Byzantine Art, pp. 128134, 138-144
Roman vs. Byzantine mosaics
Hagia Sophia:
a reinterpretation of the
Pantheon
mystic light and its
technical explanation
Orthodox Liturgy
Historical Iconoclasm and the
Vladimir Virgin
From St. Luke to
modern Russia
Historical background
Constantine founded a “New Rome” in 324
on the site of the ancient Greek city of
Byzantium
In the fifth century the united Roman
Empire fell apart:
An Emperor of the West ruled from
Ravenna
An Emperor of the East ruled from
Constantinople
Once lost its centralized
government, the western half was
replaced by warring kingdoms
that, during the Middle Ages,
formed the foundations of the
Western European nations
the Eastern Roman Empire,
centered at Constantinople,
remained a cultural and political
entity for a millennium (until
1453)
This work comes from a
basilica in Ravenna, which
was a seaport (near Venice)
where the capital had moved
in 404 when Rome was under
the threat of Visigoths’
invasion
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Subject: story from the
Gospels in which Christ fed
5,000 people on 5 loaves and
2 fish
The mosaicist tells the story
with the least number of
figures necessary to make its
meaning explicit:
Miracle of the loaves and
fish, mosaic from the
nave wall of
SantApollinare Nuovo,
Ravenna, Italy, ca. 504
Christ occupies the centre of
the picture and faces toward the
viewer
He wears a purple robe, and
stretches out his arms in
blessing on both sides,
two apostles offer him the
bread and fish in order that the
miracle may be accomplished
They carry the food with
covered hands
as subjects bringing tributes
for their rulers used to do at
that time
Miracle of the loaves and
fish, mosaic from the
nave wall of
SantApollinare Nuovo,
Ravenna, Italy, ca. 504
Medium: it is not
a painting done
with strokes of
brush; it is a
mosaic:
Mosaic: a picture
or pattern
produced by
embedding
together small
colored pieces
(tesserae) of hard
material, such as
stone or glass in
cement on
surfaces such as
walls and floors
This technique
had been used
extensively and
with great skill by
Roman artists
Miracle of the loaves and fishes, mosaic
from the nave wall of SantApollinare
Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 504
Mosaic, from the House
of the Faun at Pompeii,
ca. 100 BC
However, Romans used
small pieces in order to
represent realistic details
and gradual gradation
of colors
Roman mosaicists’ goal
was to create designs that
closely approximated
paintings
Therefore, their tesserae
were mainly made of
opaque marble pieces
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Byzantine artists invented a
new way of using mosaics :
A) they used larger glass
tesserae. 3 main reasons:
1) Because they reflect light,
making the surfaces
sparkling
2) Because Christians were
not interested in realistic
details
But in extremely simple and
easily “readable”
representations
Miracle of the loaves and fish, mosaic
from the nave wall of SantApollinare
Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 504
3) They wanted sharp
contrasts of colors that focus
attention on the most relevant
figures
B) Colors are used not
in a realistic way
Colors, as images, are
symbolic. For example:
The purple robe of
Christ was an attribute
of the Roman emperor,
This means that Christ is
the king of the universe
but also signifies that he
would suffer and die on
the cross
Miracle of the loaves and fish, mosaic
from the nave wall of SantApollinare
Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 504
C) above all, the
use of gold in the
background :
No real scene is
enacted
The spectator
understands that
something
miraculous and
sacred is happening
When gold
backgrounds are
extended through
huge surfaces
The whole church
is illuminated by
the splendor of this
heavenly gold
Miracle of the loaves and fish, mosaic
from the nave wall of SantApollinare
Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 504
Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) is the
most important monument of early
Byzantine art
It was built for the emperor
Justinian between 532 and 537
(so fast that people rumored it was
constructed by the miraculous
intervention of angels)
Its dimensions are formidable for
any structure not made in steel:
dome’s diameter 108 feet, its crown
rises 180 feet above the pavement
(the Pantheon is 143x143)
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of
Miletus, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople
(Istanbul), Turkey, 532-537.
