape of a strong chin and a refined haps in no otherthat he uses deliberately the
nose, by means of the subtlest adjustments of Byzantine scheme of lighting, because that is
tesselae. The head of Archbishop Maximianus the scheme to which he was accustomed by
in S. Vitale at Ravenna, or the contemporary birth and training.
portrait-heads in the Church of St. Demetrius Here in this mosaic from St. Sophia we see
at Salonika, are but poor assemblies of glass Byzantine art before it had, as it were, retired
cubes, rendering facial lines by dark black or into its monastic cell, before it had become
brown lines of tesselae and entirely failing to ruminative and before it had hidden from the
achieve either subtlety of expression or delicacy world and the sunlight. The whole scene is
of surface-molding. The artist of the new mo- bathed in light, with the shadows serving as
saic at St. Sophia is a master in the ease and mere auxiliaries to the main balance of light
skill by which he gives a plastic feeling with and semi-light.
the utmost economy of effort. Where the Ra- In another fundamental respect the work is
vennate and Salonikan portraits are but pat- transitional. The face of the Christ is simple,
terns of human faces, the face of Christ at St. compassionate and merciful. But two centu
Sophia is the face of a living personality : not ries or less later the great Christ figures of
that there is any trace of realism; on the con- churches like that at Daphni near Athens or
trary the face is an abstraction, but an abstrae- of Cefalu in Sicily, or of Torcello or St. Luke

637

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HEAD OF THE EMPEROR

(DETAIL), CENTRAL LUN

ETTE, CHURCH OF SAINT

SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE

Courtesy The Byzantine Institute

in Phokis, show a God whose expression is more human art will prefer the ninth or the
austere and ineffable, devoid of compassion fourtenth century.
and mercy, stern and all-powerful, the Panto- The medallions are disappointing. That of
krator. Only later in the thirteenth and four- the Virgin is lifeless and without inspiration,
teenth centuries did the face soften once more, I am convinced that it is by another hand than

and even then there is no trace of humanity that which made the face of the Christ. So,

and kindliness. The mosaics of Fetiyeh Mosque too, in the case of the Archangel. Here is mere

at Constantinople show a Christ of auster- pedestrian work. Nor is the face of the em
ity and simplicity, but not of the humanity peror done with anything like the skill and
of the St. Sophia mosaic. So, too, with the subtlety of the face of the Christ. I feel that
mosaics of the Kahrieh Mosque. Both are of the master hand worked solely on the face of
the fourteenth century. If, then, we place the the Christ and left the whole of the remainder

great tenth-century triumphs of mosaic work to minor artists or apprentices. No doubt Leo
and of religious conception as the maximum VI was responsible for more work than this in
of the crescendo of Byzantine art, those of the St. Sophia, and it is probable that the mosaic
lunette of St. Sophia and those of the four- workers worked in the manner of Pheidias and
teenth-century churches fall at the beginning his sculptors. The master controlled, advised,
and at the end of the movement. This is not designed, and finally put his hand to the vital
to make a distinction of good and bad: far portions of the work. The style of the head
from it. I am merely attempting to indicate and shoulders of the Christ seems to me to dif
the depth of religious feeling which inspired fer profoundly from that of the rest of the
the art. As the religion grew more transcen- composition. The setting of the tesselae in the
dental and austere, so the art followed suit, face of Christ also differs fundamentally from
Those who like stern art will prefer the tenth that of the medallion heads. The former fol
and eleventh centuries. Those who prefer a lows a scheme of arrangement that is wholly

638

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Courtesy The Byzantine Institute

HEAD OF CHRIST (DETAIL), CENTRAL LUNETTE,

ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE

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admirable and of astonishing subtlety. The lat- too, we may be able to identify the hand of
ter show a purely haphazard aggregation of actual individual masters. Hitherto nothing
tesselae as though the artist had worked more on these lines has been attempted. Indeed we
or less extempore. For all such mosaics we labor under a sad deficiency of material. But
must assume the previous existence of a parch- in such a place as St. Sophia there may well
ment cartoon on which the artist had drawn be a number of mosaics by individual artists
his design. But he would never be able to draw and the great work of establishing individual
the actual places for the tesselae and only a identities in Byzantine art may thus at last ob
master hand could do final work of the type of tain a chance of developing. At the moment
the Christ face. Any craftsman could manage no one has even sketched the outline of a his
the medallion faces, \yhere the tesselae merely tory of Byzantine painting before 1453 : we
fill gaps and do not follow lines, as in the know of hardly any names and of only a few
Christ. The stylistic study of mosaic must as- works that can be associated with names. Not
suredly make use of all technical studies. The that the attribution to named artists is the
face of the Archangel and that of the Christ end of all art criticismfar from it. But a
are so profoundly different that the same hand skilful stylistic study, itself based on a tech
could not possibly have made them, unless our nical study of painting methods and mosaic

Homer nodded. work, will in the end lead to the isolation and

These new mosaics at last give us authentic identification of a number of personalities in

light on the earlier periods of metropolitan early Byzantine art. The work at St. Sophia
Byzantine art. The Byzantine Institute is to gives us hope that at last a mass of material
be congratulated. New discoveries await its will be assembled from which we can extract
labors, and we shall soon be in a position to the forgotten painters and their personalities
judge by metropolitan standards all the long- in the great metropolis of Byzantium, the
known work of the provinces. Conceivably, birthplace of Western art.

Courtesy The Byzantine Institute

MOSAIC CROSS IN CROWN OF VAULT, ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE

040

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