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7Th T1 Byzantine Art Presentat

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7Th T1 Byzantine Art Presentat The period centered around the Orthodox church. The most prominent figures of the period are Christ, the Virgin Mary, the apostles, saints, Bishops and angels. Art played a role in emphasizing and visualizing the powers of the emperor, who was believed to be divinely appointed by God. Art gave indications of great wealth, taste and sophistication in the society. Being an artist was an honorable profession. Named/identified individuals are extremely rare before the thirteenth century – artists didn’t “sign” their work at that time. Artists did not narrowly specialized in one form of art but were familiar with multiple materials (mosaics, fresh plaster). Training usually consisted of a father passing down his skills and equipment to the next generation. Parents placed their children as apprentices with masters. Art is “surface oriented” (little depth to the images) Painted icons, decorative churches with mosaics and frescoes Subtle emotions, never extreme ones, are expressed in the eyes and facial expressions. Light and shadow was used to give volume to facial features and drapery folds Figures depicted seem to be floating, feet pointing downward Scale and placement showed rank (the closer and higher up the more important) Color and materials showed power and wealth Mosaics were the favored medium for the interior adornment of Byzantine churches. Consisting of small cubes, or tesserae, made of colored glass or glass overlaid with gold leaf, and spread over the walls and vaults of interiors, mosaics produced a luminous effect, well suited to express the mystic quality of Orthodox Christianity. Icons (from the Greek eikones) Icons are sacred images representing the saints, Christ, and the Virgin, as well as narrative scenes such as Christ's Crucifixion. They were the the principal objects of religious devotion. While today the term is most closely associated with wooden panel painting, in Byzantium . icons could be crafted in all media, including marble, ivory, ceramic, gemstone, precious metal, enamel, textile, fresco, and mosaic. Human figures are displayed in 2 different styles- Full body images. Expresses power, authority, grandeur with figures facing the viewer. Focus is on the eyes, facial expression and hands, frequently holding significant objects Figures are in religious narratives to express adoration, sympathy, prayer and distress Byzantine art influenced style and subject matters in other parts of world (strong in Russia, Bulgaria, Armenia and other areas where orthodox church was influential). Cherubs, mythological heroes, god and goddesses and personifications of virtues are reflections of the continuing influence of Byzantium’s classical heritage. Byzantine Mosaic at Panagia of Kykkos Monastery, Cyprus With the triumph of Christianity, artists sought to evoke the spiritual character of sacred figures rather than their three-dimensional bodily substance. The Virgin Mary is depicted here holding Baby Jesus on her lap. Notice the rich use of colored tesserae and the halo around both mother and child. The work featured here is just a portion of a much larger mosaic which adorns the wall at the monastery. Small Icon of Three Warrior Saints Depicting Saints George, Dimitri & Theodore c. 1400 Also called soldier saints, these are a group of saints who were generally soldiers in life, martyrs to Christ in death, and then later revealed as heavenly protectors. They appear frequently, as here, in icons – equipped and ready for war. The icon is a painted wood panel which has worn away at the edges. Mosaic of Jesus at St. Sophia Hagia in Istanbul Christ's left hand holds a closed Book of Gospels as he raises his right hand in benediction. His face is strikingly realistic & expressive, as are those of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist (shown on next slide) who stand to either side of Christ. This depiction is a “Deesis” (a representation of Christ flanked by the intercessory figures of the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist). All are set against a golden background. The lower portion of the composition has been damaged. This and all other mosaics in Hagia Sophia were covered with plaster at the church's conversion into a mosque in the 15th century. This actually preserved the mosaics for later restoration, which began in 1929, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk ordered the conversion of the mosque into a museum. Taming of the Wild Animal, Byzantine Tapestry Fragment, 6th-7th Century During the Byzantine period, textile ornaments featured designs that represented figures as well as abstract patterns. Beginning in the 6th century, textiles were characterized by bold coloring and the abundance of small superfluous motifs. The figures tend to be more proportioned, with large eyes. This tapestry is believed to depict the legend of Constantine fighting a lion and is meant to illustrate his bravery even as a young boy. The Harbaville Triptych Depicting Christ Enthroned with the Virgin & St. John the Baptist One of the most famous Byzantine carvings is The Harbaville Triptych, from the 11th century; a small, portable shrine carved from ivory. A “triptych” is a painting or carving that has three side-by-side parts, panels, or canvases. Typically, a triptych has three hinged panels, the two outer panels designed so that they can be folded in towards the central one. This was a common form for an altarpiece during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The outer parts of such triptychs were typically hinged to the central one so that they could be closed over it, and in this case reverse sides were often painted. Middle leaf, top panel: Christ, his mother and John the Baptist (Deesis – top panel) and Middle leaf, lower panel: Apostles James, John, Peter, Paul and Andrew Aside from some traces of the Classical stance in a couple of the figures, the style is completely hieratic. The "hieratic" style, meaning "sacred" or "holy" was a church sanctioned set of standards that dictated the proportions of human figures in mosaics and relief sculptures. Again, the hieratic style was not meant to be realistic, it was meant to inspire a sense of awe and contemplation. The result was indeed an elongated figure with a very vertical appearance......and this verticality gave one the sense of lifting one's eyes up toward the heavens..
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