The exterior changed through time:
buttresses and minarets added,
even if huge, it is plain and
unpretentious
As in the Pantheon, the architects’ goal
was to astonish the visitor,
who would not expect the amazing
environment inside
In the Pantheon, light played an
important role
But in Hagia Sophia’s interior
everything is about light, used
in a different way:
In the Pantheon, light came from
a single source, illuminating the
uninterrupted architectural
space
In Hagia Sophia light is
everywhere, coming from its
several windows and being
reflected by golden mosaics
Procopius of Cesarea,
Justinian’s historian, wrote that
the dome seems to hang
suspended on a “golden chain
from Heaven”
This expression points out two
main characteristics of
experiencing Hagia Sophia
1) the mystical quality of the
light that floods the interior:
he wrote “You might say that the
space is not illuminated by the
sun from the outside,
But that the radiance is
generated within”
2) On the other hand the
surprise:
The dome has a band of 40
windows around its base which
challenge architectural logic by
weakening the masonry support
How was this possible?
Justinian architects introduced
pedentives (triangles between
arches)
that transfer the weight from the
dome to the piers, rather than the
walls
In pedentive construction a dome
rests on a larger dome
Therefore, windows could
puncture the walls
Pedentives were also a solution to the
problem of setting a round dome over a
square space,
Making possible a union of centralized
and basilica plans,
which were previously considered as two
mutually exclusive architectural
traditions
The deign of Hagia Sophia provided the
perfect setting for the solemn liturgy of the
Orthodox Church
The nave was reserved for the clergy, not the
congregation:
men stood in the shadow of the aisles,
women were confined to the galleries
The emperor was the only “lay” person
permitted to enter the sanctuary:
His figure resulted as the very link between
the heavenly and terrestrial realms
The Greek word icon simply means image,
any image,
but in the more restricted sense in which it
has generally been understood,
it has signified a sacred image to which
special veneration is given
The icon plays a very specific role in the
Orthodox Christian Church, developed
under the Byzantine empire,
where its worship in the course of the time
became integrated into the celebration of the
liturgy
Icons and Iconoclasm
Icons (images in Greek) are small
portable panel paintings depicting
Christ, the Virgin, or saints
From the 6th century on they
became very popular in Byzantine
worship:
Not only in public ceremonies but
also in private devotion
Function: Icons were personal
intermediaries between
worshippers and the holy figures
represented
Through time, some icons came to
be regarded as wonder-working
believers ascribed miracles and
healing powers to them
Iconoclasm
From the beginning, many Christians
were suspicious of this attitude: it
reminded them of pagan idols
Opposition to icons became especially
strong in the 8th century:
When the Arabs had conquered almost
two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire
Emperor Leo III interpreted it as a divine
punition for the idolatrous worship
In 726 he forbade the production of
new icons and ordered the destruction
of existing ones
Those who defended these images were
persecuted
This period, known as Iconoclasm,
lasted for more than a century (726-843)
Most early icons were destroyed
In the 9th century a popular reaction
progressively grew against
iconoclasm
843
In 843 the destruction of images was
condemned as heresy by Empress
Theodora
It followed a period of extremely
abundant production of images to
meet public and private demand
As a reaction against iconoclasm,
images were now considered not just
useful (like in Early Christianity), they
were holy
The argument was: “If Christ could
decide to reveal Himself to mortal
eyes as a human,
Why should He not also be willing to
manifest Himself in visible images?”
sacred images were no longer mere
illustrations
They were regarded as reflections of
the supernatural world
Probably painted by a Constantinopolitan artist, the
Vladimir Virgin is a masterpiece its kind and the
perfect product of this situation:
The Orthodox Church could not allow the artist to
follow his fancy in these works
Surely it was not any beautiful painting of a mother
with her child that could be accepted as the true
sacred image of the Virgin,
But only types allowed by an age-old tradition
The specific tradition of the Vladimir Virgin was
widely believed to came directly from Saint Luke,
The first who painted such a portrait following a
vision he had of the Nativity
The Vladimir Virgin is, therefore the result of
centuries of copying and recopying of a
conventional image,
the Virgin of Compassion, which shows Mary and
Christ Child pressing their cheeks together
Virgin and Child, icon (Vladimir Virgin)
11th-12th century. Tempera on wood,
Tetyakov Gallery, Moscow
The Byzantines came to insist almost as strictly as
the Egyptians on the observance of some
characteristic traits:
-sidewise inclination of the Virgin’s head to meet
the Christ Child;
-long, straight nose;
-thin mouth,
-golden rays in the infant’s drapery
(which, according to Gombrich is the abstract,
remote descendent of Greek draperies)
-Decorative sweep of the unbroken contour that
encloses the two figures
That become a flat silhouette against the golden
ground
In the type of the Virgin of Compassion, the
represented moment is when the mother intuits the
future passion and death of her son
The artist is able to express the deep pathos of
such moment
without breaking the rigid rules of Byzantine
iconography