Byzantine Art

500 – 1453 CE
 A little historical
background:
 “Byzantine” people called themselves Romans
 Byzantine empire born from a split in the Roman world (5th
century)
 Size of Roman empire was just too huge for one person to rule
 Western half of Roman Empire: barbarian chaos, overtaken
 Eastern half of Roman Empire: flourished for 1000 years after
Western half collapsed. (it’s modern-day Istanbul, was
Constantinople)- originally founded by Emperor Constantine
 Byzantines spoke Greek rather than Latin
 Promoted orthodox Christianity, as opposed to western
Christianity, which was centered in Rome
•Constantinople was the envy of every culture- trading
center of Europe, controlled shipment of goods nearly
everywhere
•Influence of Byzantine art spread everywhere
missionaries or merchants went
•Precious objects carried across Mediterranean
•Thought western objects were barbaric
•ICONS were a specialty: images that act as reminders to
the faithful- not intended to be the sacred persons
themselves
•Got carried away with icons- some worshiped them as
idols- Uh oh!
•Emperor banned all image production (no idols!) = stopped art
•ICONOCLASTS smashed previously created works (inspired by
Judaism and Islam, which discouraged sacred
images for same reason)
•Bad news – art from early Byzantine period is almost
completely lost.
•Iconoclastic Controversy = division between Early and Middle
Byzantine periods.
•In 843, Iconoclasm was repealed, images reinstated (yay, art!)
•Every church and monastery had to be redecorated = burst of
creative energy throughout Byzantium
•Medieval crusaders conquered Constantinople in 1204 =
transition between Middle and Late Byzantine periods
•Invaders got kicked out, but they carried of artwork and
weakened the empire (left it weak- Ottoman conquest in 1453)
•Despite all this, Late Byzantine artists were busy working
inside and outside the empire, especially in Russia •Byzantine
art flourished in Russia until 1917 (Russian Revolution ended
most religious activity)
•Byzantine artists imported into Sicily and Venice, still popular.
BYZANTINE
VOCABULARY:
 CATHEDRAL: principal church of a diocese, where a
bishop is
 CODEX: a manuscript book
 ICON: a devotional panel depicting a sacred image
 ICONOSTASIS: a screen decorated with icons, which
separates the apse from the transept of a church
 MOSAIC: decoration using pieces of stone, marble, or
colored glass, called “tesserae”, that are cemented to a
wall or floor
•PANTOCRATOR: literally “ruler of the world”- a term that alludes to a
figure of Christ placed above the altar or in the center of a dome in a
Byzantine church

•PENDENTIVE: a construction shaped like a triangle that transitions the

space between flat walls and the base of a round dome

• PSALTER: a book of the Psalms or sacred sung poems from the Bible

•SQUINCH: the polygonal base of a dome that makes a transition from

the round dome to a flat wall (also a really fun word to say!)

•TRIPTYCH: a three-paneled painting or sculpture

Key ideas about BYZANTINE ART:
•Byzantine empire born out of remains of Roman
Empire- continued Roman artistic tradition but with
Christian themes
•Mosaics, icons, manuscript illumination are a big deal
•Two main elements: reflect the classical past and use
hieratic medieval style (representations are fixed by
religious tradition)
•Architects invent PENDENTIVE and SQUINCH
•Buildings known for mysterious and shadowy interiors
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Class 3 84 90
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